Northern Ireland Coast, p. 2
May 2, 2017
After visiting the Giant’s Causeway and lunch at their visitors’ center, we continued the drive along the coast, passing more spectacular scenery and more sheep.
We stopped for a while at a scenic location near Ballintoy.
The yellow-flowered bushes we saw are of an invasive species that has taken over much British countryside.
This plaque shows what you are seeing in each direction. If you can see for 800 miles, it shows you the direction to look for Iceland.
The two pictures below show the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, originally built by salmon fishermen about 350 years ago and repaired and rebuilt many times since then. It is sixty feet long. I read that it is not unusual for tourists to make it to the little island, but then chicken out of the walk back across and have to be brought back by boat. I wouldn't do that. I'd chicken out before I went the first time.
Back in the bus we continued to see gorgeous scenery.
We stopped again at the harbor on Carnlough Bay, at the foot of Glencloy ("valley of swords"), one of the nine glens of County Antrim.
We continued on the North Coast road toward the town of Larne. We passed near enough to the Methodist church in town that I got a picture. It is not surprising to find Methodists in Larne. John Wesley was known to preach there from time to time. The Methodist Church in Ireland (Eaglais Mheitidisteach in Éirinn) is the fourth largest Christian body in Northern Ireland. The denomination encompasses the whole of Ireland, as do other religious bodies, such as the Church of Ireland, that name given to the Anglicans.
Supposedly at least six American presidents had roots in that area. There is an elementary school in Clover, SC, named for the town. And my ancestors back in the hills used to say, "That’ll larne ye!"
The next morning we did the Titanic Belfast tour, as told on my Belfast page, before we headed south to Dublin, in a whole ’nother country.
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