Of Legends and Guinness (Belfast, Ireland 06/22/2019)

Having never been to Ireland the image we had in our heads was one of ragged cliffs, rolling green hills and sheep.  The area surrounding Belfast did not disappoint. 

Our tour today was to the Giants’ Causeway, a collection of what is said to be 40,000 basalt stones (we didn’t take time to count) of various formations located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Irish Sea and created when a giant on the Atlantic side got into an argument with a giant on the Irish side.  Finn MacCool (gotta love the name) was on the Irish side.  Day after day the giants argued and hurled stones at one another.  Eventually the Atlantic giant had had enough.  He began throwing stones into the ocean between his land and Finn’s, creating a bridge for himself.  Finn saw what the giant was doing and went running to his wife.  “Oh my goodness!  What have I done?!”  he cried.  “That giant is huge!  I don’t stand a chance against him!” 

“Leave it to me,” his wife answered calmly.  “Climb in that crib over there in the corner and keep quiet.”

Minutes later the other giant was rapping on the door.  Mrs. MacCool opened the door, and the giant said, “Where’s that MacCool?  I’ve come to settle a score with him!” 

“He’s not home just now,” Mrs. MacCool calmly replied.  “Why don’t you come in and have a Guinness while you wait.  He’ll be back shortly.”

The giant entered the home and started to have a seat when he noticed the crib at the back of the room.  Curious, he went to say hello to the wee one.  There was Finnis MacCool, all diapered and cooing.  “Oh my goodness!”  The giant thought to himself.  “If the baby’s this big, how big must the father be?  I don’t stand a chance!”  And he ran out the door and back across the ocean, never to be seen again.  And this is how the formations that are the Giants’ Causeway were created.  Or maybe they were created 50-60 million years ago by an ancient volcanic eruption.  You decide.  If the scenery looks familiar maybe you recognize it from the latest ‘Star Wars’ movie, scenes from which were filmed here.

Along the way we passed by Dunluce Castle ruins, said to be the inspiration for C.S. Lewis’ ‘Chronicles of Narnia.’  Lewis grew up playing in these ruins, occupied by various Scottish clans until the town was abandoned in 1770.  Billy the Kid is also from this area.

We stopped to check out the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge Ken was supposed to cross today.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), there weren’t enough adventurous souls to join him and the excursion was canceled.  Too bad, because Ken would have loved to do this – especially after he saw where it was located.  Fishermen used to have salmon fishing nets off Carrick-A-Reed Island.  The bridge was erected over a 98 feet deep and 65 feet wide chasm, giving them a way to get to those nets.  The bridge is made entirely of rope and originally had a rail on only one side.  Fishermen carrying their gear only had one hand available to hold onto a rail with, so a second rail was unnecessary.  Take a look at these pictures and imagine crossing that bridge with your arms full of fishing gear and only one rope “rail.”  There’s a reason Pam signed up for the Causeway tour and left the bridge crossing to Ken!

Ken couldn’t possibly be in the land of Guinness and not give it a try, so after trekking through the Giants’ Causeway we joined friends at a local pub where Ken sampled the Guinness and Ted put Irish whiskey to the test.

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