In the Land of the Giants..

I had decided to get going on Sunday, so packed, showered …and up to 10 a.m. mass at the Fr John’s home Church (although he was saying the 11 a.m. mass !), an enjoyable service, with lots of the locals around..

then it was off, out of Derry crossing the River Foyle on the large new bridge, and skirting the banks of Lough Foyle, I headed out to the coast, firstly seeing signs for Benone beach, so thought I’d go and have a look – well worth the visit, with miles and miles (8 miles actually) of clean sandy beach stretching out in both directions with the waves crashing onto them, and mist hanging over the area.. the beach was almost deserted, although a beach warden told me that in the recent heatwave they had 10’s of thousands of people there, as you could park the car on the beach… and for free !

I then drove up onto the headland, and overlooking the bay, had great views of the sea,loch and Inishowen in Donegal on the other side – I had to dodge the showers though, with a statue of a Viking ( I think) overlooking the waters below and then back the twisty turny road, and out onto the beach again, for lunch before continuing on the ‘Causeway Coastal Route’, twisting along the different headlands, with the Atlantic crashing along my left

I went through the towns of Portstewart and Portrush, which were busy places, with unsettling Union Flags, St George’s with Ulster Red Hand Flags flying aloft from the tops of all the lampposts as I drove in and out – I presume it must be a ‘Unionist’ area, although what these flags say to people .. I leave to your imagination !

Carrying on along the coast, I looked across the headlands towards my objective – the Giants Causeway in the distance, with ruined forts on top of intervening headlands , and as I passed White Rocks area (guess why ?) I could see lots of different arches and towers cut into the softer limestone by the sea – which today was raging and foaming onto the coast

I then got through Bushmills to the Giants causeway visitor area, and after a while managed to get onto one of the car parks.. the place is managed by the National trust , and so, expensive, £8-50 ! I wandered into the visitor centre, and waited for the ‘guided tour’, although I could have used a ‘self guided’ audio one.’Billy’ the tour guide was just getting used to the technology, however we all set off with him for the tour, firstly down towards the ‘stones’ with him telling us a little of the causes, and rocks of the area –including Fionn McCool's ‘camel’..see it ?

Down to the actual causeway itself, and seeing all these columns of Basalt beneath us, and later I would see them towering above me also ! The lower stretches of the causeway were submerged beneath the crashing Ocean waves, but still enough was visible to give me a good idea…  fascinating how they worked out what had caused it, and how the chap who discovered it’s cause…never actually visited it !

I could see further in the distance the ‘Organ’ and so walked up the hillside to that, and also round the corner to another structure the ‘Harp’ where all the columns had bent over at the top, very interesting for us amateur pseudo geologists !!

A climb to the top of the cliff, brought me out onto the headland, overlooking the entire bay and causeway stretching out into the sea

I then returned to the centre, had a welcome cuppa and cake, before continuing my drive along the coast, ready to stop somewhere for the night, it being past 7 p.m. by now..

I found a nice picnic spot, above Benbane head, with distant views across to Scotland…almost home !  ..and settled down for a peaceful night..with a ‘bird’ to keep me company… Goodnight !