The Causeway Coastal Route

this morning joanne and i took a drive up the Causeway Coastal Route, which is an absolutely beautiful drive that can take you all the way around the coast of Northern Ireland.

our first stop was at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. this rope bridge spans of chasm of 80 feet deep. it used to be used by the fisherman who caught salmon. since the depletion of salmon, the rope bridge is now a tourist attraction. there was a heck of a walk to and from the rope bridge, resulting in a red face and rapidly pounding heart (for both joanne and i!) due to the steep incline of the path. the bridge itself was not very long, about 65 feet long. apparently there have been a few mishaps on the bridge, of people falling over, although no deaths have been reported!


we then stopped for lunch at a quaint little cafe in a fisherman's village, right on the coast.

our next stop was the Giant's Causeway. The Giant’s Causeway is a world heritage site and Ireland’s foremost natural tourist attraction. Famous for its 37,000 large stone pillars, the causeway was formed 60 million years ago by molten lava cooling and shrinking as it came in contact with the atmosphere. (yes i got this off the internet)


there is, however, a much more interesting story about how this causeway was formed!
legend has it that a giant, called Finn MacCool, built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his enemy, another giant called Benandonner. Finn MacCool fell asleep before he got to Scotland, and when he did not arrive, Benandonner came across to Ireland, looking for him. to protect Finn, his wife, Oonagh, laid a blanket over him and pretended that he was actually Finn's son. When Benandonner saw the size of the "infant", he assumed that the baby's alleged father, Finn, must be gigantic! Benandonner fled home to Scotland, terrified, and ripped up the causeway to prevent Finn from following him.

there are actually similar rock formations on the island of Staffa in Scotland, which would lead people to believe this causeway legend. and yes, some of these pictures are from the internet! somehow, my amateur photos didn't do this place justice!!!


from the Giant's Causeway we made our way home. the drive itself was stunningly gorgeous, something i will definitely want to do again during my year here.

i hope you enjoyed the history lesson in this post! to learn more about the Giant's Causeway, click
here.