Day #18 - Giants Causeway - Northern Ireland, UK

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

Giants Causeway

Walking the carrick-a-rede bridge

Thursday, April 1st

I want to send a shout out to my little nephew Trent and my Aunt Emily today. I want you guys to know I'm thinking about you both over here. Stay strong and keep fighting forward.

Today I got up relatively early and hit the streets of Belfast around 8am. This city is actually the 2nd largest in Ireland (when combining Ireland and Northern Ireland). The streets really do give me the feel like I'm in Chicago or New York. I say this because everyone is walking the streets to work, roads are jammed, and it has that hustle and bustle feel of a bigger city. Although Dublin is larger, I just don't get the same feel there. I think it's because Belfast is pretty compact and not near as expansive as Dublin.

I walked around for about 1-1/2 hours working my way to the tour departure destination. Today I was going to the Giants Causeway on the upper coast of Northern Ireland. I again want to say how impressed I am with the $25 cost for these all day tours. I really think that's a great deal considering the transportation and education provided throughout the day. I'd take that deal the rest of the trip if I can find it.

The Giants Causeway is the 3rd item listed by my buddy as must-see. He was correct again. What an unbelievable site to see. This is a unique configuration of rock due to volcanic acitivity many, many years ago. This is not the only such place where this phenomenon can be viewed: however, it's known to be the most dramatic and most impressive. It's like a bunch of builiding blocks staggered out on the coastline.

Before getting to the causeway, we went to a place called Carrick-a-Rede. This means 'rock in the road'. The road is the sea route for Atlantic salmon on their westward journey past Carrick Island. For over 350 years, fisherman have strung a rope bridge 30m above the sea to allow them to access the best places to catch the migrating salmon. The bridge now presents a challenge to thousands of visitors each year who come to enjoy the same views and high thrills. Because I'm a bit of an adrenaline junky, this was right up my alley.

I paid 5 pounds to cross the rope bridge. This was the second time on the trip that my heart nearly beat out of my chest. The first being during my reverse backbend at the Blarney Castle. The rope bridge had small wooden slabs that fit over the bottom rope supports for you to walk across. They were not very wide. There was 2 ropes on tope for hand supports. It was scary. I didn't think it would be a big deal for me, but when I got about half way across, this kid in front of me stopped. I was wanting no part of stopping. I made it across just fine but the heart was pounding. The rope bridge swayed as you walked across it. And like I said, if you stepped off the wooden supports, you would have fallen onto the floorboard. It was safe enough and you wouldn't have fallen to the sea, but I wasn't really wanting to experience a fall. Unbelievable scenery. I hope the pictures above can show this.

Onward to the Giants Causeway. Once we arrived, we had 1-1/2 hours to tour around. It was about a mile walk to the ocean. On arrival, you just had to stand there and take a good deep breadth and then exhale slowly. No words can be spoken. You just need to take it all in. Reminds me of the movie Crimson Tide - when Denzel Washington joins Gene Hackman up on the deck of the submarine to see the skyline before the sub went underwater. No words should be spoken - reflecting.

On the way back to Belfast, I had an opportunity to talk with our tour guide about the history of Northern Ireland. I was in the front seat and he asked me to sit up by him in the passenger seat. I was kind of the teacher's pet today. That's OK - this is something I was really interested in. Our bus driver was a 60 year old man - a boy scout, a soldier, a pretty hard-core guy. Not someboday you would mess around with. It was funny - at the start of the trip, he made the announcement that if anyone was missing when the bus was due to leave - too bad, you would be left. At our first stop, 1 group of 4 were late. He began to pull away. We could see them. He said: "You want to see some heartbeats rise a little, watch this." You saw these people running for the bus - 2 of which were fairly elderly. No one was late to the bus the rest of the day.

Getting back to our conversations concerning Northern Ireland. He told me everything from his perspective, a guy who has lived in Belfast for over 30 years. He's been shot at and seen bombs go off. Basically, it all goes back to religion. Great Britain had control of Ireland before 1912. Ireland then broke away and the 6 counties in Northern Ireland remained part of Great Britain. This was largely due to religion. Ireland as we know it today is roughly 96% Roman Catholic. Northern Ireland is primarily Protestant. Tensions arose between the 2 groups. Fighting ensued. He told me about the height of the tension back in 1993. He went through the set of events which eventually led people to work toward a peace treaty. All I know is that treaty was finalized about a month ago he says; however, as is often the case, there are still radicals that want it their way. It was really interesting to hear the story.

So, the United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is made up of England, Wales, Scotland. One thing I thought was intersting - in the Olympics, why do you often see England as the country. Why not UK? If only athletes from England get medals, it's listed as England. If there are athletes from Scotland and Wales, along with England, it's listed at Great Britian. Basically, there is just 1 country - the UK. But it is called differently, depending on who you're talking with.

Interesting stuff - heading back south to Ireland tomorrow.