Giant’s Causeway to Cushendall

We got up the next day still somewhat shocked by the Germany – Brazil match, but ready to tackle our goals for the day: see some Game of Thrones filming sites, see the Giant’s Causeway and walk part of the Antrim Coast from there to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and wind our way through the rest of the coastal area to our B&B at Cushendall. Spoiler alert: all missions accomplished!

First, Game of Thrones. Oh Ygrette, you Free Folk heroine with complicated feelings toward Jon Snow… we did not go on the official tour where I’m sure the discussion would have been even more nerdy than that.

Instead we looked for sites on our own. The “Dark Hedges” from Game of Thrones are between Belfast and Bushmills, so that was a logical first stop. It wasn’t all that easy to find, but locals who were out walking with babies along country roads helped point us in the right direction more than once! I think the Game of Thrones producers should distribute DVDs throughout Northern Ireland, nobody who lives in these sites seems to have ever seen the show. Anyway, here’s the Dark Hedges. It was pretty cool to walk through.

After that we had a pretty uneventful drive up to Bushmills for some provisions and then to the Giant’s Causeway. It was a beautiful day!

The tide was out, exposing a lot more of the geometric rock than usual. And the sea was pretty calm so you could walk way out without feeling like you’d be swept to sea!

There were little tiny tide pools on some of the more concave rocks.

I always love this view, nicely captured by Liam.

It might look like I’m saying the answer to this question is Miles, but it’s really Finn McCool, the giant who built the causeway.

The Ulster Way is a long walk that winds through the province of Ulster, and part of the walk goes from the Giant’s Causeway to Carrick-a-Rede. Liam and Robert set off to do that walk and we drove on to Ballintoy to do part of the walk ourselves. Ballintoy is really lovely

AND a Games of Thrones filming site! This one is easy to reach and has an interpretive sign! Poor Theon.

John, Miles and I walked from Ballintoy to Carrick-a-Rede where we went over the famous rope bridge (scary!) and had a little rest on the island.

Heading back to Ballintoy, we ran into Liam and Robert, who in their usual style finished the walk in record time and went out to the bridge while we walked back to get the car. Then we picked them up and drove on to Cushendall, where after checking into our B&B and dinner, we settled in to watch a much closer match, Netherlands vs Argentina.