Saturday – Antrim Coast Road and more

Brace yourself – this was a BIG day!

Today we started on the Ireland leg of our road trip. After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we went to the airport to pick up our rental car. We’ve got a Hyundai IX35 manual diesel, which is a bit of a beast – not quite the compact vehicle I’m sure I ordered! But it’s fine, pretty comfortable and easy to drive. (Something I haven’t seen before – in the middle of the fuel gauge a number sometimes appears – at first I thought it was how many kilometres we’d travelled, but after we’d been a few km and it still lit up ‘3’ it became clear it wasn’t that. Turns out it’s helping you choose when to change gear, telling you what gear you should change up or down into. Cute.)

First stop on the drive was at the Antrim Coast Road / William Bald commemoration plaque at Larne. As soon as we got there I FaceTimed Dad so he could see me and Levi at the site, which was pretty cool.

Next stop was Baldy’s Branch at Carnlough – we went to the corner that Dad had identified on the little road that runs parallel to the Coast Road north of the town. We pulled up outside a house (Rose Cottage) right on the corner, and there were people sitting outside so I went to say hi – since it seemed a bit weird to just stop on their little country road and start taking photos. When I asked “is this corner known as Baldy’s Corner?” the woman said no, this short piece of road from the corner down to the coast road is known as Baldy’s Branch. She said there’s 2 stories about where the name came from – one about a bald man who used to live nearby, and the other about the man who built the coast road (Archibald?? Oh yes, William Bald); this little stretch of Largy Road was a branch built from the old road down to the new coast road, “Baldy’s road” – so this became Baldy’s Branch. She thinks the second one is the real story, though. So do I J

The drive up the coast road seemed more stunning today – the weather was better for a start, and perhaps I was a bit more relaxed with a few nights of proper sleep… not to mention no cameras! Every headland you drive round seems to open up into a bay with another village more picturesque than the last, each of them with lush, beautiful farmland sloping up the sides of the glens. The shapes of the headlands and the long-distance views are spectacular – and it was clear enough to see Scotland in the distance, the Ayrshire coast at the beginning, and the Kintyre peninsula once we were further north.

 

Once you get past Glenariff and Waterfoot, through the red arch, the road drives up and away from the coast. It comes out into completely different countryside, the tops of the hills which are much browner and vast, with no sense of cosiness like the bottom of the glens. It reminded me a lot of the first part of the Taupo-Napier road.

One of the next sights on my list was the Glendun viaduct. As you drive along the road it looks like not much, just a small, low bridge with a little signpost that you’d blink and miss – and we missed. Right after that we turned off the main road and drove down to Cushendun, which is another gorgeous little seaside village, very much off the beaten track. We had lunch in an old pub there, which was all very period…but there was still an old gal playing a pokie machine out the back. Some things are the same everywhere, huh? Anyway, after lunch we went back up to the main road, looping round so that we could have another pass over the Glendun viaduct, now knowing where it was and being able to take a (from-the-moving-car) photo opportunity.

The next stop was a highlight – Coretavey Bridge, which is pictured on the Bald page on the Burntisland website. Again the bridge doesn’t look like much as you drive over it… except it has “Coretavey, William Bald Engineer” engraved into stones half way across it. Levi and I risked life and limb and several passing cars to get photos, and to fill in the lettering with chalk (brought all the way from NZ for the purpose!). So for the next few days (hours? Until it rains next) passers-by will be more likely to notice William, as he’s coloured bright blue. Once we’d done that Levi convinced me to clamber down the grassy bank beside the bridge (Levi called it a path, but that was a stretch!) to the combined road/stream crossing below. From that angle, the bridge was spectacular – very tall, with a beautifully formed stone arch. We went under the bridge to the other side, and found the plaque attached to the side of the bridge: “This bridge was built by William Bald in 1834 to carry the road which replaced the old Irish Highway from Cushendall to Ballycastle.” I added my own blue-chalked name/date “plaque” on the side wall of the arch under the bridge.

 

Then we were on to the more widely known tourist attractions on the Antrim coast. First was Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, an old, 20m long suspension footbridge over a 30m drop to the sea, to a small island with nothing but seabirds and great views… and queues L Despite my qualms about heights (I did this for you, Levi!) I did make it over the bridge (and back again). Levi freaked me out on the island wanting to go near the cliffs though (near = within 10 metres), and I really couldn’t handle it! We were told later that sometimes people get stuck on the island, if the wind comes up they can’t come back across the bridge – yikes! Spectacular cliffs, seabirds nesting, crystal water.

  

Next was the Giant’s Causeway, a beach area of hexagonal-shaped rocks, formed by ancient volcanic activity, that look like a giant crystalline structure. Think of a honeycomb staircase where each honey cavity is a rock. The landscape is really alien, it looks so unnatural and architectural.

Levi freaked me out again going up on the high rocks, with a many-metres sheer drop over the side. It was very cool, though, quite magical.

We made a brief stop at Ballintoy Harbour, a tiny wee harbour very recognisable as a Game of Thrones set (Iron Islands harbour, I think). There were lots of people there; I’m sure its tourist numbers have increased a hundred-fold since it featured on GoT.

From there we drove to Dunluce Castle, the ruins of a castle sitting up high overlooking the sea. We came around a corner and literally went “wow” – pillars and broken walls of old rock pointing aloft, silhouetted against the early evening sky. We found out later that it was inhabited up until the 16^th century – at which time, during a party, the kitchen and its staff all fell into the sea, so the residents upped sticks and left (as would be advisable, I guess!).

Last stop was the Dark Hedges, a km or so stretch of road which was planted many years ago on both sides to form an avenue of trees, which are now all gnarled and twisted. It’s long been a Northern Ireland tourist attraction, but has gained extra appeal since featuring in an episode of GoT. As we drove along I felt it was a bit underwhelming – too many cars really spoil the effect of the old gnarly trees – but it turns out the photos look great (good work, Levi).

We finally got to our (fabulous) B&B near Derry at 9pm. At 9.45 we were sitting in the conservatory eating our takeaway dinner and admiring the gorgeous views out to the sea and the peninsula, with the light of late afternoon. Can’t get used to these long daylight hours!