Northern Ireland

We flew into Belfast early on Saturday morning, picked up our rental car and headed up the east coast. Our partners in crime were Ben and Michelle, an Aussie couple that we met on our earlier trip through North Wales. The coastal road was really pretty, winding its way past the nine Glens (valleys) of Antrim. Our first stop was the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge which gave fantastic views of the rugged coastline. We then made our way to the Giants Causeway, which is an amazing rock formation. There are thousands of basalt columns, that rise up out of the water. It is something that needs to be seen with ones own eyes to be truly appreciated.

We stayed in Bushmills, which is famous for having the oldest whisky distillery in the world. Besides this, it is a really quiet town, except for the occasional parade. Our hostel was good, not much atmosphere (besides that created by ourselves) but it was really clean, and our room was big. We had a good braai on Saturday evening, with a couple of compulsory Guiness'. The boys ended up at the local a bit later, which turned out to be a real eye-opener. Some live (just) music, and a bunch of golden oldies having a party.

Sunday was a day of driving and exploring. We headed off west, into the republic of Ireland, through Londonderry, past Glenveigh National Park , and all the way to the west coast, to a little town called Bunbeg. From there we headed up the coast. The weather was really bad, with a lot of wind and rain, but this just added to the natural beauty of this unspoilt part of Ireland. We stopped past a little pub in Glen for a drink, and then made our way back to Bushmills.

On Monday we popped past the Distillery, and bought some of the good stuff. We then headed off for Belfast, where we had some lunch in The Crown Liquor Saloon. Ben and Michelle had booked a black taxi tour through Belfast, which turned out to be really interesting. It took us past the notorious Catholic and Protestant areas, and we learnt all about the IRA.

All in all a great long weekend.