28 Sept The Giants Causeway Tour

We bought a twofer from City Sightseeing Tours - 24 hour hop on bus and day trip to the Giants Causeway. We had to be across from the Europa Hotel by 830 - lots of people were already there and eventually our group was led a few blocks away where bus number one awaited. Troy was our driver and guide. A pleasant man who has been doing tours for over twenty years and has maintained his sunny disposition. He kept up a steady flow of chatter dispensing tidbits of information interspersed with jokes over the next few hours. He is a big fan of Game of Thrones and had a gig driving a few main stars to locations around here.
Carrickfergus.
First stop was the Castle where the Dutch King landed - William of Orange a Protestants defeated the Catholic king James and he and his wife who was his first cousin, Mary rules England. The Reign of William and Mary. More legitimate when you consider his mother was sister to King James and his wife was King James daughter. Complicated. King James was also his first cousin and William of Orange defeated him in the Battle of the Boyne near Dublin. Nevertheless William and his big army landed here just north of Belfast before proceeding south to the battle. William appears to be a small man from this statue. He was 5 ft 6 inches. William’s army fought King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. William of Orange won the battle and also captured the cities of Dublin and Cork. King James left Ireland for France.

Carnlough Harbour is in Game of Thrones. I am walking up the rocky steps where Arya crawled to safety:

We stopped for lunch at the Dark Hedges, actually Beech Trees which make an impressive canopy on the road. It is said to be haunted by the grey lady, a ghost who came to an unfortunate end nearby.


Onwards now to the Giants Causeway on the North Atlantic. A bit of a hike to get there so we took a shuttle bus back for a pound well spent!