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The
Carrick-a Rede Rope bridge, not for the faint hearted |
BIn
my first story of 2006 I would like to share with you a lovely trip
I had to Antrim’s Causeway Coast.
Back in early December I had the pleasure of taking a party of Overseas
Students on a Four Day tour to this stunning part of Northern Ireland.
We departed Sligo early morning and travelled through Donegal and by
Lunchtime we had arrived in Derry City. We had a Two hour stop for
lunch and a little bit of sightseeing, my party were very impressed
with Derry and what it has to offer the visitor and as we left my party
assured me they would make a visit to the City sometime in the near
future.
We continued our journey heading North along the A 2 passing Lough
Foyle on our left, there are wonderful views across the lake looking
towards Donegal’s Inishowen Peninsula, we were soon bypassing
Limavady then onto Coleraine and then took the Coast Road to our Hostel
where we were staying close to Ballycastle. We soon had the coach unloaded
and settled into our comfortable accommodation for our Three Night
stay.
Next Morning we took a short drive into Ballycastle to explore what
the town has to offer. The town occupies a prime position overlooking
the new harbour and marina.
There is regular ferry service from the port to Rathlin Island, which
is a journey of about six miles. The marina is well laid out with a
large fleet of beautiful privately owned yachts berthed in the safety
of this sheltered marina. We then took a stroll into town, we found
all the people we met to be very friendly, the town has been unaffected
by commercialism, so therefore it retains much of its original character.
There is a wide range of fine pubs, coffee shops and restaurants and
the Marine Hotel is in a prime position overlooking the harbour and
marina, here we dined and were afforded wonderful hospitality and fine
food.
My group had a special interest in Churches so we made a visit to The
Holy Trinity Church. It is known locally as The Boyd Church because
Hugh Boyd, the Landlord of Ballycastle, built it. Work on the construction
began in 1756 and locals believe it was built as a private chapel for
the Boyd Family. Mr Boyd paid for the all the costs of the construction
and fitting out of the church and no grants were received from any
other source. The Church is built in the Grecian style of architecture
with a lofty spire built from stone from a local sandstone quarry.
Inside the church we found several memorials to the Boyd family.
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The famous
Giant's Causeway, a magnet for tourists from all over the
world on the Antrim coast |
Our
next church was St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s, which
was built in 1874, this is a most impressive building on an impressive
elevated site. Across the road from the church is Cross & Passion
College, which opened on 15th September 1924. In 1978 the College was
amalgamated with the Star of the Sea Secondary School to form the Cross & Passion
Comprehensive College. The visit to the church and college was special
to me as we had the Sisters of The Cross & Passion in our Parish
in Quinton.
The final visit of the day was to ruins of Bonamargy Friary; the friary
was founded by Rory Mac Quillan in 1500 and was used until the mid
seventeenth century. There is a memorial to John Mac Naghten, secretary
to Randal Mac Donnell 1st Earl of Antrim.
A small disc-headed cross marks the grave of “The Black Nun” who
was a recluse here in the 17th century.
Next morning we set of along the Coast road for the Giants Causeway,
as we headed out of Ballycastle there are magnificent views across
the bay looking towards Rathlin Island and in the distance we could
see The Mull of Kintyre. Our fist stop was to visit Carrick- a Rede
Rope Bridge, this is not for the faint hearted, the bridge connects
the mainland to a little Island, we then made a visit to Irelands smallest
church (12ft x 6.5ft) at Portbraddan.
We then continued to Giants Causeway, on arrival after booking in we
visited the interpretive center, this explains the geological enigma
of the Causeway. The centre has a theatre where we had colourful audiovisual
presentation ex-plaining the volcanic origin of the surrounding area;
the presentation also suggests that the legendary Irish giant, Finn
Mc Cool undoubtedly had a hand in its creation.
Following the visit to the interpretive center it was now time to
explore this astonishing complex of basalt columns packed together.
Over the causeway we were told that they were about 37,000 of these
stone columns. There are various formations of the columns, and have
names ranging from the Grand Causeway, the Giant’s Granny, Lord Antrim’s
Parlour, the Keystone and the Punchbowl.
Following a four-hour visit to the Giants Causeway we then set off
for a visit to the town of Bushmills and a visit to its famous Distillery.
We had a guided tour and I was surprised to learn that it’s the
world’s oldest legal whiskey distillery, whiskey has been distilled
here since 1608, following the tour it was time for my party to have
a tasting of this fine product, being a Pioneer I headed for the
coffee shop for a nice cup of tea and lovely piece of home made cake.
After a most enjoyable visit and all my party smiling following their
tasting session, it was back on the coach and back to base for the
night.
Next morning it was up bright and early to catch the ferry from Ballycastle
to Rathlin Island, the crossing took just under an hour. On arrival
on the island we made a visit to the Boathouse Visitor Centre, here
we found a large collection of photographs and artifacts associated
with Island life down the years. We were also shown the Rathlin Community
Quilt, which depicts many events and special features of the island.
We then set off for a walking tour, the island is L shaped; one side
is four miles long, the other side three, and it is nowhere more than
a mile across. We discovered that many Islanders have cottage industries,
making ceramics and silverware, we found quite a number of woodcarving
workshops, we had a few demonstrations on the art of woodcarving and
also had the opportunity to purchase some souvenirs made from wood.
After four hours it was time to walk down to the harbour to catch
our ferry back to the mainland. We were lucky to have fine weather
throughout our visit to the Causeway Coast, everyone we met were
so friendly and indeed were delighted to meet students for overseas.
Next morning we bid farewell to our hosts and retraced our journey
back through Derry and Donegal and home to Sligo. The Students were
sad to leave but told me they thoroughly enjoyed the Stunning Beauty
of Antrim’s Causeway
Coast.
A few useful websites:
For Ballycastle information - www.moyle-council.org
And Marine Hotel - www.marinehotel.net
Until the next time Its Good Bye and God Bless from the Hills of Sligo.. |
