DAY 5 THURSDAY: CAUSEWAY COAST WAY

The sunny dry spell has truly broken - more rain today, but we are better prepared!  We arrived at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge car park and suited up.  On went the oversized Frogg Togs rain pants.  Not very stylish, but they do the job.

The bridge was cool, but not as daunting or exciting as I thought it would be.  It takes you across to a small rock of an island which was traditionally used by salmon fishermen.  The spectacular views can be had without paying almost 6 pounds for a bridge ticket!  On to Ballintoy Harbour, a charming spot:

We left the Carrick-a-Rede car park (in the rain) and walked along the Causeway Coast Way, part of a larger trail system called the Ulster Way, to the harbour, and stopped there to eat our lunches.  Then on past a food truck, now closed, selling ice cream and dulse!  That's some kind of seaweed.  Not sure what form it took at the food truck.

This house was right by the harbour.  Would you guess, seeing the palm trees (which are all over Ireland as ornamentals) that this house is right on the North Atlantic Ocean? Looks like Florida!

 

Here's Lucy's little stand-in with Christopher, our guide, on the beach of White Park Bay.  The Causeway Coast Way goes along this beautiful beach.  If the tide is out as it was for us, you can scramble up some boulders at the other end of the 2 km stretch of beach to access another leg of the trail.  

We visited St. Gobban's church , the smallest church in Ireland - holds only 10 people!  Heavy weather and a trail blockage prevented us from going quite as far as originally planned, so we backtracked to the van and headed off to Cushendall.  Peeling off various layers of rain-soaked outerwear resulted in some fogged up windows for a while!

Here's a lovely little house in the village of Cushendall, the heart of the Antrim Glens.  Like many homes we've seen, it's got a jumble of flourishing flowers festooned around its yard and doorway.  Unlike anywhere we've been so far, these folks must be burning coal for some heat - see the smoke rising from the chimney?  There's also a bag of coal lying by their front door.  Wish we could stop by and hang up our damp clothes to dry at this house!