Day 25: The Giant's Causeway

Day 25 - Saturday, April 14th 2018: Ballintoy to Portrush 27 km / Total 543 km, 14°C, sunny

Sunny lovely day. Especially after a good 10h sleep! And the landscape was absolutely beautiful that day. It started with White Park Bay, a beautiful long beach. I made a little stop there, at Bothy Coffee, and enjoyed a scone, when I saw a photo magazine, and realise I recognize the front picture. It was Pierha who I met in Kilkeel where I fed the little lamb. Incredible!

Then at Dunseverick Castle, I discovered the entrance of the Causeway Coastal Path. It was longer than the road side, but as there was a lot of coaches on the road, and as the weather was really great, I decided to take the path. And what a view! The cliffs are really outstanding natural beauty, with basalt columns, and the sea was so blue. It was really wonderful. And suddenly, as I sat on a bench to rest a little bit, 3 lost sheep emerged on the path. I was really worried to get them scared, cause you know, sometimes they can be really stupid animals, and I was really afraid that in a panic move, they could jump over the cliff, into the sea. But they are used to that relief and managed it very well. I finally reached the site of the Giant's Causeway. As it's classified by UNESCO and the major touristic site in Northern Ireland, there was a lot of tourists, some of them taking the bus to get there. But it really was a place I wanted to see, maybe since I'm 15. Because when I was a teenager, I decorated one of the wall of my bedroom with full-page pictures from GEO magazine (a kind of National Geographic Magazine), and I remember, just behind my desk, there was that picture of the Giant Causeway, and as much other landscape, it was something I wanted to sea in my life. And here I am. Standing above those incredible pieces of stones, hexagonal ones for most of them (5 or 6 sides mostly). Work a mother Nature is amazing. There a legend of course, about the Giant Finn McCool, and how this Causeway used to go to Scotland. But the scientific explanation is more impressive, how lava from a volcano produced basalt rocks, and how it gets this geometrical form. It's mathematic in fact, everything in the universe is mathematic, that's the only language common to everything.

Then I wanted to visit Dunluce Castle. On Google and in my guide book, it said it closed at 6 pm. I arrived there at 4:45 pm and discovered that in fact, it closed at 5 pm and the last entrance is 30min before. So I arrived 15min too late. I was so disappointed, cause I've walked so much and so fast. Well, I just only saw the Ruins of the Castle, which kitchen fell from the cliff in XVIIe century, into the sea, from the outside. And I finished the day, walking on Portrush East strand, a long beach. I could have taken off my shoes and walk into the water, but my feet were so painful, I was not sure I could put on my shoes again to reach the hostel. And I saw many surfers there! There were brave, cause the water must be very cold.

It's been a very beautiful day!