July 19: This morning it was supposed to be sunny. The Carrick-a-Rede suspension bridge is close to my hostel, so I went there to have a look first. The scenery there is beautiful, but 9£ pay to cross a suspension bridge from 20 metres to walk and then another 150-metre trail over a rock, I did not.
Fishermen used to go over a suspension bridge that had only one rope to hold on to. They also had to transfer their nets and other equipment piece by piece. They attached their nets to the far end of the rock, and then, using a small boat, they stretched up a net in a big arc with which they fished for sea salmon.
Carrick-a-Rede suspension bridge
Then I rode 13 km back to Bushmills to buy food in the nearest supermarket. After the long bike ride yesterday, I went to eat in a pub because all I had left was a tin of soup and some bread, which I found rather minuscule after a hard 89km ride.
In Bushmills, I immediately included the Bushmills Whiskey visited distillery, the oldest in Ireland. Interesting. They mature the whiskey in casks that previously held Bourbon, Port, Sherry or Madeira wine. So the walls of those casks are imbued with those flavours and impart them to the whiskey. Such a barrel is reused 3 times and then resold for decorative purposes.
No photos were allowed to be taken in the distillery.
Bushmills Whiskey distillery
During the day it was beautiful open weather here, so I walked first to Ballintoy Harbour, which served in 2011 as the fictional Lordsport town in the Game of Thrones television series.
Ballintoy Harbour
Because towards sunset the colour effects on the natural basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway are at their most beautiful to photograph, I decided to cycle to this remarkable natural phenomenon only in the evening. It was not to be. By the time I set off on my bike, it had poured over, and by the time I was well and truly at the columns, it started raining. Which in turn made scrambling over the wet rocks just a little more exciting....
The basalt columns were formed due to a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. Of course, the visitor centre was closed at this late hour, so I can't write a more extensive story about its origins right now. So here is the Wikipedia link:
Giant's Causeway
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
