"The Essential Irish Journey"...

...this is the title of a map on my wall. The map shows what is called the Causeway Coastal Route, a scenic road that follows all the twists and turns of the northern coast of Northern Ireland. Along this road are the most famous and beautiful sights in the country, including the ruins of the Dunluce Castle, the Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and the Mussenden Temple. Bethany and I, feeling the need to get out of the city to see some of Northern Ireland's natural beauty, completed only a portion of this "essential Irish journey" this past weekend.


On Friday afternoon, we walked to the Jordanstown train station to embark on our three hour journey to the small, coastal town of Portstewart. Our journey involved taking two trains, one of which we nearly missed, and a bus ride, which would have resulted in us being very lost had we not asked the passengers seated in front of us if we had already passed our stop, to which they answered yes and told us to immediately get off and back track. When we boarded the bus, we asked the driver to let us know when we reached the Atlantic Circle stop in Portstewart, but I guess he forgot. Luckily, we only missed it by one stop and it was a beautiful night with a warm, fresh breeze blowing in from the ocean, so we walked happily.


We stayed in a really nice hostel our two nights there - Rick's Causeway Coast Independent Hostel. There were literally two houses between our hostel and the ocean. I loved walking out the front door in the morning and hearing the roar of the waves crashing on the rocky shore. And that fresh ocean breeze hitting my face... The perfect setting for a perfect weekend.


Anyway, we finally got to the hostel at about quarter to seven. We checked in to the smallest room for two people I have ever seen, and then we walked on down to the Portstewart Promenade to find some dinner and hopefully some live music. Bethany's Irish roommates had told her about The Anchor pub and restaurant, so when we found it, we went straight in and grabbed a table in the restaurant. Bethany ordered some delicious chicken curry and I had a gigantic roadside chicken sandwich with garlic chips (a.k.a. french fries) on the side. We were completely stuffed by the end of that meal, but with nothing else to do, we decided to go downstairs to the pub for a few drinks. When I walked in, I realized this pub was the perfect setting in which to have my first taste of Guinness. There, surrounded by about twenty-five Irish men and women, and the Galles v. France rugby match playing on the televisions, I took my first sip. It was disgusting! But, since I was sitting at the bar, right in front of the bartender, I felt compelled to suffer through nine more sips of bitterness so that he wouldn't think I was a wimp. Then I proceeded to order a Mango Breezer to wash it down. I much prefer fruity, girly drinks. We ended up hanging out at the pub for a couple hours because there was supposed to be live, although not traditional, music. The music never did come though, so we gave up, walked back to the hostel and climbed into bed early.


Saturday morning we awoke feeling refreshed and ready to explore the coast. We left the hostel at 8:20 to grab a quick breakfast at one of the cafes on the promenade before catching the 8:53 bus to the Coleraine train station. Big oops on my part though! I had mixed up the bus time in my head and it didn't actually stop in Portstewart until 9:53. No matter. Bethany and I sipped coffee and hot chocolate at the cafe and wandered along the shore snapping pictures and taking in the sights and sounds of the big, blue ocean while we waited.

THE REST OF THIS POST I'M WRITING FOR THE SECOND TIME BECAUSE WHEN I TRIED TO POST IT AN ERROR OCCURRED AND HALF OF IT WAS DELETED...GRRR!!! So you're going to get a condensed version, because I'm mad and I don't feel like writing eloquently again.

So the bus arrived at 9:53, we boarded it and rode to the train station at Coleraine, where we then took the train to Castlerock. A lovely woman named Gabrielle picked us up at the train station in her white jeep with hay-covered seats and drove us to the Hill Farm Riding Centre out in the countryside. Bethany and I went horseback riding in Northern Ireland! It was brilliant, so it was…good craic (pardon my Irish)! I have to admit though, I was pretty dang nervous as I hopped on my horse, Bessie. Bethany is an avid equestrian, therefore she has a good number of horror stories involving horses, such as the one where she got bucked off her horse, broke her leg and had to be on crutches for her senior prom and graduation. Yep, that’s all I could think of as I got on my horse. Fortunately, nothing like that even came close to happening. Bessie was a very well-mannered horse, so much so that our guide, Haley, had to hold on to Bessie’s lead rope so she wouldn’t go so slowly.

