As we went through the Belfast city, Alan pointed out some buildings and features famous in Belfast. On the bus, I manage to see the other side of the city which I didn’t cover yesterday. Then we finally set out to the North Antrim Coast Road with the sea to my right. After around 15mins out of town, we arrived at our first stop, the Carrickfergus Castle, a castle with Norman architecture. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland. This is just a 10mins stop for some photo shots and also the restroom. Continuing on our journey, we are now fully on the countryside with farms, the rolling hills, shorelines and all the wonderful nature sceneries. We then passed by Larne, where you can take a ferry to Scotland. Before arriving at our first main stop of the day, we passes by some lovely little town. According to Alan, if you get lost in these places and asked for directions, the locals will most likely take you to your destination, invite you back to their home where their old granny will stuff you up with so much Irish food, you will leave 3 stones heavier. 
Our first main stop is the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, a rope suspension bridge near, Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island, spanning twenty meters and is thirty meters above the rocks below. We need to pay an entrance fee for this, ￡4 (with gift aid) or ￡3.63 (standard ticket). After the ticket booth, I then have to walk about 1 mile before reaching the rope bridge. Only 8 person max can be on the bridge at one time. There is an officer at the bridge controlling the passing traffic and also checks your ticket. First, I descend a steep fleet of staircases to reach the bridge. There is a plank of wood tied onto the rope bridge for easier bridge crossing. It is very windy down at the bridge since its between 2 big rocks but I managed to walked through without holding onto the rope bridge as a challenge ;) It's actually not difficult and not very shaky if you are ok with heights. Over onto the Carrick Island, I just walked around for a bit before returning to the bridge again. This time, I had to wait a little while for the oncoming tourist traffic before I was allowed to cross back to the main island and walked back to the bus. As we pulled out from the car park, we saw a funeral proceeding. In Ireland, men in the villages will walk behind the undertaker's car, forming quite a long line, to the church. This would definitely cause a jam if you were caught behind the line since the road here are normally very narrow. However, we were quite lucky as we just managed to go off before they arrives. 
Next up, we arrived at the Old Bushmills Distillery at Bushmills. We have half an hour here so we can go whiskey / souvenir shopping and also maybe have some whiskey tasting at its kitchen. There is a distillery tour (￡6) here if you have the time. The Old Bushimills Distillery is celebrating its 400 years anniversary this year and their 400 years old whiskey can be bought as cheap as ￡14.50 only. Of course there are some higher class range whiskey which costs a lot more. Next to the shop is the Old Bushmills Distillery Kitchen. There is a bar where you can have a whiskey tasting for just ￡2. I didn't go for the tasting since I'm on empty stomach. When I went back to the carpark, our tour bus is no where in sight. So the few of us who came out earlier had to wait in the cold wind for almost 10mins before the bus came back to pick us up. Finally at around 3pm, we arrived at the Causeway Hotel next to the Giant's Causeway for lunch (self-paid) before walking to see the Giants Causeway. We will be here for 2 hours. Prior to our arrival, Alan has passed round a menu card so we could pre-order our lunch at the hotel and I ordered a traditional Irish stew for ￡6.95. We were led into a room and to my slight disappointment, the food weren't served until about 15mins later. I thought the whole idea of pre-booking the lunch is so that we could immediately dig in when we arrived and hence have more time at the Giant's Causeway. Aside from the time wasted waiting, my Irish stew was just what I needed; something hot to warm me up before I brave the cold wind again at the Causeway. The beef are very tender in a bowl of broth of potatoes and carrot. With no time to loose, I quickly had my lunch and went off to see the Giants Causeway.
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located on the northeast coast of Ireland, about two miles (3 km) north of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the UK. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places.
In order to reach the rocks, you could either walk down the hill's pathway (10-15mins walk) or you could also pay ￡1 and hop on the causeway coastal bus taking you directly to the rocks. I, of course opted to walk down. The view here is absolutely stunning. Strong currents hitting on the rocks near the shores, the sea water was so clear, its turquoise blue. The rocks have various different colors; some are black, some off-white, some are brown and some red in color. It is quite amazing to see how the rocks stacked against each other so nice and neat, its hard to believe they are all works of the mother nature. You have to be careful though as some of the rocks might be slippery and also you are advised not to go too near to the sea in case you got washed away by the strong currents. Some of the basalt rocks were very tall hence forming higher ground, much like a small hill. Sitting on the rocks, listening to the waves, breathing in the cool fresh air, ahhh... I'm loving every single moment of it. As the time approaches, I hiked back up the hill toward the hotel's carpark to board the bus. Everybody is back to the bus at the arranged time except a young couple who came back 15mins late and they don't seem to be apologetic at all for their lateness. We then eembarked on an hour and 15mins journey back to Belfast on the motorway, arriving back at the hostel at approx. 6.45pm. Dinner tonight for me is the half pot of yogurt left since I had a very late lunch. Then I went back to my room to pack up, ready to move to Dublin tomorrow.
Photos of Belfast
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