Day 8: Ireland- ALL the sights of Ballycastle!

I'm starting with a picture of us because whenever I put a link up on FB it uses the first picture as a preview and I'd rather have us than the shower below >_<

Whew, I am wiped! I don't think I've had this much fresh air since.... well Scotland, but before that, since forever! Also, we were worried that the weather was going to be bad today, and then it turned out to be gorgeous (thank you everyone who had their fingers crossed for us) and then we heard tomorrow will be the day it starts to storm so we went ahead and did all the outdoor things! So let's get this blog post started!

Oh, let me introduce you to their shower system. You want hot water? You can get hot water, but it's scalding. A little cooler? Oh, you mean ice water! There is no middle. Only fire and ice. And a shower head that does not shower you with water, but with needles.

The front entryway of our B&B, Crockatinney.

After a delicious, traditional breakfast provided by our B&B, we went back to Kinbane Castle ruins since they're conveniently so close. Well, close enough that we walked there last night, but thank goodness Dad drove, because from where we stopped last night when it was getting too dark, there really are some steep stairs down the side of a cliff and walking back up gave us a great leg workout! But with steep stairs and hiking comes great views, and Kinbane Castle did not disappoint! It was made all the more awesome and beautiful by the fact it was just us. No other tourists. So we could photograph at our leisure and not worry about random strangers messing up our artistically composed photos.

Here's our Guinness drinker and one water, my parents Jim and Mary!

So after our stairmaster-intense climb back up, we hopped into the car and drove five minutes down the road to another lesser-known location: Bonamargy Friary.  This one was brought to our attention because it's close and supposedly haunted! Oooooooohhhh. I should have ghost hunted (but my ghost hunting buddy is back in the States and our ghetto equipment is at home). But I took plenty of pictures. Look closely and maybe you will find that I have captured evidence of the Black Nun. OOoooooooo!! Actually, that's even creepier right now with that scary Conjuring movie that just came out. But it's nothing like that. The black nun, her name Julia McQuillan, lived at the friary in the 1600s, and when she died she asked to be buried under the entryway of the church so that she could show humiliation even in death to God. Apparently she also made prophesies and was a recluse. Cool.  Dunno where the "haunted" bit comes from, I guess people have seen things, but no ghosts while we were there. There were people playing golf nearby. Badly. So I guess I could see someone rising from the grave to correct their form and swing because, buddy, you're paying hundreds of dollars to play on that scenic course, you should really learn to play golf!

The front of Bonamargy Friary

Dad in his Irish hat

Looking through a window to the church entryway

Julia McQuillan was apparently buried under this cross with the hole in the center

See any ghosts through this?

Another 15 minute drive brought us to a location known as the Dark Hedges, used in Game of Thrones as The King's Road down which Arya Stark escaped. Mom asked me, "What's it look like?" and the best description I could come up with was: "Like that tree-lined road in Rain Main that was filmed at a nearby Kentucky convent, but more dark." I think that was a pretty good description! Now we started to run into other tourists and groups of people. Thus begins the scenic shots with strangers.  It was a neat, tree-lined road, not really that dark. Heck, there was even another rainbow out in the fields there, but worth the 15 minutes we took to stop, walk, snap photos, and leave. Although, this is another purportedly haunted place with a "grey lady" that has been seen at dusk to float and glide between the twisted trees. Ooooooooooo!! No, we only saw a rainbow and a photo shoot. Although those models were rather thin and gaunt.... Oooooooooo!!!

We felt we hadn't hiked up and down steep hills enough so we made our next stop The Giant's Causeway.  A very famous natural location recommended to me by numerous people.  It is also the home of Ireland's most famous giant, Finn MacCool, and we had been to the other side of this causeway on the Isle of Skye where their giant, Benandonner, was lookin' to pick a fight with MacCool. So he goes across this (fictional) land bridge to Ireland, to see if Finn MacCool was around so he could fight him and take his stuff. Only Finn's wife was home but she was pregnant. She told him as much and to come back later. So Benandonner did, but when he came back, Finn's wife had come up with a plan, dressed MacCool up as a giant baby, and Benandonner was so scared at the size of the baby he didn't want to stick around to see how big Finn MacCool actually was. So he broke up the land bridge so that MacCool couldn't follow, making the neat, hexagonal shaped rocks. Or it was science. You decide.

Here's a cute little animated video they had playing at the Visitor's Center with the myth of the Causeway.

Haha, this is why you seek out young people to take your pictures. Old people don't understand how to use the focus!! XD

Now it was most definitely time for lunch, which we enjoyed in the nearby town of Bushmills (also the location of a distillery, which we might go to tomorrow if it's raining). That was my undoing. Sitting down after a morning full of hiking and sight seeing and fresh air made me aching for a nap. So we started our drive back to the B&B, stopping to check out Dunluce Castle, but after almost getting run over by tour buses and seeing the fee to get in we decided to take pictures from afar. We also made a stop to get some sweets for tea time. I got my blessed nap, we had some tea and cakes for dinner (pretty much) and ended the day with a walk around the B&B's grounds (no donkey friends today).

So that's it! Keep those fingers crossed, you really helped us have beautiful weather today! Let's hope for another great day tomorrow! Good night!