After our successful trip to Derry, we’d decided to explore a bit more of the Emerald Isle during the COVID pandemic as we are unable to venture any further afield, so we planned an elaborate road trip from our home in Belfast, up to the North coast, and onwards to Donegal, before returning home through Sligo, Leitrim and Fermanagh.
In this post I’m going to focus on the first half of our road trip, through County Antrim and County Derry. We had initially planned on visiting the Gobbins pathway and Carrick-a-rede ropebridge too, but they were closed at the time due to COVID restrictions.
An early start on our first day took us from Belfast, passing Ballymena and through County Antrim on to the ‘Dark Hedges’ made famous by Game of Thrones. The road through Antrim offers a glimpse at rural life in Ireland, which many American tourists fetishise after watching PS I Love You (which was based on the book written by Ireland’s former Taoiseach’s daughter – where’s Chelsea Clinton’s movie?) This part of Northern Ireland is often referred to as ‘Gods country’, a tongue in cheek remark about it being a Presbyterian stronghold with religious political representation with the late Rev Ian Paisley representing the area, but the scenery could leave you to believe God does indeed favour the region.
The road with the hedges is closed to drive along (or technically is, a few cars passed us as we stood on it). High volumes of traffic on the road have killed some of the tree roots that grew beneath, killing some of the trees – the hedges now have quite a few gaps which is a tragedy. The hedges themselves are a pretty sight, as the branches intertwine each other creating a canopy along the road, but you can’t really spend a lot of time at them, it’s more of a “get out – have a stroll amongst the trees and drive on” sort of attraction. You’ll be briefly fascinated before leaving. Especially since your car will be parked on a busy main road.
After the dark hedges, we travelled to White Park Bay, a picturesque beach about 5 miles from the Giants Causeway. The beach itself is famed for its’ bovine inhabitants, but cows aside, it’s a great stretch and the descent down to the beach offers fantastic scenery.
We took a few photographs with the cows and then walked along the beach, where I spotted an underground stream emerging before flowing into the sea – I tasted some of it and told Amy it was fresh water, she insisted I drink it in front of her before she’d believe me and try it herself. Further along the beach there’s a cavernous opening on the cliff, and a small alcove where of course we had a photo shoot.
After making the most of White Park Bay, we ventured to the Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s a natural phenomenon created by the volcanic fissure (I’m not going to pretend to know what that is – I had to google what caused it). The unique hexagonal columns leave you pondering how nature could create such a structure, baffling your mind (unless you’re a geologist who knows exactly how nature created this).
In Irish mythology, the Causeway was built by Finn McCool (cool name, right? Fionn Mac Cumhaill as gaeilge), an Irish giant who was eager to fight a Scottish giant – so he built a bridge to Scotland to scrap, only to realise the Scottish giant was HUGE. He quickly ran home and hid, where his wife dressed him up as a baby. When the Scottish giant came to Ireland ready for this fight, Finn‘s wife invited him into the house to see their ‘newborn’. The dastardly Scot giant was shocked at the size of the ‘baby’ and presumed Finn would be humongous – so he fled back to Scotland destroying the bridge on his way. Somehow over the years, the Irish have become known as the ‘fighting Irish’, when some of our mythological figures dressed as babies to avoid a fight. Ironic.
After the Giant’s Causeway, we rested for the evening in Portrush, a nearby town – staying in a delightful seafront B&B. The town is home to an amusements, a beach and numerous restaurants, however a lot of the activities were closed due to COVID, so we didn’t get to experience the amusements. A stroll along the beach, and a pit stop in a bar had to suffice. There were no cows on the beach, so it wasn’t as exciting.
The next day we were to travel to Donegal, but first we were to stop at Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne, located the far side of Coleraine (20 minutes/11 miles from Portrush).
Downhill Demesne site is entrusted to the National Trust, and due to COVID limitations, I had to book a slot of us in advance, and I’m glad I did. The area dates back to 1772 when it was chosen as the site for Earl Bishop Henry‘s country house. The vast grounds include a forest walk, a large artificial lake, tremendous views of the North Coast, a mausoleum, and the Mussenden Temple, which was used as a library when Downhill house was occupied.
From Downhill Demesne we drove on to Downings, over the border into the Republic of Ireland, in Donegal‘s Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) region. Part 2 of our road trip can be seen here.