Giant's Causeway

We journeyed from Dublin up to the Giant's Causeway yesterday. The drive took us longer than we expected because there were a lot of back roads and slower speed limits than the motorways. We left Dublin around noon, and after some quick navigating and a few wrong turns, got out of the city and on the way north. Initially, we had planned on stopping in Belfast on the way up, but after the bustle of Dublin, and all the cities we'd been in recently, Anna and I just wanted the country and some peace and quiet. So, we bypassed Belfast and kept driving north.

We stopped at a small roadside restaurant for lunch, and it was there that we realized that they use a different currency in Northern Ireland; they are based on the Pound. It is strange because there is no physical demarcation between Northern Ireland and Ireland. There is no sign saying "Welcome to Northern Ireland", no border patrol asking if you are carrying any fruits, chemicals or snails with you. You simply step out of the car at some point, and discover that you are in a different country. Even the measurements are different. When I started seeing signs that said 50 on them, I thought something was wrong. In Ireland, they go by kilometers per hour. 50 km/hr is pretty slow, only about 30 miles an hour, and on a highway, that is like crawling. Pretty soon, I started seeing signs that told me that there were towns coming up in 5 miles, and I realized that the other signs were telling me the limit was 50 mph. That gets a little confusing when your speedometer only reads in km/hr.

At any rate, we reached the Giant's causeway at around 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a brisk walk down the cliff to the beginning, but it was worth it.


As you can see, the rock has shaped itself in a series of hexagonal pillars. This occured around 100 million years ago when lava flowed from the Earth into the sea and was cooled very quickly. As it cooled, cracks formed in the lava (think of mud drying in the sun). Over time, the top layers eroded away, leaving only the lava, which has now become basalt.



The steps are very flat and easy to climb. However, near the ocean, they become encrusted with algae and very slippery. We were given a brochure about saftey precautions that told us that several people every year fall into the Atlantic when they get to close to edge (there are no fences here).

Like many things in Ireland, there is a local myth that goes along with the Giant's Causeway, and is the reason for its name. It tells of two giants, on in Scotland, and one in Ireland. I have forgotten their names, but the giant in Ireland heard that there was another giant in Scotland, and went to Scotland to challenge him. When he got there, he found the Scottish giant sleeping, and saw that he was much larger that the himself, so the Irish giant fled back home. Upon waking, the Scotish giant heard that he had been visited, and went to Ireland to beat up his challenger. The Irish giant's wife heard that the Scottish giant was coming and quickly dressed her husband up in baby's clothing and put him in a basket. When the Scottish giant arrived, he demanded to know where her husband was. She told him that her husband was out, and to be quiet so that he didn't wake the baby. The Scottish giant took one look at the imposter baby in the basket and decided that if that was how big the Irish giant's baby was, he didn't want anything to do with the father. He ran back to Scotland, tearing up the land as he went. (Moral of the story: men would not survive long without their wives to back them up.)




We spent about two and a half hours walking around on the paths, climbing on the rocks and taking pictures.




Anna didn't know I was taking the photo above, but it was too good to pass up.





The formation below is called "The Organ". As you can see, the stones look like Organ pipes reaching up into the ceiling.



The picture below is of the path leading around the corner into a cove called the "Aphitheater". So called because sound echos and sounds much louder there. The path is closed here because of too many rock falls and hikers not paying attention and falling off the cliff.

The pathway.

The picture above I included exlusively for Anna's dad. She's told me of all the time she spent as a girl looking at cool flowers and little creatures. Joe, you should know that she spent at least an hour walking up and down the path taking hundreds of photos of the pretty flowers found in the area. I finally had to lead her away because it was getting late. Below is some of what she was taking photos of. Admittedly, they are quite beautiful.

We ended the day at the BayView Hotel about a mile up the road from the Causeway. It is a quaint little hotel with great views. Below you can see the view from our balcony. Notice the time on my wristwatch. Yes, that is five minutes to ten at night. We are so far north here, it stays light until about 10:30, and starts getting light again at around 3:30 AM. Thank goodness for blackout shades. - Scott