Co. Antrim - 2

I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't get to sleep, finally at 7:30 I showered and dressed. I knocked on Detta's door, she got up much faster than I thought. We both had the traditional Irish breakfast, though Detta's was minus the egg. She didn't want the soda or potato bread so I had them, it was delicious.

We then set off for the Giant's Causeway. We arrive somewhat early, because the parking attendants weren't even there. The pay & display was £6.00 but we didn't have the change so I left a note in the window. We set off down the road, there weren't many other people about. It was quite a long walk down to the stones. My legs were stiff from climbing the stairs at Killbane Castle the day before. Detta enjoyed the rocks, we climbed all over the place. But when we decide to headed back up to the car, it just started to rain. As we walked the rain got heavier and heavier. People were walking down in jackets and no raincoats. When we got back to the car, it was pouring down. Our jackets are not raincoats, they are okay for a drizzle but not rain this heavy. We were soaked. We had to quickly grab our clothes from the day before and changed in the car. As we left, the parking attendant was there, I was hoping to slip by without paying but no luck. He had noticed our note so we weren't ticketed, thank goodness, that would have been more than £6.00. I asked him about Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, he said it was a good mile along the top of a cliff to get to it. As our jackets were already soaked, Detta and I decided that we would have to give this a miss so we headed down towards Carrickfergus castle.

On our way, I notice a town sign for Dunloy. I had been looking at my new book on ancient monuments in Antrim and knew that an ancient monument called Dooey's Cairn was nearby. So I took a quick detour. This one was particularly easy to find as it was sign posted but on a very narrow laneway. I found it and when we walked to it, the grass was being cut. So we went back to the car and waited till they were finished and I walked over by my self. Detta decide to wait in the car while I had a wander around. This ancient monument is a Court Tomb. It was still raining but that wouldn't put me off looking. When I was finished we headed out for Carrickfergus castle again.

We finally made it to Carrickfergus. It was still pouring with rain so we went to McDonald's for lunch. Detta had the Summer Chicken Supreme and I had the Sweet Chilli Chicken Deli. For dessert, Detta had Cornetto McFlurry Mint Chocolate. After this I felt I had enough energy to walk around Carrickfergus Castle.
When we first arrived we walked in the keep as there was a good display there and it was indoors. It was like a gale outside, the wind was howling and rain was pouring down. Our umbrellas kept turning inside out as the wind kept changing direction. We had a quick thorough look around outside. It would have been much better the day before. Maybe we should have waited the extra half hour! In this picture that is Detta heading out of the rain, she had had enough.