The scenery was utterly breathtaking. Everything around us – from the rolling, emerald green fields spotted with woolly sheep and horses and cows, to the grey, cloudy skies – said Ireland. This landscape was the picture that had occupied my mind in my months of planning and preparing for this semester. I tried to take it all in, but I found it kind of difficult at times. Let’s just say I really had to focus on keeping my balance on the English saddle so I wouldn’t fall of the horse every time we started trotting. My bum is still sore from the bumpy ride, and by the end my feet were completely numb from the cold wind, but all in all it was a worthwhile experience.

After our hour-long ride, Gabrielle drove us back into town to wait for our train. While we waited, Bethany and I grabbed lunch at Crusoe’s Café. I ordered a chicken, cranberry and brie Panini; she ordered a meat Panini. And don’t you worry, we didn’t forget dessert! I had a scrumptious fruit tart. Obviously, it had fruit on it, so it couldn’t possibly be that unhealthy, right? I think we spent about an hour in the café, enjoying the warmth and the ambience. Then we decided to wander around the very small town in the little time we had before our train arrived. Little did we know that there was an ocean beach just a five-minute walk down the street. That beach is beautiful and so peaceful! Bethany and I readily agreed that we had to get back up here on a warm, sunny day before the semester was over.

Our next stop of the day was the Dunluce Castle in Portrush, or what remains of it. It was a bit confusing trying to get there – train, bus, then taxi – but it was totally worth it. The castle was built literally on the edge of a cliff. In fact, years ago, part of the kitchen fell into the sea during a raging storm. What remains of the castle made for a magical sight. Bethany and I spent about an hour exploring every nook and cranny. I would have loved to live there, despite the structural instability. Every window looked out on a spectacular view of the ocean. Pictures and words simply don’t do it justice. This is one of those places you have to experience firsthand. Next to the castle is a trail that leads to a cave below it. We climbed down to the very bottom of the cave where the ocean waves were crashing through an opening in the wall and just stood there, listening. I felt so relaxed. After a few minutes, we crawled back out of the cave, planted ourselves on the grass, and sat there enjoying God’s incredible creation. While I was sitting there, I was reminded of the story of Elijah in which God speaks to him in the whisper of the wind. This is the Ireland I had dreamed of experiencing.

From the castle, Bethany and I attempted to walk to the Giant’s Causeway via the Causeway Coast Footpath. We never actually made it there, although we found out later that we came pretty close. Perhaps we should bring a map and train/bus schedule with us next time. The walk was far from being a waste of time, however. We got to see plenty of the Irish countryside. At one point, we left the path and journeyed to the point of a cliff to get a better view of the ocean. I’m positive we walked through a sheep field to get there – there were droppings all over the place and a sheep even ran out from behind a fence in front of us. We named him Lionel. That wasn’t the only sheep field we walked through that day. Later on we followed Ulster Way, a 52 km footpath following the coast from Portstewart to Carrickfergus through what was definitely a sheep field – looked like one and, most of all, smelled like one. Throughout the duration of our walk I was downright captivated by the beauty of my surroundings. I kept thinking how creative my God is. That He could design this seaside landscape and the African dessert just amazes me!

We caught a 6:30 bus back to Portstewart and spent the rest of the night at our hostel, eating our dinner of pizza, chicken nuggets, corn, grapes and hob-nobs, watching football and British television, reading and playing cards. Sunday morning we slept in and spent a couple hours in the hostel’s community living room before catching the bus and train back to Jordanstown. Boy, what a relaxing weekend!