You can opt to watch from a distance, and try to spot the dinosaur prints in the rocks around the bridge entrance. The bridge dangles over a 30 m (100 ft) chasm and trembles as you walk, while the foamy waters below occasionally spatter you with droplets of spindrift. Nowadays, the only remnant of the fishermen’s precarious existence is a white stone cottage.Ĭrossing the secure, but insubstantial-looking wooden-slatted rope bridge can be an exhilarating - or terrifying - experience, depending on how you look at it. It was strung up by salmon fishermen in 1755 to connect the mainland to Carrick-a-Rede Island, a grassy chunk of gray tuff (consolidated volcanic ash). Only attempt it if you’re sure-footed.Īnother visually arresting sight on the Antrim Coast is the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. A word of warning about walking on the columns: the farther out you go, the causeway becomes more treacherous and wave-battered. You can either walk down the cliff side to the base of the Causeway, which takes 10 to 15 minutes, or catch the tram to the bottom. One version alleges that local giant Finn MacCool was aiming to build a bridge over to Scotland to reach his love. Guides recount the folklore behind this geological curiosity just before you first set eyes on the causeway, and it certainly builds the suspense. The varying heights of the otherwise almost identical hexagonal columns makes them seem like enormous stepping stones, steps indeed big enough for a giant’s tread. It stretches out to sea like an oversized stairway. This works especially well when you visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Giant’s Causeway, a headland formed by 40,000 dovetailed basalt columns on a bed of chalk. It’s a good idea to travel with a guide in Northern Ireland, as so much of what you’re seeing is enhanced by the freight of local myth and legend, which a knowledgeable guide can bring to life. Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge The Giant’s Causeway You can no longer drive down the road due to the damage the constant traffic was causing to the root systems, but you can walk underneath the tangled canopy, which I’d argue is more atmospheric anyway. The result looks like some sort of pathway to fairyland. This is a strip of road lined with beech trees that lean forward to almost entirely enclose the road in a natural tunnel of intertwined branches. Its proximity to the city makes the coast easily accessible.Įn route to the Antrim Coast, there’s the opportunity to see the Dark Hedges in Ulster Province. Northern Ireland’s Antrim Coast Dark Hedges, Ulster Provinceīelfast has grown up around its industry, but within ten minutes of clearing the urban sprawl you’re surrounded by pristine emerald countryside. A place where prehistoric hill forts stand watch over a far-flung archipelago of bleakly beautiful, rocky terrain, surrounded by a churning Atlantic.įrom the coast of Northern Ireland (part of UK territory) to the tip of the Dingle Peninsula in the southwest, I’ve picked the island’s places of natural beauty that most resonate with me. An island with a savage-looking coastline and monstrously high cliffs, juxtaposed with white-sand beaches more reminiscent of the Caribbean than northern Europe. It’s the bucolic Emerald Isle, but it’s also a land where mountains loom over glassy lakes. This Ireland exists, but I didn’t know until fairly recently just how narrow my impressions were. A place where, when the light’s just right, the hillsides and farmland glow even greener, contrasting with the neon primary yellow of the furze that flowers year-round. I had an image of pastoral Ireland as a place where sheep dot the fields.
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