Day 9 - Giant's Causeway

Today was our last day in North Ireland, and almost our last day on the island at all - we fly home tomorrow morning. But we still had things to do! So we got up early and set about doing them! First stop was Bushmills Distillery. The oldest distillery on the island, individuals in the Bushmills region have been distilling since the 1400's, and the Distillery itself was licensed by king James the First in 1608 and has produced whiskey more-or-less continuously since then. While I've toured distilleries before, the Bushmills tour is interesting because Bushmills is as much a factory as it is a distillery. Although the futuristic control room - directing and and monitoring eight enormous stills - came close, the coolest part was the bottling plant. It was remarkably similar to the assembly lines I've worked on DEWALT plants. At the end of the tour they let us sample various whiskeys and gave us drink vouchers... and despite all we had learned, I still spent my drink voucher on a Coke. Despite all I learned I still can't enjoy whiskey. The science and art of it is fascinating... but the taste remains that of rubbing alcohol and dirt.

(Totally forget) who took this one, but thanks random tourist!

After a surprisingly cheap and enjoyable lunch at the distillery, we went over to Giant's Causeway - the original reason we came to Northern Ireland - and possibly all of Ireland - now the last stop on our week-long tour. But before that, allow me a side rant:

(Ethan's) shot showing almost the entire Causeway

The National Trust (for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty) is a load of wankers. Remember when the U.S. government "shut down" and then the National Park Service used extra manpower to close parks and prevent people from doing things that shouldn't have needed any government involvement in the first place? That's the NT. They took over management of the causeway and built a very nice visitors center. Then they blocked all the free or cheap parking nearby... going so far as to place "helpers" in the lots of nearby businesses dressed like officers to "helpfully" remind you you weren't allowed to park there.  This is so you will pay $10 PER PERSON to park. Furthermore, they obfuscated all the paths to the cliffs so it looks like you have to go through the vi$itors center in order to get to the causeway. And what do they spend their ill-gotten gains on? Some of it must go to the preservation of the cliffs and trails - a noble goal that I'd gladly contribute a few quid towards. But the lion's share goes to providing "safety officers" to blow whistles whenever anyone gets too close to the sea - as if we hadn't just survived a  week  collective 152 years of scampering over rocks next to the ocean. Tossers.

Barely visible in this picture, my family!

Ireland has a great story-telling culture. And faced with such amazing geology as the Causeway, they came up with fittingly imaginative legends. Finn McCool, the giant, built the Causeway as a bridge to Scotland to challenge his rival. However, once he got to Scotland he found his rival was far larger than he expected! He ran back to Ireland in fear, pursued by his colossal rival. Fortunately his wife had a clever idea, and swaddled him as a babe. Seeing this enormous "infant" and aghast at the idea of a full-grown giant, Finn's rival fled back to Scotland, destroying the causeway behind him.

Regardless of the origin, be it allegorical or volcanic, the causeway and cliffs are quite impressive. The cliffs are larger and the individual rock formations smaller than I expected, but still bizarre and awe-inspiring. We went out over the upper trail, getting a birds eye view, before continuing down the face to the formations and back across the coast. I gave my family a head start to get some photos of them dwarfed by the cliffs. Those little red and yellow dots? Those are my family! Then I raced off after them - midway across the face we saw the Giant's organ and then we hiked around the point to the end of the trail, before heading back to the causeway proper.



In the intertidal rock-and-wave zone we climbed all over the rocks, got yelled at by the wankers in "Luminous" vests, and I finally got a decent photo of some birds. Flighty little buggers, them. Then, regrettably, it was time to head home. We hiked back up the coast (and finally saw Finn's Camel which we'd been misidentifying for hours!)  As I waited for Adam to extract the car and my family to circumnavigate the visitors center I spent my time telling random people in the parking lot how to avoid the entrance fees. #Resist

Then it was over. We got in the car, drove back to Swords (the suburb of Dublin next to the airport), and had our last pub dinner. Dad even got a good beer this time! Now it's time to shower, sleep, and get on an airplane.

All in all I completely recommend Ireland. It's one of the most beautiful countries on earth, and has the richest history of anywhere I've ever been.

(Adam)'s picture of Ethan and Dad about to get whistled