Breakfast and packing was followed by a walk around the guesthouse lands. We found 4 hungry mares and one foal, and we had great fun feeding them grass. (John claims he saw a white donkey, but we do not believe him; he must have been into the Bushmills souvenirs…) Sheila and Kristine also found the Famine Graveyard for those from the local workhouse and, for some reason, a german princess.

We headed out with intentions to see 1 of the 9 Glens of Antrim, but took a wrong turn soon after Ballycastle and ended up on a detour through (or at least near) a different glen. As the forest ended and the road along the fields got narrower and quieter, we asked an older man on the road to help us get our bearings. This man WAS Northern Ireland. From his tweed cap, tweed Sunday coat, trousers tucked in his wellies, 6 front teeth, walking stick, border collie, and impenetrable accent, he could not have been better suited to his sheep filled environment. He did his best to help, but he couldn’t really tell us where we were on our map or how to get where we were going. We are pretty sure he has never been much beyond Ballycastle in his life, and knows every road by sight, not name. When he began to wax nostalgic about another car full of foreigners he once met on the road and “never saw again,” we decided we’d better just turn around and head back the way we came in.

When we did find the Glen we wanted, we realized that we were running too late to pay to park and hike into the big waterfall. But the drive in to it was still beautiful.  The reason we did not have time was that we’d said we would be in Lisburn to meet up with John’s relatives “for a late lunch.” Getting diverted off the Belfast freeway and through some badly signed, slightly shady side of the city, however, we were not there until about 3. (It is clear to us that ALL Ireland — North and South — is in a state of massive road construction. In fact, we are thinking the 2 countries have spent more on enormous orange pylons then they will on their road projects!)

There was only time for a quick snack with John’s cousins (Florence and Chris Reid and Desmond Shortt) and then we all headed off to see the farm where John’s father spent his boyhood. We were shown around by the granddaughter of the man who bought the farm from John’s grandfather (just before he moved the family to Canada). She was wonderfully informative. The relatives then took us to see the church graveyard where many of John’s ancestors are buried. The relatives then treated us to an elaborate dinner before we headed back to Dublin (which, by the way, is a harder city to navigate in the dark after you have been traveling all day).

Our trip up North was amazing, but we did feel a bit like we were “back home” when we reached Siobhan’s house.

After breakfast at the guesthouse, we headed out (again in the brilliant sun … ah, what a tease that sun is) to see what the tour buses take people to see in that part of the world. In fact, we kept running into the same girl from Edmonton at the sites. As she was alone, she had us take several pictures for her.

Our first stop was Carrick-A-Rede Bridge.  The 1 km walk to the bridge was lovely, but during the long queue to actually go across the bridge, the rain started. (We didn’t know about the rain’s ambitious and regular schedule yet; this is where we learned it. David used his fancy new watch to time the periods between showers) It rained just until we crossed, not when we did, and only once when we were on the beautiful but steep, slippery, and wind- beaten island on the other side. The kids were quite brave on the bridge; only Sheila felt a little shaky on the first crossing. Our walk back was blessed; the TRUE downpour of the morning happened as we were reaching the parking lot. Lesson learned: the car is NOT a close enough place for your umbrella, even if the sun is shining when you get out of the car.

Next stop is the Giant’s Causeway, and, quite frankly, our true destination. Triumph learned about the Giant, Finn MacCool, at school this past year, and this site was the highlight of my trip to Ulster in 1981 too. Umbrellas firmly clasped, there was nothing but sun. It was actually quite lovely!  The kids did their best to walk to Scotland and climb as high as MacCool’s head.

On the way to our next stop, we past a small but gorgeously situated castle ruin, Dunseverick, that wasn’t on our plan but was worthy of a stop and several photos. That whole area is a landscape photographer’s dream!

We then headed into Bushmills for lunch. While John, David and Athena toured the oldest whiskey distillery in the world, Kristine, Sheila and Triumph continued on Sheila’s fruitless hunt for Irish hand towels. Who’d have figured that would be would be so hard to find in Ireland?

Although we thought we were too late to tour it, we then drove on to at least look at the outside of Dunluce Castle.  Thankfully, the guide book was wrong, and we managed to get a half hour there before they closed. Again our timing worked out such that the showers were very slight during our time there, and the afternoon light off the cliffs was amazing. This was the second posh-est of the castles we’ve seen thus far (our count sits at 4), but the other had a roof! The kids were quite taken by the fact that the kitchen, full of servants, just fell into the sea one day. It does make you step lightly, I must say. David managed to find out other interesting details about its current owner from the staff member on the site.

Hungry and tired, we headed up to Portrush, which is where all the people from the tour busses are staying. What a tourist town that is! The streets were buzzing, and restaurants and parking lots were stuffed. We found some space in a beach-front cafe and the kids enjoyed a little time on the playground before we headed back to Ballycastle to sleep soundly.

Everyone slept in this morning (except John and Sheila who had to get on an 8am flight to Frankfurt). We are taking a day to catch our breath because the last 3 days have been so full. I will therefore do it in 3 entries.

On Friday, we headed out of Dublin in the bright sun. We were very surprised that there is no obvious border between Southern and Northern Ireland. Forget gates and guards; there wasn’t even a sign! All that did change, besides the flags, were the speed and distance markers; they went from metric to imperial. We stopped in Lisburn to grab a snack and some Ulster pounds (which do not stretch as far as the Euro, we found out) and then drove quickly through Belfast. We caught a glimpse of Samson and Goliath, the 2 HUGE cranes that helped build the Titanic, but that’s about all for the capital.

The rain started about then. It would come down in buckets for 5 to 15 minutes then stop for 20 to 30 minutes. This, it turns out, was the way it was to be for our entire stay in the country. We got good at feeling it coming and taking cover to wait it out. We were nevertheless determined to get on to Carrickfergus Castle, and we were so glad we did. It is very nicely set up for self tours and very geared for kids, with lots of life-sized, posed and painted statues of canon crew, crossbow shooters, prisoners, mounted knights, etc. The kids’ favorite was King John, who has been placed, rather irreverently, “sitting on the john”.

We sped through Larne, which was a bit disappointing. John and Sheila have a painting of the Larne harbour in its prime; it is no longer in its prime. The Antrim Causeway Coastline after Larne, however, is nothing short of magnificent. David handled the predictable showers and narrow winding roads exceedingly well, and the rest of us perfected our “oooo” s and “aaah” s. I’ve never seen so many stunning vistas or so much green or so many sheep!

Our guesthouse was just outside Ballycastle, and had an amazing view of Fair Head, Rathlin Island, and the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. We had dinner in a restaurant on the beach in Ballycastle, where a group of 8 drummers on tall stilts were also performing a very long (no pun intended) set. After dinner, we went for a walk around the sandy bay and got caught in the most fierce of the day’s rain showers! We had to stop and huddle under umbrellas and trees for a full 5 minutes. Soaking wet, we eventually ran back to the shops to get the kids their promised ice cream. We then went to the guesthouse to crawl into warm dry beds. Our clothes were still wet in the morning. We now understand how the Emerald Isle stays green!

No easy internet while we were there so no posts till now.  Saw loads, even an Orangemen parade in Lisburn.?  Won’t miss the instant coffee or the rain showers which fell every 20 minutes but absolutely amazing scenery. Tons of sheep too.  Below is the Red Hand of Ulster flag which was almost always seen with the Union Jack.  Will post more words and pics of Northern Ireland soon.

Got the rental and filled with tourists and luggage.