A day on the Antrim Coast

We stayed in Portrush in Antrim County on the north coast. It is a sort of tired resort town with a large beach, gambling and a small amusement part. We booked all our accommodations on-line before the trip. For the most part, the accommodations were good. The exception was our room in Portrush. Let’s just say that the pictures on-line did not represent the state of the B&B. The room was clean, but in poor repair. Not very pleasant.

For our full day in Antrim, we decided to drive down the coast. There is a beautiful links style golf course at the edge of town. Green fees on the weekends are 175 pounds ($350) and given the Irish weather, you are almost guaranteed to be raining on.

Just down the coast and on the edge of cliff are the ruins of Dunluce castle. The castle fell into ruin after the kitchen collapsed and literally fell into the sea. As the story goes 7 servants and the evening meal were lost.

Sometimes the most enjoyable parts of a holiday are the parts that are not planned. We stopped into a tiny village called Ballintoy Harbour. The road was too narrow for buses, so it was uncrowded and very beautiful. The little stone building is a café called Roak’s Kitchen where we had a delicious lunch. Apparently several scenes from the Game of Thrones were filmed in the harbour.

Our main objective for the day was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. This is a 20 meter rope bridge to an island some 30 meters above the water. The original bridge was built and used by local salmon fishermen. Today it is a tourist attraction run by the National Trust.