The "Dark Hedges" are difficult to photograph, you need to get the right time, we chose late evening after dinner to give us uninterrupted access but that gave us a bright sunset and still lots of other people all doing the same as us
This is probably the best shot :
Early the next morning, in the rain, we took a drive along Torr Head, it's like a single lane switch back with passing places so we couldn't really stop for pictures but we found this site. Look in the distance and you will see the steepness and narrowness of the road.
The biggest of the nine Glens of Antrim is Glenariff, here's it's best waterfall (there are many in the forest) :
You really can't go to Ireland without visiting the famous sights. The driving is great along roads that have no traffic and beautiful scenery, so here's Dawn on the Giant's Causeway :
Two weeks before we arrived the Giro d'Italia blasted through on their way south. The race's theme is pink but we could not believe how pink the area had become, there were pink walls, shop fronts, bicycles on railings, bus shelters and even cars but sheep ? :
Stopping on the side of the road for a scenic view, this opportunity arose, it shows the lovely winding strips of tarmac called Irish roads :
Overlooking White Park Bay, watching seals frolick in the sea below :
Just crossed the Carrick a Rede rope bridge. This was established by salmon fishermen years ago to get the catch from the sea across to the mainland. Originally it had just one hand rail because they had to carry their catch in the other, 65 feet above the water ! :
We rented a house in the small village of Cushendun, this is the view of the local harbour from our house :
Another victim of Giro fever
:
Here's one for all Liverpool fans (Dawn nearly leapt out of the car when I pointed it out) just down the road from where we were staying :
Nearby was the village of Cushendall still draped in pink however the sport here is hurling as you can partly see on the wall on the right :
We weren't sure about a visit to Belfast, like most of us all we knew about it was the troubles as seen on TV for some 30 years. We decided we may regret it if we didn't so we found a car park on the edge of the city not too far from the Motorway in the Cathedral quarter (which we later realised was yards from the Crumlin Road
). We walked to the city centre and boarded an open top tour bus, one of the first eye openers was this wall (one of many as you probably know) :
With heavily armoured PSNI (Police Service of Northern Island) Land Rovers you feel you are still in a war-zone, in some ways you are, the police stations are so protected it's hard for us to imagine what it is like to live there. At the end of the day we get in our cars and drive home, the people that live there cannot, this is a typical police sation :
I'll continue this in part three as Belfast cannot be shown in just a few pictures and I'm going to watch the football after dinner
