One Giant Leap for Mankind

- Backblip - Northern Ireland Day 11

The Giant's Causeway.

We got up early, determined to beat the crowds, and arrived to find the carpark almost empty. A mile walk down hill and along the coast to this World Heritage Site and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is Northern Ireland's Number One Tourist Attraction, and has been a special place to visit since the the late 1600s.

Legend has it that Irish Giant Finn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish rival. 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of a volanic eruption, form stepping stones that lead from the foot of the cliffs down into the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal and measure about 30cm across, although some have between four and eight sides. We much enjoyed climbing over the stones, although I was cautious, as it was a bit slippy. We found graffiti on some of the stones dating back to last century.

Blip Advisor sat at the base of the 36 foot high basalt columns in the cliff wall and "played" the organ. This nearly won my Blip, but the excitement of these two young men clinched it.

As we left the site, climbing up over 160 steps, we had a superb bird's eye view of the whole causeway. Quite special, and interesting to compare with Fingal's Cave, Island of Staffa. We sailed right into that in an outboard dinghy 21 years ago ... never to be forgotten.