to the north of the north–Causeway route in Ireland

the north coast of Ireland is known for its stunning scenery (as it the west, apparently), and we headed up along the Causeway route to catch sight of some ruins and nature in the form of Mussenden Temple, Dunluce Castle and the Giants Causeway.

it took about 2 hours to drive up from Belfast, and the weather was absolutely beautiful at our first stop, Mussenden Temple. I’m not sure what ruins those are in the distance:

we had to go through some private property (that’s open to the public) before reaching the temple. As those folks owned lots of sheep (you can see the sheep in the pic above – they’re the small white blobs), that meant trampling on lots of sheep poo as well:

Mussenden Temple is gorgeous – it was used as a summer library in the past:

i also liked the coastline near it – chalk cliffs, if i’m not wrong:

Dunluce Castle was about half an hour’s drive away, and grazing in the fields around it were some really large, black bulls. Dunluce Castle seemed tiny, but it was actually a fairly decent sized ruin:

it’s quite grand and big on the inside – that’s me standing in an ancient fireplace:

but i think what i like the most is how the castle hangs over the cliffs – due to erosion over the years:

the Giant’s Causeway was furthest east, and by the time we reached there around 2.30pm a light drizzle had begun. i hate rain – which i define as moisture of any sort and intensity coming down from the sky – so i was fairly miserable having to walk from the carpark to the causeway.

to make things worse, the rocks were slippery, so climbing up and down them was a little hazardous. Despite them being hexagonal basalt columns with a fairly flat surface to step on, some of them had pointy tops or were unstable. At one point in time i was perched atop a column, terrified to make my next step and trembling like a cat in a tree – good thing i was rescued soon enough, but any longer and i would have burst into tears :S

perhaps because of that, i wasn’t quite as impressed by the Causeway as i thought i’d be.. the pictures sure are pretty though – i can say that cos i didn’t take them, haha – perhaps i was too miserable to fully enjoy the place..

i’d still definitely recommend a visit, as those are some mighty columns:

for the more energetic, there’s an additional trail beyond the causeway where you can get some nice views. i was dragged along to check them out, and there was the Organ Pipes and other stuff:

that’s the causeway down there, right below us. the specks are people: