The King in the North!

 

An early morning flight to Dublin, and we were on the road: TO THE NORTH!

The trip was a blur, but we made it to Portstewart, and one of the nicest AirBnbs in which we've ever stayed.

PS has a pretty spectacular beach, and they tried to warn me.

but I didn't listen

Oops, I did it again!

My first beach horse-and-cart!

We visited Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge: a dicey hike and walk across a 1-person rope bridge, with lots of sea-birds to view.

I found this big old rock jutting out into the sea, and called lightning to break it up into these cool geometric shapes

And was proclaimed "The King of the Causeway"!

But seriously, the Giant's Causeway was really cool, enhanced by the legend of the giant Finn McCool, who rode a camel (?), messed with a Scottish giant, and was saved by the wits of his wife, Sadhbh.

Ireland doesn't have nearly as many courses as Norway did, but there was a pretty nice one nearby on the Ulster University campus.

I liked it so much that I called forth a Monkey Puzzle tree to help them diversify their arboretum. 

OMG pub food! Got my fill of ham (for the moment), and we are definitely getting tired of potatoes.

Quick visit to Derry and the Derry Girls mural.

Roads are fun here, too!

Grianan of Aileach, a cool round fort.

This place is full of Game of Thrones sites, including the Dark Hedges, shown here with the scene from the show.

A storm in 2016 took out a couple of trees in the Dark Hedges,  and the producers used them to produce a set of 10 carved doors, then sprinkled them throughout Northern Ireland. We saw a couple in pubs, and they were impressive. 

Loughareema, the disappearing lake, had disappeared when we went by.

Johann the goat, commemorating the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.

Cushendun caves, another GOT filming site, where the Lady Melisandre gave birth to the shadow.

Fun mural with poem outside Mary McBride's, where I had my favorite burger of the whole trip.

The Ballygally Polar bear (don't ask, cause I don't know).

And in to Belfast! Shipyards, the Titanic experience, political murals. Our bus stop had a cool name, and we almost got run down by a fleet of Amazon vans.

Glass of thrones! A collaboration between the producers of the show and Belfast tourism. Stained glass showing scenes from the show, crowdsourced from fans, arranged mostly by house. Pretty good, and a good reason for a walk up and down the river.

Fun warning signs! 

Our time in the North was short but full. We moved on to an appropriately named suburb of Dublin to await the arrival of Rani's cousins,  and the penultimate stage of our epic adventure. 

Peace, Jon