northern ireland

The day started out full of hope. The forecasted bad weather had not materialised.

Again another good breakfast set us up for the day. Hedging our bets we put on the wet weather gear again. More in the hope that putting it on would actually keep the bad weather away.

So far so good.

We set off heading south on the R238 towards the border with Northern Ireland. At the village of Muff the Wild Atlantic Way ends on the Irish side of the border. Crossing the border the R238 becomes the A2. We are to follow its route for most of the day.

Crossing north of Londonderry we join the Antrim Coastal Route. The road here is rather uninteresting in its early stages. It is a 100KM/hr trunk route and offers little of scenic or motorcycling interest. We press on. At Limavady, the route turns north on the B69. We take it to add some scenic interest. This also helps to avoid the worst of the holiday traffic.

This little road twists its way among the boggy grounds around Carrowclare and rejoins the A2 at Aghanloo.

We look for a cafe in Coleraine . Nothing open. We drop down into the pretty seaside town of Portstewart.

As we are parking the bikes up on the esplanade a traffic warden approaches. Oh dear we think. Welcome lads he says and starts to chat about where we have been and where we are going. He even suggests a better spot but we tell him we are only here for a coffee break. He recommends a cafe close by. Wishing us well he moves on. His recommendation is good. Chatting to the young man who served us we find out he is mad keen on rugby. I mention David Gallagher being born in Ramelton. It turns out he played for Letterkenny Rugby Club. They are the only team authorised by the All Blacks to wear the silver Fern on their shirt. You learn something every day.

We progress east. We pass through Portrush and pause to take some photos of the cliffs and ruined castle.

Continuing on passed the Bushmills distillery we arrive and join the throng at the giants Causeway car park. It is full. Teaming with people. I stay with the bikes having been before whilst Andy goes for a looky looky and to get his photos.

We continue on the A2 stopping at various spots to get photos and enjoy the cliff top views. To chat to people as well. They all want to know about our trip. We seem to draw them like a magnet.

We pass the busy towns of Ballintoy and Ballycastle.

Holiday makers grin and bear the chill and overcast conditions. Leaving Ballyboy the road climbs into cloud and fog encompasses us. Visibility drops to around 20 feet and the temperature becomes chilly. My visor keeps fogging up and we drop to 35mph. We turn off onto the B92. We descend through a series of hairpins below cloud level. We arrive into the conservation village of Cushendun.

In the sun it must be magnificent. The black and white colours of the buildings will pop. In the dull and drizzle it looked rather sad waiting for the sun to return.

Another photo. We move on.

The A2 hugs the coast now as the road clings to the shore. Only a stone wall separates us from the sea.

Now the heavens do their worst. As we arrive to pay a family a visit, the rain really comes. We use the loo and get a cup of tea. We know we have to continue to our overnight accommodation.

By the time we arrive and check in we are on the wet side of dry. Boots and gloves are sodden.

Time to reflect on the day and get the hair dryer out and try to dry boots and gloves.

In summation, today’s roads have been easy compared to those of recent times. Wide and fast. Great coastal views but lots of cars. Much more than we saw in Ireland. I do miss the empty roads of Ireland.

Today we continued along the Coastal tourist route following the A2 road. It is easily followed as there are signposts all the way with Causeway Coastal Route on them. Billed as one of the world great Road journeys it is worth doing.

There is a noticeable difference in the volume of traffic on the road. It was much busier. It is also a very sunny and warm weekend but I think I preferred the lanes of the West of Ireland more. There are a lot more people about too. Many of the seaside towns we passed through were very busy. Something we rarely saw on the west coast. Some were delightful such as Articlave and Coleraine. We passed the beautiful Royal Portrush golf course and it was very busy.

One event we had not planned on bumping into was the NW200 motorcycle race. Road Racing around a circuit roughly based on the towns of Portstewart, Portrush and Coleraine, the event ran from the 6th to 11th May. Today was clean up day and returning the circuit back to normal road use. It was very busy in that area, particularly with the thousands of motorcycles and fans that had gathered and were now heading home.

Our first stop of the day was the Giants Causeway. It was a must see. As a child I had a boardgame with the Giants Causeway as a stop on it. I had seen TV shows aplenty. But to stand there was amazing. Made up of around 40,000 basalt columns of mainly hexagonal profile it looks like a bees honeycomb from above.

The path is flat along the shore but behind it there is a path called the shepherds stairs consisting of 167 steps up the cliff face. We chose to do that to get a bit of air into our lungs. The views from the top are worth it as you look along the length of the bay and down onto the bus stop by the main columns. Yes there is a bus from the visitors centre down the slope to the columns and back if you need it.

It is difficult to walk away from this UNESCO World Heritage site without a sense of wonder. I have seen the same columns on the Isle of Staffa and Fingals Cave across the water in Scotland formed by the same volcanic events that formed the Giants Causeway. You simply cannot pass by without going to see it.

We moved along. This whole coast is full of dramatic cliffs and Vistas. Epitomised by the ruins of Dunluce Castle, the views are staggering and vestigial. Time has eroded these cliffs.

The ruins of Dunluce Castle. Not for the Lord with Vertigo!

The road continues around the NE corner of the Island at Ballycastle (which features in my own genealogy) before dropping to the coast at Cushendall. This is a lovely little town complete with Sunday market, people eating ice creams and lots of motorcyclists stopping for a coffee.

The road then snakes its way hugging the waters edge, literally at times to pass through the large and rather dull looking town of Larne before we arrived at our campsite for the night in Islandmagee.

We are only 40 minutes away from the ferry terminal in Belfast where we will cross over to Scotland tomorrow completing the Irish sector of our adventure. We have unfinished business in Scotland to attend to which will then see us heading south for home. More to come before then though.

Todays distance: 89 miles

Total distance: 1633 miles.