North Coast and Home

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to Barb and Peg, who had decided to stay behind in Mullaghbawn to continue family research.

Richard and Sandi headed for the upper parking lot at Slieve Gullion, put on our boots, and started the hike up. Sandi had the idea that the trail was going to be an easy gradual graveled path, not realizing that as we went up, it would change to rocky and steep. Richard gave Sandi a hand at some points. Near the top, the wind became very strong, perhaps 40 to 50 mph. Our jackets were flapping in the wind. At the top, it was hard to stand, and cold. Richard went to find the summit tomb. We saw the lake near the summit, where the legend says that the giant Finn McCool was turned into an old man. A group of three classes of elementary school students had climbed the mountain from the East, continued over the top, and headed down the trail that we had just gone up. We chatted with them when they stopped to brew up a cup of tea.

After our climb, we headed north, past Belfast, to Larne, where we stopped to buy bread and get tourist information from a delightful young lady. We continued north of the coast, right along the ocean. The view was fairly spectacular. We stopped once or twice to walk on the beach, and took a detour to look at a glen of Antrim. The glen looked somewhat different than south Armagh, with larger fields, a bit tidier. By the time we reached Ballycastle, Richard was exhausted. The drive had taken longer than Google had estimated. We checked into the Marine Hotel, which had a promotion that included 20 pounds off dinner at their restaurant. After dinner, we crashed.

Rope bridge 

Wednesday morning, we decided not to take the ferry to Rathlin Island. We headed up the coast, which became more spectacular, if possible. We stopped to see the rope bridge, which was a 1 mile hike each way. We did not cross it, as Sandi thought that it would be too scarey. We could see Scotland in the distance.

Our next stop was at the Giant's Causeway, which Richard had seen many years before. It was relatively undeveloped then. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site; there is a large modern visitor center, and a bus to take you to the causeway. The legend says that Finn McCool built the causeway, to challenge a Scottish giant to a fight. Geologists tell us that the causeway is made of large crystals of basalt.

We continued to Derry, where we checked into Caw Cottage. Jim the owner was very chatty. We walked over the peace bridge and walked along the wall of the walled city. Richard somehow misunderstood the directions to the restaurant, and we ended up at the train station. When we asked a young lady where the restaurant was, Teresa gave us a ride, as the restaurant was some distance from the train station. Quay West (pronounced Key West) was a modern place with good food. We chatted with the bartender at some length; he was surprisingly knowledgeable about US college football. He was working three jobs, as he and his wife just had a baby. We took a taxi back to our B&B. Unfortunately, we discovered that the bed was extremely soft. Richard could not sleep, so at midnight we packed up quietly and left, leaving a note and some money, and checked into the Premier Inn nearby, where we immediately fell asleep. We got up at 9:30 AM, and had breakfast at Tesco, in the shopping center nearby, where we bought packing tape.

We got on the road at noon on Thursday, and arrived at Mullaghbawn as the kids were getting out from school, in time to say goodbye to Patrick. We shipped a box of rocks back to the states, and said goodby to Dermot and Ann. They had been fabulous hosts for us, and continued to be great hosts for Peg and Barb.

Peg and Barb had productive time in Mullaghbawn, and learned a lot about the ancestors. Kevin continued to meet with Peg and Barb, and was very generous with his time.

The drive to the Dublin Airport was uneventful. We checked into another Premier Inn, and Richard turned in the rental car. We had dinner there, as we needed to get up early for the flight home.  In the morning, Peggy and Barb set a record, from bed to the bus in 15 minutes, after Richard knocked on their door.  The trip home was uneventful; the blog is being written from the Delta Club in Atlanta.

Richard had driven about 1100 km during the trip, and concluded the following: Driving on the left is mentally tiring, especially for the driver. Google is optimistic about how long it takes to drive anywhere; figure to add 30% to their time estimates in Ireland. Those two factors mean that the driving distances should be reduced. Richard felt really worn down from driving by the end of the trip.