A Dampish Squib

 We had today well planned thanks to a shop assistant we spoke with yesterday:

• Get up early
• Move car handy to apartment so packing up easier
• Breakfast etc,
• Get on the road by 8.30
• Stop at Binevenagh Lake
• Stop at Gortmore Viewpoint
• Visit Mussenden Temple
• Visit Giant Causeway
• See The Dark Hedges
• Call on a craftsman at Ballymena
• Drive through to Belfast

The first 4 were accomplished, in fact we were on the road by 8.00am however it was in persistent rain which stayed with us until 30 minutes or so after we arrived in Belfast at around 4.30

The GPS wouldn’t recognise a location called Benevenagh Lake as written for us by our retail friend so we had to cross that off the list - a pity he spelt it wrong!

We did stop at the Gortmore Viewpoint and climbed the stairs to the statue but other than looking at mist and rain there was no view to be had.

Pulled up on the road adjacent to the Mussenden Temple and took a photo from the car - at least we didn’t get any wetter there because we we saving that delight for our visit to the Giants Causeway.

Before we went on the Causeway we shared a seafood chowder for lunch- it was a large bowl accompanied by a couple of chunks of wheaten bread and between us we didn’t finish it. It was tasty enough but might have been more so if the had put some more seafood in it rather than all the potato chunks!

With umbrellas up we then walked down to the rocks at the Causeway passing big numbers of other bedraggled tourists coming back up to the parking areas.

Took a couple of photos and then returned back up to our car to get out of the weather - it was easy to make a mental comparison with this site and the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki

Set the GPS for The Dark Hedges but it was still raining when we got there and no vehicles were allowed on the road where the hedges are so set off to Ballymena and knocked on the craftsman’s door, introduced ourselves, told him what we were looking for but alas it wasn’t something he made so it was back in the car 🚗 and we then drove through to Belfast in heavy rain to find our accommodation and as said above shortly after we arrived the weather changed and now the skies are brighter and the clouds are now devoid of moisture.

Yes, today was a bit of a damp squib but we can’t complain as we have been exceptionally lucky with the weather to date.

The Binevenargh Lake if we had got there

Gortmore Viewpoint statue

Mussenden’s Temple

Giant Causeway

The Dark Hedges - perhaps next time