Day 17 ~ Part One Giant's Causeway

We woke up to get back on the road again. We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us so we needed to get a good start on the day. To be honest, it was hard to get back in the car again so soon but the excitement about our destination soon took over. Liam was not impressed to be back in the car seat but soon fell asleep and had a nice long nap much to our delight. Clodagh was back at Eileen's for the day as it just would have been too long of a day for her.

We all had to gas up before our trip and Keith came back to the car after paying with a TIM HORTON'S coffee! I was flabbergasted. Timmy's in Ireland? It was an Esso station and they had a small corner with Tim's coffee, muffins and donuts. I was truly surprised. Keith was happy and said it wasn't exactly like the coffee at home but close enough.

We headed to Northern Ireland and the Antrim Coast. We passed through a few seaside towns with resorts that were stunning. The weather could not have been more perfect for us.

Would you look at this viewpoint! Very windy and very pretty.

There was a links golf course right along the ocean.

Seaside destination....beautiful.

Dun Luce Castle. We didn't stop to explore but this is an old famous castle where the kitchen section dropped into the sea one night taking some servants along with it.

One does not need to go to London to see a red phone booth!

Darryl packed us another delicious picnic. Nathan and Chad were still feeling a bit poorly and had very little appetite.

One can either take a bus down to Giant's Causeway or walk the one kilometre trail to the beach. We all have able legs and definitely wanted to walk.

Just in case you didn't know where you were...

And as you round the corner you see this...

Nathan and Chad had been so anxious to see this place. They were fascinated by all the rocks and said it was even better than they imagined it would be. There are scientific explanations for the rock formations and legends as well.

There were many tourists here. The most I'd seen at any attraction we had visited so far. It's quite a famous landmark.

Looking back up from the beach.

And then looking towards the ocean.

One must have proper footwear to traverse these rocks. I saw many ladies in little heels, flip flops and the like. Foolish!

See that point to the right of my head? We walked the trail to it!

And this is on part of that trail.

Liam lived in his backpack that day! What a good sport.

The men walked back to the Visitor's Centre the same way we walked in. If you enlarge the photo below you might be able to see them on the path. Sinead and I took the older kids up the steps to the bluff and walked back on the level path.

This is looking back at the trail network we had just walked. Now it was time to do some cardio and get up those very steep steps!

Oh but my pics are slightly out of order. Here is Darryl at the point (the one that was by my head in the earlier photo) with the red rocks.

This is the view of the Causeway Stones from the top of the bluff. Everyone is a wee speck now!

We made it! Nathan was feeling really ill at this point but was a trooper and did those steps very well. I felt horrible for him because this was the one place he was the most excited about. I think that virus hit him the hardest.

They weren't kidding about strong winds. I have never ever felt such a wind in my life. I was holding onto Chad as I thought he might get blown away!!! The flowers were bent at a 90 degree angle. I wasn't sure the picture would turn out as I couldn't even hold my camera still.

Happily everyone made it safely back to the picnic area/car park. Darryl and Keith beat us there which was quite a surprise. Later they admitted they RAN the way back. Crazy. Emma was lovely the whole time and had a few smiles for me.

Our day wasn't quite over yet. We had another thrilling adventure to go!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway