Ireland - Causeway Coast & Glens 🇬🇧

From Galway we drove up the north west coast of Ireland. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy most of the day. We stopped for lunch, petro (yup, ya gotta say it that way) and a short tour of the Abbey in Sligo. It looked interesting and we needed to stretch our legs.

The Sligo Abbey was a Dominican friary that was established in 1253. Like many of the Norman towns, the castle and the original Abbey were destroyed and the rebuilt in the 1500’s.

We motored on from Sligo to a town in Northern Ireland called Coleraine. Crossing the border was like leaving your neighborhood. I’m not sure if I even recall seeing a sign. Another country, another currency and different speed limits.

It wasn’t long before I was cussing and ranting. “There’s no way the roads we were driving in had such slow speed limits” I ranted. I couldn’t figure out why I had a line of cars behind me 15 deep all the time. It wasn’t until we checked into our AirBNB and were talking to our host that we realized that Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, uses the imperial system. Instead of thinking I should be driving 70 km/h (about 42 mph), the speed limit is 70 mph. That explained a lot. I felt like an idiot and we had a good laugh about it. I still never got used to signs that would show distances in kilometers and yet everything else was imperial.

We had decided early on in our planning that we wanted to see many of the sites that were used while filming the Game of Thrones. This region in Northern Ireland is called the Giant’s Causeway Coast and has dozens of filming sites.

The Dark Hedges

Our first Game of Thrones filming location was the Dark Hedges.  Some of you might recognize this as the Kingsroad.

Originally, the Dark Hedges was part of the Gracehill House estate built by James Stuart in 1775.  The family planted over 150 Beech trees at the entrance of the Georgian estate to impress visitors.  While I didn't think much of the house, the Dark Hedges were impressive.  We were fortunate to arrive early and get a few shots devoid of fellow tourists.  By the time we left, many people had arrived at both ends of the road.

The Dark Hedges are also home to a specter named the Grey Lady. Apparently she has been spotted sashaying between the gnarled trees then she disappears upon passing the last tree on the lane.  There are various stories about her origin. Some believe she is a maid from the Stuart estate that died under mysterious circumstances.  Other's believe that she is a spirit from a lost deserted graveyard in the fields nearby.  Apparently on Halloween, the Grey Lady is joined on her walk by the tormented souls of those that were buried beside her.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Grey Lady, just a peaceful and a bit mesmerizing lane.

Dunluce Castle

Next stop was Dunluce Castle.  This castle was perched on a sheer headland between the Giant's Causeway and the town of Portrush.  Built between the 15th and 17th centuries this was one of the finest castles of its time.  It controlled the land and sea routes of the North Ulster.

Just like all of the other castles we visited, it too had a turbulent history of the families that owned the home, the MacQuillans and the MacDonnells as well as the Scottish settlers who lived in the town of Dunluce just outside the castle. Like many of the other castles ownership changed hands depending upon which king was in power, where the families loyalties were and what religion the residents followed.

The castle was impressive.  All access to the castle was funneled into a narrow entry area, over a drawbridge and to the main gate.  Of course, the main gate had the required murder hole.  After the main gate was a large three story manor house.   This was the main house of the castle and residence of the family.  The house had huge, nearly floor to ceiling, windows on the west side of the house.  The light offered by the windows on the interior must have been amazing given most of the other castle we have seen of that time had small windows creating dark interiors. There were large kitchens, workshops and various quarters for servants.

The castle was supported on the mainland by a small village, Dunluce Town, that provide guest quarters, a brewery, fields, stables and housing for those that both provided for the castle and received it's protection.

Further down the coast you could see the Wishing Arch. 

The Wishing Arch

Just down the road from Dunluce Castle was the Wishing Arch. There was a pretty cool platform built out over the arch so you could walk out and see it, although I think the views were better from a promontory close to the road. It was incredibly windy here and cold. Hard to believe it is July.

The Giant's Causeway

Next stop was the Giant's Causeway, a unique and beautiful geologic formation that jet's out into the ocean.

As legend has it, Northern Ireland was once home to a 54' giant named Finn McCool. When another giant – Benandonner, across the Irish Sea in Scotland – threatened Ireland, Finn retaliated by tearing up great chunks of the Antrim coastline and hurling them into the sea. The newly-created path – the Giant’s Causeway – paved a route over the sea for Finn to reach Benandonner.

However, this turns out to be a bad idea as Benandonner is a massive giant, 3 times his size! In order to save himself, Finn retreats to Ireland and is disguised as a baby by his quick-thinking wife. When Benandonner arrives, he sees Finn disguised as a baby and realises that if a mere baby is that big, the father must be far larger than Benandonner himself!

Following this realisation, Benandonner rushes back to Scotland, tearing away as much of the Causeway as he can in his haste to put as much distance between Ireland and himself as possible. And thus, the myth of the Giant’s Causeway was born.

The more scientific explanations is that the Giant's Causeway is the result of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns resulting from a volcanic fissure. The cooling of the columns created these eight sided columns. Regardless of how there were created, they were beautiful and created some very interesting shapes and landscapes in the area.

Carrick-a-Rede

A location where salmon fisherman would cross the rope bridge daily to lower themselves 100' down to the blue-green water and into their fishing boats.  The remnants of their fishing hut and equipment remain even if they were closed off to visitors.  Of course, when we arrived, there was a large group of rowdy students that thought it was pretty cool to test out the limits of the bridge.  I'm glad to say the bridge held despite their best efforts.

Old Bushmills Distillery

Our final stop of the area was the Old Bushmills Distillery. Granted a license in 1608, the distillery is the oldest licensed distillery in the world still in operation. With all the distillery tours we’ve done, you think we’d know the process by heart now but what’s another refresher. Due to the high alcohol content throughout the distillery we were not allowed to use our phones until we got to tasting and outside the building. I’m not sure if I believe that or if it was to hide some of their process. Who knows. That leaves us with photos of our tasting offering of classic Bushmills, 12 yr Bushmills and 15 yr Bushmills. Cathy went for the 12 yr and I tried the 15 yr. I haven’t had a lot of Irish Whiskey before but I’d have to say that I find it a lot lighter than American whiskey and thus a lot easier to drink. The third distillation and a minimum of 3 years and 1 day (the 1 day is just to be better than scotch), made for a smooth drink.

Overall, we enjoyed Northern Ireland and the Giant’s Causeway Coast.