title The Giant's Causeway, Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland - 14th August 2019 intro From Blackrock, Louth, we head up through Belfast - unfortunately without enough spare time to actually stop and explore - and on up to Bushmills and the site of the Giant's Causeway, a large outcropping of hexagonal columns of volcanic basalt which from a distance looks somewhat underwhelming, but which is actually great fun to explore and poke around on. The weather's not great getting up there, and it lashes after we leave, but in between it turns out really nice for a couple of hours as we wander around. But first, we stop off at Carlingford, on Carlingford Lough, where it's all a bit misty, and then there's a pause for some dereliction, courtesy of some sort of burnt-out holiday complex at Ballyonan in Louth - site of the Shrine of St. Jude. imgp2666 Carlingford's castle, in the mist imgp2667 Isobel and Harry look around as Fred waits in the car imgp2668 Some other bit of derelict castle-y fortification imgp2669 A wrecked old boat at Carlingford imgp2670 Carlingford Castle, sadly no longer accessible imgp2671 Isobel and Harry stare out over the lough imgp2672 Down at the Carlingford dock imgp2674 Carlingford houses imgp2677 A fairground ride in the rain imgp2678 Inside the shrine of St. Jude imgp2679 A Scary Mary in the bushes imgp2682 Fred pokes around on the shores of the Lough imgp2686 The Shrine of St. Jude, Ballyonan imgp2688 Some sort of burned out holiday complex imgp2697 Derelict buildings in Ballyonan imgp2702 Burned out window frames imgp2706 A cross through a burned out window imgp2709 Render falls off the brickwork imgp2712 Some badly-drawn neo-fascist graffiti imgp2713 Crowds mill around outside the Causeway Hotel imgp2714 Inside the National Trust gift shop imgp2715 People at the top of a hill imgp2717 There's a stream of people coming and going imgp2722 People mill around likes ants on the causeway imgp2725 Picturesque boulders imgp2729 Fred, Harry and Isobel march along the road imgp2732 Some dude sits on a rock imgp2733 We reach the Giant's Causeway imgp2737 Harry is almost camouflaged imgp2740 Harry surveys the scene imgp2742 Hexagonal rocks imgc4014 Fred takes a photo of Nosher taking a photo imgp2743 We start climbing around imgp2749 Bright green algae amongs the lava columns imgp2751 Hexagons all round imgp2755 The gang clamber around imgp2763 Fred and Harry on a rock imgp2769 Isobel roams around imgp2770 People swarm all over basalt columns imgp2776 The boys look in a rock pool imgp2782 Fred takes some close-up photos imgp2785 Big black lava pillows imgp4033 A nice arrangement of vertical hexagons imgp4034 Harry sits down for a bit imgp4038 Isobel strides around imgp4043 Isobel chats to one of the ranger types imgp4048 Harry points the way imgp4050 A couple of green algae hexagons imgp4057 A big standing pile of hexagons imgp4058 A nice view imgp4059 Some abandoned brickwork imgp4067 The boys on the giant's shoe imgp4068 Fred sits in the giant's shoe imgp4072 Harry manages to fall into the sea again imgp4085 We climb back up the long hill imgp4086 The boulder announcing World Heritage status imgp4087 The Causeway Hotel in the rain imgp4089 We head off back to the car