Antrim Antics

Dunluce Castle

Attraction | "Fabulous Setting For a Castle"

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This castle clings on the cliff edge - and despite it being in ruins one can imagine that this was once quite a grand and impressive state. Even in its present state, it looks impressive. The castle is just a few miles from Portrush on the coast road. You must buy a ticket to enter, its not that much, and there is a small display about the castle and life in it. But there are few other amenities there apart from toilets and a small shop. You are free to wander around and discover the castle for yourself, and there are several different sections dating to different times, and there are a few levels. You can look down over the edge to the sea.Its quite a romantic location for a castle if yo...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 21, 2011

Dunluce Castle
87 Dunluce Road
Bushmills, Coleraine, County Antrim BT57 8UY
028 2073 1938

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Giant's Causeway

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Attraction | "Myth or science...its still amazing"

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The Giant's Causeway is located just a few short miles away from the village of Bushmills, which is also famed for its whiskey! There are a few options for transport to the Giant's Causeway - there is a park and ride option from Bushmills, a short restored train track, the Ulsterbus public bus route along this part of the coast - but to be honest if you are going to see this part of the coastline - its best with a combination of foot and car - though cycling is also to be recommended because you wouldn't want to rush it.There is a car park at the entrance to the Giant's Causeway - and it does cost a reasonable amount to park. There is also major construction work ongoing in trying to build...Read More

The Giant's Causeway is located just a few short miles away from the village of Bushmills, which is also famed for its whiskey! There are a few options for transport to the Giant's Causeway - there is a park and ride option from Bushmills, a short restored train track, the Ulsterbus public bus route along this part of the coast - but to be honest if you are going to see this part of the coastline - its best with a combination of foot and car - though cycling is also to be recommended because you wouldn't want to rush it.

There is a car park at the entrance to the Giant's Causeway - and it does cost a reasonable amount to park. There is also major construction work ongoing in trying to build a new visitor's centre at the moment - and so the carparking was more limited and the facilities are not the most exciting - but adequate!

You arrive at the entrance which is some distance from the actual causeway - and you have a choice - they do run a shuttle bus up and down to the causeway - the walk is not that far- so we walked down but decided on this occasion to take the bus back up, and you must buy a ticket on the bus. There is no timetable on the shuttle - it just runs up and down every so often depending on how busy things are. The walk down is on a smooth tarmac footpath.

The Giant's Causeway is made up of hexagonal columns. While the scientific explanations for this unusual phenomenon deal with lava and so on - and there are noticeboards explaining this - as well as some of the park rangers on the shuttle bus, the myth is much more interesting in good Irish storytelling style. It focuses on the giant Finn McCool who had a rival Scottish giant, and in having flung things at one another, they build a bridge to fight in person. But the Scottish giant sneaks over the bridge the night before the fight - Finn on finding this out had the help of his wife, who disguised him as a baby. The Scottish giant coming to check out his opponent sees what is supposed to be Finn's baby and is scared with the thought of what size Finn must be then - so he flees back to Scotland and breaks up the bridge as he goes - and all that remains is the small portion of columns that make up the Giant's Causeway. Which makes quite the story.

There are several different rock formations that have been named - from the granny climbing up the hill, the organ made up of long columns in the hillside. But this year was the first time we actually found the fairy chair - it did take a bit of hunting to find the columns that matched the picture - but that's part of the fun! You can easily climb up and down the rocks - as they act like steps even if a little uneven.

The setting is fabulous beside the sea - and the rocks take on very different lives depending on the weather whether in bright sunshine, stormy days with crashing waves, to a completely calm sea in mist. It is beautiful - and interesting both in science and myth.

There are a few walks about the place - but to be honest you'll not spend more than a couple of hours - in fact many visitors take less than an hour to visit the Causeway. But it is definitely worth visiting! Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on April 20, 2011

Giant's Causeway
The Causeway Coast
County Antrim, Northern Ireland

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Ballintoy

Best Of IgoUgo

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Ballintoy is a small village - there is a youth hostel in the village and another further around the coast at White Park Bay (which probably has one of the best views of any youth hostel in the world), a few pubs and a shop, and a small playpark. But its not the village itself that is the attraction. In one direction, heading towards Ballycastle is the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, but heading out of the village in the other direction towards Bushmills/Portrush you can see a small white church on the left-hand side and a road leading down to the harbour. Its a narrow road with some nice bends on it but once you reach the bottom you find a small car park. Its also a good way to get away from coach loads ...Read More

Ballintoy is a small village - there is a youth hostel in the village and another further around the coast at White Park Bay (which probably has one of the best views of any youth hostel in the world), a few pubs and a shop, and a small playpark. But its not the village itself that is the attraction. In one direction, heading towards Ballycastle is the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, but heading out of the village in the other direction towards Bushmills/Portrush you can see a small white church on the left-hand side and a road leading down to the harbour. Its a narrow road with some nice bends on it but once you reach the bottom you find a small car park. Its also a good way to get away from coach loads of tourists as the buses can't make it down the road - but in the summer it will be busy as lots of Northern Irish people know it as a place to stop on a day out.

The harbour itself is tiny, and so are any boats that are there. There is a small cafe/shop which is only open in the summer season. Unfortunetely this trip, there is work going on to spruce the place up - with new paths being laid and carpark redone, which took away some of the magic of this place. If you asked me before this trip were was my favourite place I would have answered Ballintoy harbour, but I think this time the magic has been lost. But its still lovely- there are lots of rocks to clamber over. If you head up the road, there is a small path way just up above the harbour that leads to a small sandy cove.

