We have left the Eurozone briefly to stop in Belfast. And actually our fifth “LAND” really – Eng-land !
We had all sorts of weather today and it literally changed within minutes. When I opened the curtains this morning, it was grey and raining. Within minutes, Adrienne exclaimed “the sun’s out !” and there was hardly a cloud in the sky ! Not long after, we were walking from our room to breakfast in the main house and it was raining again ! And that was to be the theme for the day.
We left around 9 am and again had quite a drive till our first major stop. I have seen this area of Ireland referred to as the “highlands” and whilst it has a few more mountains than most parts it is not really particularly high. That said, with the rain over the last few days, some parts of the mountains along the way had little waterfalls cascading down from on high.
The changing weather …
More rain ahead !
Our first “stop” was the little hamlet of Newtown Cunningham, just outside the sizeable town of Letterkenny. Whilst Dalmally in Scotland was my Dad’s “historical” home, this area around Letterkenny has connections with my Mum’s maternal family line. Her great, great, great grandfather was born and died in this area and her great, great grandfather – William McClintock, was married in Newtown Cunningham in 1834 before emigrating to Australia in 1838. The present church building (below) was constructed in 1881.
In 1792 the Presbyterians of Newtowncunningham unsuccessfully attempted to organise a congregation. In spite of this they erected their own Meeting House in 1813, where the minister of Ray (a nearby community) held occasional services. Finally in 1830 official permission was granted by the Synod of Ulster to start a congregation in the village. There were some 80-90 families connected to the church at that stage – and William McClintock would have been one of these !
It was not long after this that we crossed the border from Ireland into Northern Ireland – part of the UK. The border sign had curiously had the “Northern” portion spray painted over ! It was significantly noticeable how “British” things became – the road designations, speed limit signs changed from kilometers to miles – and the roads got wider ! 😂
We were heading for the very north coast now and with the constantly changing weather, we had no idea what to expect once we arrived. First stop was Dunlace Castle – another ruin but with an interesting story. It is a medieval castle. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood. The first castle was built in the 13th century. A local legend states that at one point, part of the kitchen next to the cliff face collapsed into the sea, after which the wife of the owner refused to live in the castle any longer. According to the legend, when the kitchen fell into the sea, only a kitchen boy survived, as he was sitting in the corner of the kitchen which did not collapse. However, the kitchen is still intact and next to the manor house. You can still see the oven, fireplace and entry ways into it. It wasn’t until some time in the 18th century that the north wall of the residence building collapsed into the sea. The east, west and south walls still stand. It is certainly in a spectacular spot !
The remains of Dunluce Castle
The stunning view of the coastline from Dunluce Castle
We didn’t have far to go to our next stop – the Giant’s Causeway. From a geology perspective, it is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption from 50 to 60 million years ago. From myths and legends, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Finn MacCool, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Finn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Finn defeats Benandonner. In another, Finn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Finn’s wife, Oonagh, disguises Finn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Finn would be unable to chase him down. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this. You take your pick ! It’s quite a sight either way !
The Giant’s Causeway
Despite the clear weather in the photos above, the location was actually quite a walk from the visitor centre – it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. As we set off back to the visitor center, the wind had blown in another lot of clouds and we made our way back in the rain !
Again not far away from here was our last stop before Belfast, the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. It spans 20 metres and is 30 metres above the rocks below. It is thought salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years and it has taken many forms over the years. In the 1970s it had only one handrail and large gaps between the slats. A new bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built in 2000. Another was built in 2004 and offered visitors and fishermen alike a much safer passage to the island. There is a fee to actually cross the bridge and often considerable wait times. When we arrived, the wait time was over an hour so we decided we would just walk the 10-15 minutes to take a look. The view is quite worth the walk anyway !
The coastline at Carrick-A-Rede
Part of the queue to cross the bridge – both ways!
You would think with the changing weather all day that I would have taken my waterproof jacket out to the bridge. Alas, no – and, of course, as we started back, the rains (and winds) came and we trudged back to the car park in driving rain. Adrienne had her jacket but by the time we got back to the car, the side-ways rain had drenched us. The rain then stopped as we got into the car !
We had pretty well dried off by the time we reached Belfast ! After checking in, we went for a walk into town – with our rain jackets. Our hotel, the Radisson Blu, is located in the refurbished old Gasworks area of the town – quite a nice area. We found the Belfast City Hall. It is quite a sizeable building, commenced in 1898 and completed in 1906.
At the moment they have an exhibition – Shrouds of the Somme – in their Garden of Remembrance which commemorates the 3,775 Ulster and Irish regiment soldiers killed on the Somme in 1916. There is a little doll laid out on the walkway for each of those who died.
On the other side of the building, there is a permanent memorial to those who lost their lives on the Titanic – Belfast was the shipyard where the ship was built.
Again, it starting raining as we walked around town – past the Europa Hotel, which is supposed to be “the most bombed hotel in the world” after having suffered 36 bomb attacks during the “Troubles” era. Back at the hotel, we finished our day with a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant.
We have a little more time in Belfast tomorrow before heading back to Dublin – it will be our last day in Ireland (and Northern Ireland for that matter !)
Today’s Tour Trivia – Errol Flynn, the Australian actor known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, went to school in Belfast. Flynn attended Royal Belfast Academical Institution in 1921 while his father taught at Queen’s.