Wednesday, August 20th              PORTRUSH

Robyn writes: We've had a great day today! The number one item on our agenda was, of course, the reason we came to Portrush - its proximity to the Giant's Causeway. The aim was to be there at 9 when it opened, so Janice very nicely promised she'd do breakfast for us any time from 8. Lex set the alarm for 7.30 so we were up and dressed and down for breakfast (a lovely cooked meal, then fruit and yoghurt) right on time. The day had dawned very cloudy after rain at night, but improved as we drove towards the causeway, about 15 minutes from here.

We were one of the first in the door (for free - National Trust membership saved us 8.50 pounds each) and were told that the first guided tour was at 10. We had an hour to kill so decided to walk down for a look first. As we were heading down, there was an English couple just ahead and we ended up walking down and having a lovely chat to them. We got there to find that we had it all to ourselves! Amazing, considering what it was like later in the day. We took advantage of that to get a rare and unique photo of just us and the causeway (normally impossible!) We had a most enjoyable half hour or so wandering around drinking it all in in the peace and quiet before catching the shuttle bus back up the hill to the centre for our tour.

Note: just us in the photo! Amazing and rare view of the Giant's Causeway. Such dramatic scenery.



Looking towards the "pipe organ" across the bay

Our tour guide, Eleanor, was great - she was quite young but she really knew her stuff and the tour was a good mix of geology, history and mythology! As usual, we really enjoyed being told all of the facts and having it all explained. The hexagonal basalt columns really are quite amazing, even when you've seen photos of it you aren't quite prepared for what they're like to stand in front of and climb on. The tour went for about 45 minutes, then we headed up the hill around the bay to have a closer look at "the organ" - a set of columns high on the mountain that really do resemble a pipe organ! Then we went around to the lookout at the end of that bay to more amazning views. Lex wanted to walk on but I wanted the toilet and a cuppa, so he went on a bit while I headed back and up the hill on the bus again. (Wonderful service, and we got it free with our membership!) We were very pleased with our early arrival strategy - by the time we had finished, the crowds were streaming in and you couldn't look anywhere without people taking selfies! We were also very lucky with the weather today - although the wind was cold, we were warmly dressed, I had my Crocs boots on so wet rocks weren't a problem, and the rain (though hovering on the horizon for a while) stayed away.

The tall skinny rocks you can see are known locally as Finn Macool's chimneys. Finn Macool is the legendary Irish giant.

We walked up the hill to the pipe organ

Incredible view of the causeway from the pipe organ

The causeway was crawling with people by the time we left!

I had a nice cuppa and scone, then Lex arrived back, so he had a coffee, we bought a few souvenirs and headed off. We popped into the tourist information shop there and the nice man gave us the National Trust leaflet for Northern Ireland and recommended Spring Hill, a very early 18th century manor house to us. So we drove south - first across to Coleraine, which we had travelled before, but then on new roads to us down to the western side of Lough Neagh (the largest inland lake in the UK apparently). It took us about an hour.

We got to Spring Hill about 2.20, and booked ourselves in for a 3.15 tour of the house. Then we had lunch - sadly, Spring Hill is not a major National Trust place and their tea shop only opens on weekends, so they just had a very small selection of food....so lunch was another scone! (At least they have nice, big scones...) Then Lex went off for a walk around the grounds while I went to find their costume collection. This is an amazing collection of dresses and formal men's suits belonging to the families of Spring Hill over 300 years of living there. It was wonderful to see so many lovely dresses, especially, plus they had the family history for each generation displayed with their clothes and belongings. Wonderful.

Walled garden

My favourite dress in the collection

Lex is standing next to the longest gun we've ever seen (17th century). Apparently they used to rest them on the shoulders of small boys to fire them. Caused severe hearing loss for the poor lads.

Haunted bedroom, complete with secret door. One of the owners killed himself here. Or did his wife murder him??? It's her ghost that haunts the house. Fortunately, we didn't get to meet her.

Thousand year old yew tree

Another photo for my robin collection!

Spring Hill

We rolled up for the tour at 3.15 to find we were the only ones on it! Our guide, Rachel, was very young but also knew her stuff and took us through the house (built in 1700) and explained the family history and how it related to Ireland's history of the time. The last owner and his brother were both childless, so when he died in 1957, he left the estate to the National Trust, ending 300 years of his family living there. We loved seeing the house, then we went for a walk around the grounds as well - there is a yew tree there over 1000 years old!

After we'd finished at Spring Hill, we drove back to Portrush via Ballyronan, a town on the shores of Lough Neagh. We stopped at the lough for a look - very peaceful and picturesque, with families feeding the ducks and geese and a marina there as well. Then we drove back, arriving here around 6, just as it was deciding to rain for the first time today.

After last night's late meal, we were determined to get in early tonight, so we immediately got changed and headed just across the road to "55 Degrees North", a lovely two-level restaurant looking north through huge picture windows at the Skerries, the tiny rocky island group just offshore here. We were in time to get the 'Earlybird' special, which was we got three courses for just the cost of our main. Very nice! Lex had the pulled pork spring roll, mariner's pie and banoffee pie, and I had a peanut chicken skewer, chicken gougons and pavlova roll. Yum! We are pleasantly full! (And excellent value for about 16 pounds each including our drinks). Restaurant meals are so dear over here, it's really worth getting the earlybird deals if you can. This is our last night in Portrush - off to Belfast tomorrow and our first port of call will be a LAUNDRETTE!

Nice restaurant just across the road with views of the Skerries (below)