Day 24: Carrick a Rede Rope Bridge

Day 24 - Friday, April 13th 2018: Torr Head to Ballintoy 22 km / Total 516 km, 8°C, cloudy

Welcome, North Coast! And the East wind is over too! The day began climbing a hill which top was in a cloud. It looks like the Highlands of Scotland, and it made me think about the 1st episode of Game of Thrones when Ned Stark had to cut the head of a Night Watch member. It was exactly the same landscape. But with rabbits. Many rabbits. They are so funny and cute, with their white tale, when they run, it's like the tale was flashing. A man stopped his car just to be sure I was alright. Must be strange to see a woman walking in the middle of nowhere in the morning. Then the road went down until Ballycastle, where I made a stop in a fish and chips, before doing some shopping and buy food (hmm, noddles ...). While I was packing my purchase a man, Christopher, walking his dog, came to me asking where I was from. When I said France, he told me about his adventure at Orly airport where his wallet was stolen. I'm not very often proud of my country. Then he explained to me he knows Jacques Delors, a former French politician, who helped him financing Ballycastle's marina. That's incredible how the world can be so small sometimes!

With my purchases, of course, my bag was heavier for the 2nd part of the day, and I had to walk fast to Ballintoy, as I wanted to visit Carrick a Rede before it closed. So I arrived at my hostel, dropped my bag, and went directly to Rope Bridge. There, the view of Rathlin Island and Sheep Island was great. That's a tourist thing I wasn't used to that much those last days. So it was quite a surprise to cross the bridge with a group of Chinese people. Crossing the bridge is not so difficult, it's only 20m, shaking a little bit, but the empty 30m below are not very scary. In fact, it's interesting to know that, here, millions of years ago, it was a volcano. Indeed, all this area was volcanic, that's why the rocks are made of basalt. And it also explains why there was a group of students in geology in my hostel. Must be a paradise for them here, it's really a site of great interest for geology. As the group was staying in the main building of the hostel, the owner gave me a room just for my self in the other building. A room just for me! It was great, and I had my best sleep there, no one snoring at night, no one coming in at 3 am, quiet and peaceful. Warm, dry and comfortable!