Portrush and the Antrim Coast

We visited with the Doyles into Monday morning the next day and then headed around the coast to Portrush. On our way we stopped in Letterkenny and took in Liz Doyle’s exhibit, which had just begun the Wednesday before. It was a very beautiful drive.

The normally busy seaside town of Portrush was quite dead at the end of September! We had a good “Stick with Rick” hotel that was very comfortable. We had a decent dinner and just a nice evening, including watching the next episode of the new Dr. Martin series. Lots of great new Brit TV to watch, including Downton Abbey (although we missed episode 2 because we were at Cruit Island) and a new series called Midwinter of the Spirit based on the Phil Rickman novels about The Rev. Merrily Watkins. I like those books a lot!

On Tuesday we headed to Belfast via The Giant’s Causeway and the Bushmill’s Distillery, both very close to Portrush. The Giant’s Causeway is an amazing geological wonder - a World Heritage site. All these basalt columns stick up along the coast - “like someone offering a pack of cigarettes to God,” according to Rick Steves - and make for a stunning and beautiful sweep of coastline. We walked about 5 miles down to the water and up to the cliffs and just took it all in. It was a beautiful, sunny day - these are continuing! It was a really fine experience.

The Giant's Causeway

Amazing Formations

Really Tall Rocks!

The Bushmill’s Distillery was a fine experience as well. It was interesting to learn the difference between Irish Whiskey (with an “e”) and Scotch Whisky (no “e”). The Irish Whiskey business was totally devastated by Prohibition in the US. They went from 140 distilleries to just 4. It was fascinating (as always for us) to see all the mechanisms of the production and to learn the history of the business.

We went from there to Belfast, found our lovely B and B - The Old Rectory. After a pub dinner (quite good) we settled in to plan a day in Belfast.