Antrim Coast and Northern Ireland

Carnlough is a beautiful site, well recommended, even if the town is not exciting. People were quite nice there.


Carnlough and its beach

The next day, we drove up the beautiful coast to the Glenariff Forest Park. "After coffee and friendly (Irish) talking (more than chatting) with the proprietress of the site cafe, we decided ... to walk 'up' to the waterfall. In fact, we wound up taking the whole waterfall walk: 1:40 down and 0:30 back up. It was gorgeous, reminiscent of the Bürser Schlucht [in Brand]...". There is a "beautiful micro-climate, with ferns and rhododedrons and all sorts of other flowers ... Lots of wild rhodos, digitalis and other things. We loved it."


Glenariff	Rhododendrons

The creek becomes a lovely waterfall called Ess na Larach, the Mare's Fall

We stopped to look at the Stone-Age stones called "Ossian's grave". Near Cushendun, we saw Shane O'Neill's cairn (supposedly) and took the narrow Antrim Coast road to Balleycastle. That is a beautiful road, tho very narrow, making it difficult to meet a car. But there are "gorgeous views over the glens and bays."


Ossian's grave	The beatiful Antrim Coast

Shane O'Neill's cairn with memorial to Sir Roger Casement	That's Scotland in the distance

Narrow Antrim Coast road	Sheep, glens and sea

We visited the Giant's Causeway with its fluted basaltic rock formations. Our night spent at Portrush was the only moment when we felt at all uneasy about being in Northern Ireland. And that was because of the Fundamentalist Protest graffiti on the walls, People,again, were very friendly.

Giant's causeway

Seated tourist at the Giant's Causeway

The next day, we re-entered "the South" (in the north) and visited the Grianan of Aileagh, an ancient Ui Néill (O'Neill) fort dating from around -1700.


Grianan of Aileagh, an ancient Ui Néill fort

On to Donegal and Galway and environs or back to Ireland 1997.

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