Dunluce Castle is very close to Giant's Causeway, so we got a second castle in our visits today.
Dunluce and Giant's causeway are just 11 miles across to Scotland and it was clear enough to see the island's hills in the distance.
Dunluce as built between 1400-1600. There was a castle and manor house on the northern side (top of photo) with a bridge over a gully for access to the rest of the town.
View of the castle from the town
View of the castle from a building in the town
Entrance to the castle
Bridge to castle looking back at the town ruins
Mansion House (window frames are added for architecture integrity but similar to actual)
The kitchens. Large cooking hearth in center with bread oven to the right side.
View of coast off the side of the castle - pretty difficult to scale!
The travel guide suggested that we arrive at Giant's Causeway before 11 or after 4:00. We knew with the drive that we'd have to aim for after 4:00 and I'm glad we did. The visitor center was closed when we arrived (about 5:00) and we were able to park pretty close. There were some other people around, but not hoards. The sun was not as hot and the lighting and shadows were amazing.
The moderate trail came down along the coast from this headland. The amazing stone features are behind us in this picture, but this bay was stunning.
Most, but not all are hexgons.
Mini saltwater aquarium
We sat down on the rocks for over an hour, just relaxing and listening to the surf. The stones were two distinctly different colors, black and brown. The black ones were warm and if you sat on the leeward side it was very comfy.
It felt a little bit like Raiders of the Lost Ark, don't step on the wrong stone or you will activate the defense mechanisms!
My new green mohawk!
These stones are apparently formed by volcanic activity, although the descriptions I've read don't really provide a very clear description of how. Apparently during the cooling the fracture horizontally in a ball and joint way, so some are rounded and others and concave.
Sun was still pretty high in the sky at 7:00 pm
Some of the formations were sticking horizontally out of the hill.
You can see the horizontal fractures on some of these taller exposed pillars.
We headed for our lodging that night after dinner at the Causeway hotel.
Our lodgings in Ballycastle were surprising and nice. The instructions on how to get there were complicated, but good. Its basically an outbuilding on a farm. It appears to be recently redone and was clean, cozy and nice. It didn't look very inviting from the outside, but was lovely inside.
Double large showers do exist! (Just not in the youth hostels I've often stayed in).
Lovely water view in the distance with some cliffs
The farm cats welcomed us on the doorstep and indicated they thought they needed to come inside with us right away. We managed to keep them out as we unloaded, but later Scott looked over at the couch and exclaimed: There's a cat in here! He had let himself in through an open window and made himself at home on the couch. His purr was the loudest I've heard when David petted him (and put him back out).
At one point Scott looked over to the couch and exclaimed: There's a cat in here! He had come in an open window. Such a big purr when David gave him some love!
It should not be a surprise that Scott befriended a dog on the property too. He was jumping all over us and Scott told him to get down and stay, and he did! Obviously trained, but also very happy to see us. He is looking longingly at Scott waiting to be released from being told to stay.
No comments:
Post a Comment