Portrush & Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland

Three weeks ago we headed to the Northland, making the 3 hour drive to Portrush Northern Ireland. It was my first time in the north and isn't unlike the Republic; you actually cannot even tell when you arrive into Northern Ireland as there is not even a sign to say welcome (unlike most US states). Following the nice drive by mustard fields, sheep and plenty of nice villages, our destination was Portrush, a resort town that is the best jumping off point to explore the tourist path of the north coast. The town was very cute, with a handful of pubs, restaurants and hotels.

Strauss, Rob, his father and myself then played a round of golf at Royal Portrush, which is the only course the British Open has been played at off of the main UK island that Scotland, Wales and England are on. The course was a fair challenge and the conditions were probably the best of the year with sun and very little wind. It is really fun to get out and play such famous courses in Ireland and we all had fun!

While the boys were golfing, the girls took the car and did a bit of touring themselves, stopping at this castle before warming up our seats for us at the pub.

We had a nice meal and some quality Guinness that evening and woke up in the morning and set off for Giant's Causeway, an amazing and truly unique natural wonder. For this small stretch of coast, the shore consists of thousands of hexagonal stones that incredibly symmetric for being natural. The formations were caused by a the heating and cooling process from a volcano that exploded some 20-40 million years ago. The area was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled rapidly, contraction occurred. While contraction in the vertical direction reduced the flow thickness (without fracturing), horizontal contraction could only be accommodated by cracking throughout the flow. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. It was really amazing and I didn't expect there to be so many of these columns.

Following the Causeway, we went another 10 minutes down the road to Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. The bridge connects the mainland with a small island that history shows used to be inhabited by fisherman who would erect the bridge (probably much less sturdy than the current) to travel back and forth. It is about 30 metres above the sea and while it looked really short and stupid as we were approaching, it was actually a pretty fun adventure.

Following the bridge, Strauss, Erin and I stopped in Bushmills and did the Bushmills distillery tour before coming back to the Republic. It was a fun day and a half and makes us want to explore the island more before our time here is up.