Billy and Giant's Causeway

The weather seemed reasonable, although cool and a bit windy, so we thought Giant's Causeway should be on the list for today.



On the way way we saw the sign to the village of Billy in which we found an old church, several Steel and Steele gravestones and this one erected by Catherine Steel, my gt-gt-grandmother (Alexander/Robertson), in memory of her husband William, and sons Hugh and Robert.



Then off to Bushmills for a walk around the shops, spotting this picture next to a heavily defended police station that seemed to sum up Northern Ireland. They have the Queen, but no Celtic Tiger.





Lunch at Portballintrae was in a freezing wind, looking over their small harbour where some people had probably paid money for a ride on a sausage towed behind a semi-rigid tender. We could hear the screams of terror/delight as they pounded over the waves, then it was upside down and they were all swimming. They seemed to get rescued without too much fuss.





Further down the coast road was the Giant's Causeway, a popular tourist spot. The 37,000 hexagonal basalt columns solidified into these shapes when the rock coastline solidified from underground lava. Local Irish legends have their hero Finn McCool make the causeway in a battle with a giant from Scotland.

Visiting the tourist shop at the Causeway, Doug was very puzzled to have the girl behind the counter say something like 'Dere'sawaspaanuraat'. After two repeats it was 'There's a wasp on your hat!'.