18 July,Saturday
Living with an Irish family like this one is so entertaining. It is a vibrant household filled with love and life! Carole's daughter and husband live in the house across the field and this house is always full of noise and laughter the proximity of family brings.
We woke up around 8:30 and Carole had told us to help ourselves to the fresh eggs from her chickens and of course the bread and butter (main staple in Irish homes...what's not to love?) Mackenzie made the eggs and I the coffee and toast. We sat down and watched, with Carole and her boys, the Irish and American cage fighting bout that had taken place in Las Vegas recently. It really was quite entertaining and we waited until it was finished until we headed out for a day of touring the local sites and more 'Game of Throne' locations. (The Irish fighter won!)
The Giant Causeway is an area in Northern Ireland that is formed by giant hexagon rocks that jut out in the direction of Scotland, which is about 30 miles away. There is a legend that an Irish Giant King challenged a Scottish Giant King to a dual and built a huge causeway from Ireland to Scotland so that the Scottish Giant King could come over to fight. When the Scottish dude did start to come over, the Irish dude saw how big he was and was frightened and ran to his wife who was quite brilliant. She disquised her husband as a baby and when the Scottish Giant saw how big the Irish Baby was, he figured that the dad must be enormous so he ran back to Scotland tearing up the causeway in his wake. Nice story, huh?
The Giant Causeway's visitor center which is owned by the National Trust, has been under fire recently because of the huge entry fee. It's really a gimmick because although entry to the Giant Causeway is free, the National trust charges 9 British pounds per person to park, gain entry to the visitor center and cafe, and the use of ear phones and ipod as a walking tour of the causeway. Here's the rub. If you don't pay the 9 British pounds, you CANNOT even get into the visitors center or the cafe. Seems as if they might be losing revenue. And, most of the tourists, especially those in the tour busses, don't know this because the 'free' part is written in fine print. Carol and her family warned us of this and in our 'Do as the locals do' concept of traveling they had us park at Port Ballentrae, just 2 miles west of the causeway and we walked a beautiful trail along the cliffs and on the beach and sand dunes for the free entry.
The causeway was amazing and Madeleine and Jesse had both visited and had told us about it's uniqueness. Thanks for the heads up! We climbed all over the rocks dodging the crowds along the way. Lots of buses of people were there making this the most crowded place we've visited so far in Ireland. We stopped in the little train depot and grabbed a cup of coffee and walked back to the car and sat on a stone wall over looking the ocean and ate the ham, cheese, and butter sandwiches Carole made us. (who needs mayonnaise?)
Time to move on...Bushmills Distillery was next. We didn't take a tour because the distillery was on Silent Times...remodeling and not producing any whiskey, so instead we opted for a tasting. Mackenzie and I shared a tasting with three different whiskeys. We sat on black leather sofas and a man about Mackenzie's age sat with us and explained the different whiskeys for about 15 minutes. We didn't understand much of what he said in his thick accent, but he was a pleasant host..
Next stop...the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. It's literally a rope bridge in the same location where salmon fisherman used to catch salmon years ago and now it's one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ireland so of course we had to do it. 12 British pounds poorer and over a mile to walk to the bridge, we waited 20 minutes before we could cross it. It was worth it! The bridge moved as you walked and it was about 100 feet above the ocean. When we arrived at the other side, a small island, we both found a large rock and took a little nap before crossing it back to the mainland.
After the rope bridge we went to Larrybane, a wee little town down a one lane road sitting directly next to the ocean. It is a site where Game of Thrones was filmed and a place where the tour buses couldn't go! http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/gameofthrones/ for more info on the Game of Thrones locations.
DunLuce castle was our next stop. The Scottish MacDonalds owned this castle and infiltrated Ireland from this point. That explained the local's slightly Scottish brouque. The castle was closed, but we were still able to walk around and even went into the cave underneath the castle. Next stop the church that served the castle. Another cemetery...I've lost count! This one had the oldest tomb so far...1694.
We were hungry, our ham, cheese, and butter sandwich lunch had warn off and we'd walked 10 miles. Portrush, the town where Rick Steeves stays, was our destination, but the rain decided to return and Portrush was PACKED! We drove in and drove out.
Heading back to Ballymoney and our cute little Irish family, we stopped at 'The Hen House' and shared pork nacho appetizer and a chicken and potato special. It was cheap food, but you couldn't beat the potatoes!
Back home we were beat and the family was all together having a farewell dinner for the sons and a friend who were heading out to Bulgaria for holiday the next day. They offered burgers for us, but Carol had already fed us breakfast and lunch, so we declined And we didn't want to intrude, even though they are such kind people. Instead we cuddled and watched 'Taken 3'. Liam Neeson is always good to watch.
It was a full day and I think this is the most tired I've been. It's a good tired. Not a sad, grieving, cancer, tired...but a physical exhaustion one feels after a great day in the outdoors.
Peace from Ballymoney,
The Traveling Women
Tip of the Day: If the 'National Trust' sponsors anything in Great Britain territory...be prepared to pay dearly, or find a local to show you how to beat the system!
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