Along the coast of Northern Ireland

A few springs back we were working on our vacation to Ireland. The emerald isle offered a promise of an unhurried vacation (oxymoron: isnt it? unless you park yourself on a beach in the carribbean). The cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Dublin - the usual places were on the list. Then I chanced upon the Tourism Ireland booth at, of all places, The Philadelphia Flower Show (I still havent figured out why they were there). What a discovery- Northern Ireland! Again, as typical Americans, we could not afford more than a week in that beautiful country so we called upon family of our friends (who are now our friends) for guidance. Generously, they offered us not only advice but their gracious home and hospitality in Belfast. We spent a day and a half with our "new" friends and got to know their lovely teenage kids and the baby of the family, Tommy, the refusing to sit, kittie.

Bright and early the next morning we get into the car to drive north to the land of the Giant's Causeway.  100 yards out of our friends driveway...

Swerve, screee......ech! what happened?  "You guys never reminded me to drive on the wrong side of the road". "Oops - we thought you would have noticed this sign in our rental car! After all it is on the driver side!"  Our first stop is the Carrickfergus castle.  It was a cold, windy morning but a bright sunny day with beautiful blue skies and puffy clouds.

The view overlooking the little fishing village from the top of the castle was fantastic.

As we continued driving up the coast, we were awarded with beautiful abandoned shoreline and miles and miles of wild summer phlox (the same one that I pay $7.99 for a gallon size pot each spring and it refuses to make home in my backyard).

Lunch time brought us to the Carrick-e-rede rope bridge.  Now if you ever have a days ride, and have to leave a host's home, nothing like leaving from a gujarati's abode!  The scene was typical: "Let me pack you some lunch on the road."  "No please dont. We will be fine."  "No! but I insist, you will be driving all day. what if you dont find a good place to eat.  It will be just bread and cheese - nothing vegetarian available there"  "No really! we will be fine.  Bye!"  As we sit in the car, "Here take this lunch, I insist".  Our hostess had packed us poha and upma and it was a perfect lunch to enjoy on the picnic table.  I am positive she could feel our thankful vibes a few hundred kilometers south.

As we walk towards the bridge, we see a meadow full of sheep and gorgeous cliffs with aqua blue water.  The rope bridge is another story.  I can feel my heartbeat accelerating with each step that gets me  closer to the bridge.  I am last in the queue of our family to cross it.  J and the kids are halfway on the bridge and I just froze.  I was holding up a line of people who had waited 20 minutes for their turn to cross the bridge.  This bridge was my nemesis:  Height and Movement, all in one.  As I step aside and let the person behind me move along, I see him holding his wife's hand and encouraging her to follow him.  It was an elderly couple well into their 80s.  They were my inspiration.  So I bucked up, started saying my hanuman chalisa and crossed the bridge.  Completely elated, I enjoy the sound of the waves crashing on the sea stack (I think it was a sea stack since it was not big enough to be an island) and relaxed like I was on some Caribbean beach.  Then reality sets in - I need to meet my nemesis again or make a life on the sea stack.  Gods name is evoked again, I survived the bridge and lived to tell it.

Onward we go, stopping by at several beaches along the road just to enjoy the view.  

Seven hours after leaving belfast, we reach our digs for the night, The Giant's causeway and The Causeway Hotel.  Our plan was to check out the causeway first and check into the hotel later.  After what seemed like an eternity in a traffic jam we are about to pull into the parks parking lot and shell out 5 pounds for parking when we noticed that our hotels parking was in fact right in front of us.  We park and walk down the cliffs to the causeway.   The legend is that the Giant's Causeway was built by Finn McCool as a walkway to fight the Scottish giant Benandonner .  McCool must have been a pretty cool mathematician.  Perfect octagonal stacks of every height imaginable.

You can return back via the shuttle the same way you came down or climb up the cliff to explore the organ rocks.  We are glad we took the long way up.  Organ rocks were impressive but the walk at the top of the cliff and the view of the entire causeway was even better.

Entire Causeway

We check into the Inn.  The room was large enough, dormitory style that could comfortably sleep all four of us.  The bathrooms were all falling apart.  Dinner in the main restaurant was bland and tasteless.  But all that was overlooked as we walked the fields behind the Inn.  As the sun was setting over the sea, storm clouds pulled in from Scotland and it cast the most beautiful light on the Inn property.  

A perfect view to end the day!