However, normally if I visit, I don't drive down to the harbour, I actually head out from Ballintoy village along the main road - there is a a wonderful place to stop a bit out of the village for a view before heading to White Park Bay. There is a youth hostel here- but the National Trust maintain the beach area - a wonderful sandy beach with sand dunes and crashing breakers. I normally park in the car park here - and head down the steep and stony path with steps down to the beach, and walk the length of the beach and round the headland and onto the harbour at Ballintoy - enjoy a cuppa and head back - its a good few miles - but the setting is magnificent for a walk! But time didn't permit this time, as it was a quick sightseeing tour with my American friend - but its on my list for the near future as even being up there made me remember why I loved it so much! And maybe I can reclaim the magic and make it my favourite place once again ( but there are some many other wonderful places to choose from as well!) Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 19, 2011

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Thyme and Co Cafe

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Nice Coffee Shop"

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We drove around Ballycastle to see if anything called out to us 'come in and eat' - but some of the places down at the harbour were closed for the winter - but this is closer to the centre of the town. It looked bright and modern from the outside, but at the same time warm and homely. The counter is right at the back and the tables are at the front. So we had a look at what was on offer - there was a wide range of options - and it took us a while to make up our minds! I had a lovely toastie - thick cut bacon - proper stuff from a butcher that isn't pumped filled with water and stuff, and not that dried out hard as rock cooked streaky stuff - supplemented by cheese and pineapple...Read More

We drove around Ballycastle to see if anything called out to us 'come in and eat' - but some of the places down at the harbour were closed for the winter - but this is closer to the centre of the town. It looked bright and modern from the outside, but at the same time warm and homely.

The counter is right at the back and the tables are at the front. So we had a look at what was on offer - there was a wide range of options - and it took us a while to make up our minds!

I had a lovely toastie - thick cut bacon - proper stuff from a butcher that isn't pumped filled with water and stuff, and not that dried out hard as rock cooked streaky stuff - supplemented by cheese and pineapple - there was a good sized luch served with two lovely side salads, not just the usual lettuce. My friend is dairy-free, and so when she asked about the soup - they were 99% sure there was no dairy in it but went and checked with the cook in the kitchen who then came up to reassure her as well - that's good! And the soup was lovely- and the wheaten bread that went with it was apparently too good to share with me!

Unfortunetely the lunch left us so full that the lovely buns, cakes and other 'naughty' sweet things couldn't really tempt us - though they did look wonderful. The other lovely thing was that they had a couple of sweet things that were gluten free - which is nice to see as I know a good number of people who struggle going out for meals, especially for something light at lunchtime or that naughty afternoon tea - and they actually looked good enough that I would have considered ordering them even if I'm not gluten-free.

The prices were reasonable. They have a decent toilet - clean being the most important factor if you are out for the day. Parking is on the street outside - we got parked down the street slightly - but had to walk past a sweet shop - one of those places that has the jars of sweets - so since we had not had room for the lovely cakes, we reckoned we could manage a few sweeties - lemon sherbets and apple tarts being high on my list of favourites.

It was a nice lunch stop - its on the main street through Ballycastle - so no views or anything like that - but those sort of places are hard to find unless you have a picnic - and the weather that day just wasn't up to sitting out at a picnic table. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 19, 2011

Thyme and Co Cafe
5 Quay Road
Ballycastle, Ireland BT54 6BJ

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Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Not quite as scary as it used to be...but still..."

Quote:

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge has been upgraded considerable since its first usage, and even since I was a child a greater focus on health and safety has added additional netting and things. The bridge was originally used by fishermen, and was set up each spring and then taken down in the winter before all the storms. A small fishing cottage and harbour can still be found on the island.The bridge is now maintained by the National Trust and has become quite the tourist attraction - and as such can charge a price for the privilege of crossing the bridge - it was over five pounds when I was there. The bridge is found above the village of Ballintoy, and there is a car park with a small coffee sho...Read More

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge has been upgraded considerable since its first usage, and even since I was a child a greater focus on health and safety has added additional netting and things. The bridge was originally used by fishermen, and was set up each spring and then taken down in the winter before all the storms. A small fishing cottage and harbour can still be found on the island.

The bridge is now maintained by the National Trust and has become quite the tourist attraction - and as such can charge a price for the privilege of crossing the bridge - it was over five pounds when I was there. The bridge is found above the village of Ballintoy, and there is a car park with a small coffee shop. There is a gravel pathway down to the rope bridge...its not the longest walk in the world but if you aren't used to walking the length of yourself it can seem quite a hike, and there are quite a few stone steps which are uneven and warrant some care. There are some suberb views along the walk - but that also means its quite exposed - and so on the day we were there there was quite a breeze, so a good coat was needed.

There is an attendent just at the entrance to the bridge - he checks tickets and controls the 'traffic' over the bridge during busy times as there can only be so many on the bridge at once. But given it was a weekday in March there were not too many about - so plenty of time to get photos on the bridge. The attendent also was very nice as he took photos of the two German girls on the bridge just as we were leaving.

The bridge itself is a little bouncy - my only wish was that I had brought a different handbag so that I had both hands free - but live and learn as they say. And it is quite a drop to the sea below - about 30 metres - and the bridge isn't long at about 20 metres. But the latest bridge that has been designed to be used is much more secure and stable than the others - you'd have to go out of your way to fall off it now - not that anyone ever did - but the story goes that there were always a few tourists who made it out but refused to come back and had to be taken back from the island by boat. The new bridge also means that this is now opening all year round- except of course in bad weather when it would be dangerous to cross.Its not high-adventure now - but there is still a little thrill standing on the bridge and looking down to the sea below.

Its nice to see a part of history maintained - and so while the cost to cross the bridge seems a little high for a local like me - it is worth going and crossing, and getting a little thrill. And make sure you bring your camera - it is beautiful down there.

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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 19, 2011

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Ballintoy, County Antrim
County Antrim, Northern Ireland

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