Up North, Day 2: Glenariff waterfalls, Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, Giant's Causeway

One challenge we are having in Ireland is the short days.  Ireland is much further north than the lower 48, which means the days are even shorter in winter.  The sun isn't peaking out until 8 am, and by 4:30 pm it's already dark (and December just started!).  When you plan your days around outdoor exploration, this puts a damper on fitting things in.

Our second day we departed our AirBnB and made our way along the northeast coast to Glenariff Waterfall Nature Preserve, which was a fun hike.  There were a series of about 6 waterfalls that were getting progressively bigger (not Niagara Falls big, but pretty decent).

Then we went to Carrick-a-Rede, which has a neat rope bridge that has been used by fishermen for centuries to access a tiny remote island.  So of course we crossed that.

And then we ended the adventure at Giant's Causeway, which is another Unesco World Heritage site, famous for its hexagonal basalt columns coming out of the ocean.  We weren't able to fit everything we planned into the short day and felt like we were running behind, but the sunset views were spectacular.

We wrapped up at another AirBnB, grabbing takeaway for dinner (various wraps, kebabs, and fish and chips) and chilling. We finally tried the Festive Christmas Chips, which are basically french fries with an entire Thanksgiving dinner on top of them (turkey, stuffing, cranberries, gravy, ...).

Not as many captions needed for this set.  Mostly pretty pictures. 

Glenariff Waterfall Nature Preserve

Northern coast of Northern Ireland.  The roadway is literally against the ocean.

The fun hike through the waterfalls on a nice boardwalk

Even in the middle of a national park, Guinness is available

Titanic flashbacks

 Rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede

 

It's been structurally enhanced since its original construction

Sunset at Giant's Causeway

The columns

Magical

Dying light

Taller than they look from a distance.

It was hard to capture just how tumultuous and powerful the waves were, especially for this Gulf of Mexico boy.  Some of the inlets were churning like washing machines.

A lot of steps to get back to the car.

One of many panoramas

Festive Chips in front.

 

Kind of crazy to think we saw that wide diversity of breath-taking creation in one day.  And I'm not just talking about dinner.  I'm including the waterfalls and forests and cliffs and ocean.