Slieve Leauge

After a stormy night, we set off under dark cloudy skies heading south along the Wild Atlantic Way. The weather ended up not being too bad. We would get a shower for 5 minutes then next thing would see a bit of blue sky, then it would rain again but never for  long. We drove through lovely countryside and up some rather scary winding roads at time but this then made for some stunning scenery. Out main objective today was to visit the Slieve Leauge Cliffs which were just stunning. The weather cleared for us, we did go through one hail shower which lasted about 30 seconds but then were fine. The wind did get pretty strong up on top of the cliffs and decided we had gone far enough when we met some walkers coming down who said they had to stop and lie down because the winds were too strong!

Lovely scenery where ever you go

Lots of sheep everywhere- I love their black faces and black legs!

The Atlantic Ocean

It was a narrow, winding road to get to the top of this valley!

The cliffs of Slieve League- just stunning

Mussendon Temple, Londonderry, Grianan Aileach and Fanad Lighthouse

Beautiful one day- amazing the next! I thought today might be a bit of an anticlimax after yesterday's adventures but it was another great day.  First stop was Mussendon Temple- I think it was the Bishop's man cave away from the main house- a library perched up on top of the cliffs. He kept a fire in the basement so the books would not get damp! We were only going to drop in here for a quick look but stayed for quite a while including chatting to the locals at Al's Coffee Van- very friendly folk!

 Downhill  Beach

Mussendon Temple

Mussendon Temple from below perched on top of the cliff.

The paths from these ruins  leads down to Mussendon Temple 

Then on to Londonderry, where we walked around the walls of the old city.

We also walked across the Peace Bridge

Below is the restored ancient Stone Fort known as Grianan Aileach. It was most impressive and amazing views for 360 degrees.

 Last stop below was the Fanad Head Lighthouse in County Donegal. Quite a remote setting, a lovely drive up. We did a tour that took us right up into the top of the lighthouse to see the light- a great experience!

Bushmills and Dunluce Castle

We stopped off at Bushmills Village and had a little wander, seemed a lovely little village. We had a bite to eat and went for a wander.

4 kilometres up the road was the ruins of Dunluce Castle right on the edge of the cliffs, an interesting place to wander through.

Then on to Portstewart where we are staying the night.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Giant's Causeway

First on the agenda was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We had a kilometre walk down to the bridge and they let you across a few at a time. No stopping to take photos on the bridge as it was pretty windy. Some magnificent views around the coast.

 

Then it was on to the Giant's Causeway, a fascinating place. First we walked along the cliff tops, with only a few other brave walkers,  you could walk for miles, then we descended down to sea level where we clamoured over the basalt columns with all the other tourists. The weather was kind to us, windy, cloudy but most importantly pretty dry, just the occasional misty shower. A great day out!

I let him come back up the cliff and didn't stomp on his hands!

Glenariff Forest, Cushendal and Torr Head

We then headed up north along the Coastal Causeway Route- a 120km Irish Great Ocean Road! We stopped of at the town of Waterfoot and headed up into the glen to the Glenariff Forest and did a delightful walk along the river past a number of waterfalls. The autumn colours were beautiful and the weather misty.

From there we headed north to Cushendun, a small seaside village owned by the National Trust

The we took the Torr Head Scenic Route a very windy, narrow road up to Torr Head, had to take it very slowly but fortunately not much traffic around. We were only about 12 miles from Scotland, but couldn't see it because of the mist. We climbed to the old coastguard house now abandoned for some nice views, then made our way to Ballycastle our destination for the night.

The Gobbins Walk

Tuesday we did the Gobbins Walk, about 20 minutes north of Belfast, which was a guided 2 hour walk along the coast line, along bridges and paths along the cliff edge. It was a very popular walk back in the early 1900's but eventually closed due to rock falls. It reopened in 2015 but there were a few setback so closed down to reopen earlier this year. It was a great experience. Quite and engineering feet to get bridges and paths into place. We were lucky we had a group of three, normally up to 15 in a group.

Belfast- Titanic and Black Cab Tour of the Peace Wall

On Monday we headed north in our hire car to Belfast. First stop was the Titanic Quarter where we spent a couple of hours at the Titanic Museum. We learnt a lot about the history of industrial Belfast and then all about the building and sinking of the Titanic a very interesting place.

Then we headed out on a tour of the hot spots of Belfast- Shankell Road and Falls Road and got some background of the troubles that went on in Northern Ireland. We also visited the Peace Wall and got to add our signatures to the wall.

Some of the murals around the city

Monday night we stayed at Carrickfergus just across the road from the Carrickfergus Castle