The Causeway Coast East

After our morning walk around the Giant's Causeway we picked up the car and headed east to drive down the coast and back to Belfast City Airport for an evening flight home, stopping wherever we fancied.

 Another ruin - Dunseverick Castle

Whitepark Bay

Ballintoy Harbour (another GoT filming location, although as we don't watch the series it's all lost on us) and got out for a walk around.

And the actual harbour.

Just off the coast is Sheep Island

Despite the sunshine it was flipping cold, I'm even wearing gloves.

We had intended to visit Carrick a Rede and cross the rope bridge, but it was closed due to high winds which was probably for the best as it's not Ian's favourite thing to do.

But we did stop at Ballycastle for a walk around the marina to stretch our legs.

These two sculptures are by Malcolm Robertson, the left one is Leap of Faith and on the Right Children of Li, depicting 4 swans representing the 4 children of King Lir from Irish mythology who were cursed to spend 300 years in this form.

As we were heading back to the car we spotted at Morelli's Ice Cream parlour and couldn't resist going in to buy one.  I asked if they were connected with the Broadstairs Morelli's but the girl serving didn't know so called out to the back kitchen and someone replied that yes, they were cousins.  I've since looked up Morelli's in Northern Ireland and there are numerous outlets all over the country and I think the business pre-dates the Broadstairs one by several decades.  Interestingly, although they do not appear to be connected, they both have the same purple colour scheme.

This is Cushendun

With its picturesque row of houses.

We'd read that at the south end of the beach (ie to the left of the houses) there were some caves which could only be visited at low tide.  So we drove through the village to have a go but this was as far as we got.

But it did have a very nice stone arch bridge spanning the River Glendun.

From here we still had an hour's drive (without stops) to get to George Best Airport.  We've enjoyed a short but very enjoyable trip to Northern Ireland which to be honest deserves a revisit.  Interestingly the whole point of the mini break was to get Ian the points he needed but in actual fact I ended up having to argue with BA as they'd mucked up his points collection dates - but all's well that ends well - objective achieved.

Giant's Causeway

We woke to more grey skies and the wind blowing an absolute hoolie.  Next door to the hotel is the NT Visitor Centre and so we popped in to make sure we weren't being stupid walking a cliff path in such conditions.  The chap we spoke to confirmed we'd be OK as the path was actually a few meters inland, but nevertheless appreciated us checking.

This isn't the clearest but it does give an idea of the layout.

You can see where the shuttle bus drops people near the stones and what I mean about them seeming tiny.

The photos above make the weather look quite benign but I can assure you at times it was almost impossible to stand up.

We walked on past the Causeway for some distance until we came to The Organ or Organ Pipes.

You can just see the tops of the Organ Pipes.

Looking down on the Causeway.

And then looking back up the Shepherd's Steps.

Yes, I am wearing a bobble hat under my hood!

The Amphitheatre

The Giant's Causeway is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period.

The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although some have four, five, seven, or eight sides. The tallest are approximately 12 metres, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places

Around 50 to 60 million years ago, during the Paleocene Epoch, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive volcanic plateau.  As the lava cooled, contraction occurred.  Horizontal contraction fractured in a similar way to drying mud, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving pillar-like structures that also fractured horizontally into "biscuits".  In many cases, the horizontal fracture resulted in a bottom face that is convex, while the upper face of the lower segment is concave, producing what are called "ball and socket" joints. The size of the columns was primarily determined by the speed at which lava cooled. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic called the Thulean Plateau that formed during the Paleocene (the first epoch within the Paleogene period (like decade within century).

So now you know!

Along the beach trail there are various stones around which resemble other things; this is The Boot.

Fortunately the weather has now brightened up.  This is the Giant's Gate.

Ian gives you an idea of the height of the basalt columns.

The main site is broken down into three distinct geological sections known as the Little Causeway, the Middle Causeway, and the Grand Causeway.  We're standing on the Grand Causeway but I don't know which one we're looking at.

Standing on the main causeway, looking back towards the cliffs.

This poor chap has to stand on the end of the causeway to stop idiots doing idiotic things.

Eventually Ian had a chance to pose "people free"

It was actually very difficult to walk on the slippery rocks, especially carrying the camera.