Ambling the Antrim Coast
Today did not start well. As it was cloudy and 30% chance of rain, we drove from Ramelton to see Derry. But there was a roadblock. Our offline Maps.me could not handle the change quickly. But continual roadblocks prevented us from going to the centre of Derry — people were running a marathon! So I made an executive decision — okay, we made an executive decision. We switched to do the Antrim or Giant’s Causeway Coast. We were glad we did! All’s well that ends well.
This pull off was one of the few views “along the coast”. The view is the Inishowen Peninsula across Lough Foyle.
“The Antrim Coast Road is often praised as Ireland’s most scenic drive.” This is highly debatable. The road does not even travel along the coast.
You need to get off the road to see views and do hikes. Many sites require high fees. Some places are very overcrowded and the traffic is more aggressive than in the Republic of Ireland. We would hate to drive here in the summer!
However, it is definitely worth driving and there are gems that you can enjoy. We got off Highway A2 at the Sea Coast Road (B69). It is a smaller road that goes through farmland but has some interesting mountain backdrops. I believe this is Binevenagh.
We stopped for a photo at Crindle Stables at the Carrowclare Road intersection. I noticed a slew of horses. I softly whistled and called them in my mind to come over.
And they did come over — right to me and shoved their heads over the fence inches away from me! It was surreal. I thought they wanted me to touch them. After the experience at the Portacloy Peat Farm when the farmer said not to pet his three-year old pony because he bites, I chickened out and took their photos instead.
Benone Beach
Benone Beach was a huge expanse of beach spoiled by cars and food trucks parked all over the supposedly Blue Flag beach. Blue Flag Organisation is an international body aimed at promoting environmental awareness and sustainable development of areas of natural beauty. I’m sorry but IMHO car parking on a beach automatically disqualifies the beach as an area of natural beauty.
But it is such a nice beach. Pity! We rested here while the skies gradually cleared.
So what makes a beach spectacular? It is the same visual elements that make great art or photography: texture, depth, colour and curves. Headlands, cliffs, and formations provide texture and depth. S-curves or serpentinata makes beaches and art more dynamic.
Downhill Desmesne and Mussenden Temple
You can see Mussenden “Temple” (fake) from far away on Benone Beach or pay €6.20 per person to the National Trust to see it up close. Just down the road, we found out the price also includes the Downhill Demesne, which has gardens and the ruins of an 18th century mansion.
The 1784 Bishop’s Gate
Port Stewart and Port Rush
Next we drove to Port Stewart Strand, which charges €6.20 per person (National Trust) to go to a beach you cannot even swim in (too cold). It is also spoiled by cars parked all over the beach. There is a nice view from the hill above the beach. But is it worth going? The beach is long but straight. The water does have some beautiful turquoise colour.
In fact, avoid over-touristed Port Stewart and Port Rush altogether unless you prefer urbanization to nature. This is an example of Joni Mitchell’s classic song Big Yellow Taxi: “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” The traffic was horrendous with wall-to-wall cars. We gave up and turned around. Just after Port Rush, there are a few pull offs with nice views of the rugged coastline.
White Rocks
Now comes the great part of this day trip. Drive Highways A2 and B62 to White Rocks and its beautiful beach.
Not only is the beach beautiful and free, the white limestone cliffs were formed 65 million years ago. You are looking at years and years of dead seashells deposited at the bottom of the sea and compressed into limestone.
Next you drive literally on the edge of the White Rocks on the only true coastal part of this road. There are a couple of viewpoints such as this one looking back on the beach.
Dunluce Castle
Another viewpoint looks towards Dunluce Castle.
But the best view is right at Danluce Castle. There is a charge to visit the ruins. Otherwise, walk from the parking lot through the low wall and turn right for a superb photo opp.
The roads in Northern Ireland are very good. In contrast, tourist sites are poorly organized. The biggest hassle was getting into or out of the Dunluce parking lot. There are two entrances, one on west side and one on the east side. Cars are parked along these roads making them effectively one lane roads. But cars are going both ways. There was a traffic jam trying to get out! This could be fixed for the minimal cost of a sign. Why oh why do they not make this a one-way road going west to east?
Next is the famous Giant’s Causeway. They claim that all national parks are free but you have to park. The choices are the NP parking lot for an extravagant £12.50 per person “parking” fee or free along the highway if you can find a place. There was no parking to be had so we continued east expecting to try again on the way back. We were there just after the peak visiting time from 11:00 to 15:00 hrs.
Giant’s Causeway Trail
We drove to the Dunseverick Castle ruins further east on the coast. The ruins above are not special but it is the trail head for the 7.7 km Giant’s Causeway Trail. National Trust warden, Toby Edwards, claimed this is the best hike (and coast). It was time to find out if he was biased?
Some web articles stated that the Dunseverick part of the trail was unexciting. So I wasn’t sure how far I would hike. This was the initial view after the picnic area behind the house where we parked.
After a mere five minutes I was hooked. I had the place all to myself — there were a total of five other hikers including a nice Dutch couple I spoke with for quite a while, as we covered a wide range of topics from hiking to politics.
Actually, you don’t need the highest cliffs or the widest beaches to make a hike good. What makes it special are indented headlands, rocky shapes, and constantly changing, photogenic views.
Yes, the sun lighting up the turquoise coast helped but it also rained. Wait five minutes and the weather changed again. The views were wide open with picturesque green pastures and mountains in the background. The scenery pulled me in and I continued my favourite hike in Ireland — sheer bliss.
Basalt Columns
It was late in the day so we headed home via the Giant’s Causeway. There was still no space to park. As I had a glorious time on the trail without any people, I didn’t want to spoil the day competing with gazillion tourists trying to take nature photos of basalt with people standing on top of the columns.
Basalt columns are formed when magnesium and iron-rich lava extrudes from the ground near cooling water such as at Svartifoss Waterfall in Iceland, Los Prismas Basálticos in Mexico, and Yukon River, Yukon in Canada below.
Moreover, we had recently gone to Yukon Green where only 36,000 people live in a territory that is the same size as California! I had the basalt-lined, glacier green Miles Canyon Trail all to myself. Oh, and it’s totally free!
It was a dangerous whitewater river when the Klondikers rushed up this river to the famous Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) at Dawson City. Unlike in California, the gold miners were well behaved and land claims were controlled by gold commissioners.
