1. We drove the coastal scenic route from Belfast to Portrush
2. We saw incredible scenery
3. Castles
4. Green and more green, emerald, in fact
5. Giants - or at least their steps
6. and Bronze age stone structures
The pictures will tell the story tonight. We are in Armagh, Northern Ireland. More tomorrow.
The scenery was incredible - every turn seemed better than the one before. It is truly the Emerald Isle.
We stopped at an old and abandoned Coast Guard observation post. It is the closest point to Scotland. The sky was clear and we could see Scotland.
The climb was up a rock and grass covered hill. The sky was blue and the air only slightly crisp.
The views were breathtaking at each stop. We drove the Coastal trail and enjoyed the small farm road atmosphere - no tour buses on the first part of the drive.
The sky was party cloudy-partly sunny. The combination actually made for some great color contrasts.
These pics were taken at one of our first stops. We climbed over the wall and down the rocky slope for an enjoyable morning fitness break.
The road is about 30 feet above us.
Great lighting contrast - from an almost moon-like scene to one with a great mix of green, purple and brown.
The horses, mules, and cows didn't see to appreciate the views - nor did the narrow roads, but we did.
The Giant's Causeway is Ireland's Natural Wonder of the World.
There are two stories associated with this natural rock formation. Notice the similar shape of each rock. Story 1....a Giant lived in Ireland and had a Giant girlfriend in Scotland. He built a bridge from Ireland to Scotland so he could see her - the bridge was made of steps. You now see the steps.
Second story, a Giant built this step bridge so he could go to Scotland to fight the Scottish Giant for supremacy. When the Irish Giant arrived in Scotland and saw how big the Scottish Giant was......he
headed home as fast as he could and build a crib. When the Scottish Giant found out that the Irish Giant had been looking for a fight.....he crossed the step bridge to find the Irish Giant. What he found was the Irish Giant asleep in the crib. The Scottish Giant saw how big the "baby" in the crib was and thought about how big the actual Giant would be....so he headed home as fast as he could.Check out this video
We drove through Bushmills, but did not stop at the brewary...we were headed for Dunluce Castle which is between Bushmills and Portrush
After visiting the castle build over a cave, we headed for the Beaghmore Stone Circles. This portion of our drive took us through many "back" roads, twists and turns, and finally to the Bronze Age stone circles.
We then headed for our B&B, Hillside View, in Armagh. Armagh is unique in that it is the seat of both the Catholic Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland. Both are housed in a St. Patrick's cathedral/church in the same town. This region is known for St. Patrick.
See tomorrow on our trip to Cashel.
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