Day 14 - Antrim Coast

Bushmills Whiskey Distillery

There’s always a day during a long trip when things go a bit sideways and that was today. Jeanne had been fighting a cold for a couple of days but today it got worse and we stopped to get some cold medicine. On the way back to the car she missed a curb and fell. She scraped her hand, forearm and knee. Later in the day the GPS sent us down a very narrow one-lane road and at the end there was a hard left with no room on the right and a concrete wall on the left. No way to back up and I thought I could fit but the van was very long. Wrong. Side of the car was scraped car. Oh well, thank goodness for insurance.

Giant's Causeway

First stop is Bushmills Whiskey distillery. This is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, dating back to 1608 when King James I gave them the license. The tour was interesting and they were continually comparing themselves with the way Scotch is made, trying to make the case that they were better. Triple distilled versus twice distilled for scotch, etc. There was a tasting at the end and the 12-year old whiskey wasn’t bad but I really just don’t like any hard liquors much. Jeanne passed on the tour and the tasting. The Irish pronunciation during the tour was entertaining. Spirit is pronounced spurt. Tour is tur. Barry is Bar-e, not Bare-e.

Giant's Causeway (Side View)

Next stop is the Giant’s Causeway. I think this is supposed to be the top spot to visit in Northern Ireland and the name comes from an old legend about Finn McCool, an Irish giant, who built a land bridge (causeway) from this point in Ireland all the way to Scotland. When he went to Scotland by the bridge he met an even bigger giant who chased Finn back to Ireland. The Scottish giant was so big that Finn knew that he couldn’t defeat him but Finn’s wife had an idea. She dressed Finn up as a baby and when the Scottish giant saw him, he was afraid. After all, if a baby is that big, how big must the father be! So the Scottish giant ran back to Scotland and Finn destroyed the causeway and what we see today are the remains. Interesting to see but very crowded today.

Antrim Coast (Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge)

We drove a bit of the Antrim Coast drive, which is very scenic, passed on the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge because of long lines, had a nice lunch and decided to head to Belfast as it was getting late. It was at this point that I scraped the side of the car after winding through the countryside. We arrived in Belfast and Jeanne’s cold peaked so we stayed in for dinner for the first time on the trip. Tomorrow will be a better day.