Started our day off heartily as Erna fed us a massive Irish breakfast of bacon, sausage, pancakes, potato bread, soda bread, egg, mushrooms, tomato, and brown beans. On top of that there was orange juice and tea to drink and all the cereal and toast you could manage.
After bidding her farewell in Portrush, we made our way to the Giant's Causeway, just a few miles down the road.....which reminds me....did you know that in Northern Ireland the speed limits are all in miles per hour and in the Republic of Ireland they're all in kilometers?
In addition to the differences in speed and distance measurements we noticed a few other little changes between the two countries too. We tend to think of Ireland as all being one place but it is so obvious when you're here and passing between the two countries that they're really quite unique from one another. In addition to the obvious....one country uses pound sterling and the other uses euros for currency....we became acutely aware of the differences in the state of the roads having travelled on them for many hours. Generally speaking the north has better rural roads but the south has superior motorways (major highways). The houses in north are usually more neutral in colour whereas the homes in the Republic are often brightly painted. The price of gas in the Republic is about 1.18 Euros/litre ($1.92 CAD) and in the North it is about 1.06 pounds/litre ($2.01 CAD) The south is ribboned with stone fences and cross fences whereas the north uses a lot more wood in their fencing. The accents of the people are quite different from one another but the thing they definitely both have in common is the friendly nature of their residents.
But I digress.....the Giant's Causeway is a wonder of nature and I am thankful to have been able to experience both ends (Scottish and Irish) of that phenomenon. We hiked down to the waters edge and wandered among the basalt pillars scanning the area for the landmarks that the signs encourage you to look for. While we didn't have a lot of luck with that part of the adventure...we certainly enjoyed our time there and mom and I were more than a little thankful for the shuttle bus that was available to carry us the 1.5 km back up the hill. Rob and Jenna were far more enthusiastic and hiked their way back up too!
The legend that is attached to the Giant's Causeway is that there were two Giant's who were bitter enemies. One lived in Scotland and the other in Ireland. One of them built the Causeway to be able to gain access to his enemy so he could defeat him in battle. The Irish Giant (Sean) heard that the Scottish Giant (Finn) was massive in size and so became afraid that he wouldn't be able to win the battle unless he used his creative wit. He went home where his wife dressed him up as a baby before Finn arrived to do battle. When Finn arrived at the home of Sean....only his wife and 'baby' were there. Sean's wife explained that Sean was out fishing and hunting and that he wouldn't be home for some time. When Finn saw how big Sean's 'baby' was....he determined that the father must be even more massive than he and so he changed his mind about doing battle and returned to Scotland instead. Another great ancient legend that is rife with wisdom.....
After the Causeway....we made our way to the town of Bushmills where we toured the distillery that has been in operation for more than 400 years! It was an interesting tour and the tasting at the end was yummy.
From Bushmills....we travelled in a southerly direction stopping at interesting points along the way. We came across a wonderful castle that was perched on the edge of the cliffs so took some time to check it out before making our way to a series of standing stone circles that have been carbon dated to more than 4000 years old. Little is clearly understood about the purpose of the standing stone circles but none the less...there is no question that they played a significant role in the lives of the people who walked this land thousands of years ago. We continued along for the rest of our journey jumping back and forth from main highways to rural back country roads and saw some amazing scenery along the way.
Our journey ended tonight in Cavan as we arrived at Farnham House B & B where we'll spend just one night before moving on to the Forde family farm.
Yes....it was another great day in this land of leprachans and fairies.
Till the next time....
L x 2
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