Day 19: The Game of Giant’s Causeway
Tour groups and bus trips are not our preferred mode of holidaying, even when they offer experiences we could not otherwise gain access to. Other friends to a lot of this sort of thing; but we always feel pretty confident in finding our way. Getting to the Giant’s Causeway required a coach if it was not to involve keeping the car for more (expensive) days; so we joined 50-odd tourists for a 10 hour trip across the North.
Because this is Northern Island, questions of identity and religion were constantly with us. First stop was Carrickfergus Castle, the great Anglo-Norman structure from the 12th Century and the seat of the Lords of Ulster. The town is a major industrial centre and so, as things work here, it is 80% Protestant. That royal short-arse, King William, landed near hear at the beginning of his Irish campaign and is commemorated with a suitably-sized statue. Just up the road we went through Larne, the landing place of the arms destined for the UDF in 1914 (which the Curragh Mutineers refused to prevent). It was a slightly hazy and cloudy day, which gave the photos an unsettling quality.
Our steps were dogged by THAT series. HBO spent so much money in Northern Ireland that everyone knows someone who had a job on the production, especially the extras. The production lasted for over ten years, and while I didn’t recognise much of the landscape — I’ve only seen up to the end of Series 3 — there were some real fans on the bus. The first stop at Carnlough was very pretty, but for the GoT people, it had figured in 10 seconds of Series 6, or something. I just thought it was a great place for water reflections…
The caves of Cushendun were a big don’t bother.
But the drive along the coast and through the Glens of Antrim was beautiful. Some of it was quite weird: the northern part of the Glens are Catholic, but the closer we got to the Giant’s Causeway, the more it became obvious that we were back in Presbyterian territory, and Bushmills is a Protestant closed shop (as was the town). The Church of Ireland are positively shrinking violets, even though they make up a solid and healthy 15% of the population across the six counties.
We enjoyed the walk down to the causeway after being stuck on the bus for a couple of hours. The area was smaller than I imagined, but the walk down was steeper. For the information of future travellers, be aware that access to decent toilets will cost you membership of Heritage Britain (not cheap), the hotel is over-rated, so go to the pub.
On the way back we had more ruined castles and the obligatory walk to the Dark Hedges, before settling into a motorway trip back in to Belfast. We were very glad to have done the trip, and it was certainly easier in the bus rather than the car.
