camanoescape – The Wagnerson's Travel Adventures

We woke up this morning with Ronnie busy in the kitchen.  We were all treated to a traditional Irish breakfast called an Ulster fry: Ham, bacon, sausage, eggs, soda bread, potato bread and wheaten bread.  Wow, what a feast indeed.  I think I think I could become an Irishman very quickly!  Stuffed to the gills, we saddled up our vehicles and headed to Dunluce Castle.  This estate and castle are perched on a hilltop.  The castle was reportedly abandoned a few hundred years ago when part of the kitchen sluffed off into the sea.  We had to cross a short bridge to get to the castle but this wasn’t the swinging rope variety but a solid bridge much to the chagrin of Lynda and Barb.

The view from Barb’s new bedroom!

After visiting the castle grounds, we walked uphill to a very small tea/coffee shop for a cup and a scone in front of a warm cozy fire.  We were asked where we were from by the proprietor.  We told her we were from Seattle.  She said “Oh, John just got back from Seattle.”  We didn’t know who John was but in a few minutes while sitting there a gentleman came up who asked if we were the one’s from Seattle.  We said yes, but we live a little further north of Seattle.  He asked where and we told him Camano Island.  He said my brother lives on Camano and has a little shop named Clover Antiques and Collectibles.  How funny that we can travel 4-5 thousand miles and run into a gentleman with connections that far away.  It is an incredibly small world.  With our tea, coffee and scones finished, we gathered up and headed off for our next place to explore!

Rest and rest alone was the first order of the day today.  It was lovely!  In the afternoon, we headed back toward the incredibly picturesque coastal town of Ballintoy, where yesterday we had passed an interesting looking church and cemetery.  A stroll around the grounds revealed a gravestone with a 1696 date.

Climbing back in the car, we headed to Portbradden.  This was a tiny fishing village that today houses the smallest church in Ireland, St. Gobban’s.  The seascape was incredible.  My camera doesn’t do it justice.

After this short bit of sightseeing, we thought it would be a great idea to head toward the river Bush and the town of Bushmills to sample the local wares.  Guess what we found.

  A sampling of the 10 year Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey and then a sampling of the Bushmill’s 12 year reserve was quite the topper to a restful day!  Thanks again to our Irish hosts.

With the weather here this morning cool and raining, we set off south to see if we could find a noteworthy “rope bridge” called Carrick-A-Rede.  By the time we drove the 20 miles to get there, the weather cleared and the rain stopped.  The coast line along the way was beautiful.

It was about a half mile walk down to the rope bridge with Lynda and Barb wondering whether they would actually cross over it.  Starting 350 years ago, fishermen erected the bridge to Carrick-a-Rede Island over a 98 foot high and 66 foot-wide chasm to check their salmon nets.  While it originally consisted of a single rope hand rail, apparently they heard that Lynda and Barb were coming and replaced it with a two hand railed bridge by the National Trust here in Ireland.  Although there was a description of the bridge being like a “thread in the wind”, once we got there both Lynda and Barb charged ahead (Okay, “charge” may be a little strong, but the bottom line is they both crossed over the bouncing, swinging bridge and then went back).

By the way, there was no wind.  

On the way back we saw what Lynda told me were Oreo Cows in the field.  They certainly did look like Oreo cows but apparently the correct name is Belted Galloways.

Getting back to the cars, we took off for Giant’s Causeway.  The legend is that an Irish giant named Finn McCool, who was 54 feet tall, challenged a Scottish giant named Benandonner to a duel.  He built a causeway of stepping stones to link up Ireland with Scotland.  In the end, although Benandonner came over to Ireland, he got scared and fled back to Scotland ripping up the causeway on his way to prevent him from being followed.  Looking across to Scotland, they have the same type of stones tapering off into the sea.  These stepping stone looking formations are mostly all 5-6 sided and about 18 inches across.  These individual stones are up to 35 to 40 feet tall.   This place was simply amazing to behold.  At the end of the day we were as the Irish say, “shattered” (really tired) and headed back to the house to rest up for dinner.

Yesterday we rented a car in Belfast and drove north to Portstewart where we met the landlady who showed us through the house we will be renting for the next 6 days.  It is an amazing place.  It sits across the street from the ocean.  This morning Doug and I were taken by Ronnie to a series of lakes and a grand lesson on how to fly fish for trout.  Must’ve been a good lesson because us two numbskulls actually caught trout as a result of the fly fishing lesson.  It was catch and release and we caught and released.   I can’t speak for the others but I am exhausted.

This driving on the other (wrong) side of the road is a trip.  Tonight, we’re all tired and coming back from the restaurant to our place on the beach.  Nothing better than driving on the wrong side of the road in the dark, in the rain, on a 2 way road that is only slightly wider than the gravel lane in front of our house at home.  Let’s just say that the wheels and side mirrors of our rental car got “dusted off” all the while our heart rates were maintained at aerobic levels. 🙂   You just can’t buy this kind of fun!!

We were as the Irish might say, “gobsmacked” (blown away) by the behind the scenes tour of Stormont, the main Parliament building of Northern Ireland (the equivalent to our White House or Capital building) arranged by Ronnie McAleese today.  For photographic perspective, the entrance to Stormont is exactly one mile from the main road to Stormont.

Not only did we receive a private tour through areas not seen by the general public, we sat in on a parliament session and watched and listened as they debated a crime bill.  We were Ronnie’s guests and dined in the Members’ Dining Room reserved for the members of parliament. It was an amazing meal and top notch in every way.  The view from the dining room was noteworthy.

After lunch, we toured more of the grounds and were treated to a behind the scenes look at Stormont Castle, where the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland are housed.  The place and grounds are storybook beautiful!  We can’t thank Ronnie, Laura and Kat enough for their overwhelming hospitality.  Cheers!

Today started out with a lazy morning…..the kind we’ve sorely missed for a while.  We took a cab to meet Kat and Ben at the Titanic District on Queens Island where the shipbuilding in Belfast occurs.  This was also the place where the Titanic, the world’s largest passenger ship ever built at the time, was constructed.  Launched from Belfast in May 1911, it spent the next 11 months in sea trials in England.  It’s home port was Liverpool, England.  We all know that it struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage to the USA on April 14, 1912.  Two hours later, it was gone.  As the Irish like to point out over here in a friendly tussle with their friends in England, “Hey, it was fine when it left here.”  We went through the Titanic exhibit on the planning, labor and construction of the vessel, as well as its sinking, emergency calls and the rescue efforts.  Quite sobering.  Afterwards, we had tea in a replica of the Titanic dining room with the Grand Staircase.  Huh……imagine me at an afternoon tea……hold that thought.  I KNOW, right?  Afterwards, a short cab ride back to our hotel to rest up for dinner tonight.

Today was fuller than yesterday.  After breakfast, Kat picked the four of us up and we headed to her hometown of Comber.  We hooked up with Ben at her house and then headed over to the Patch….a dog training center owned by Ronnie and Laura where the top dog agility show in Northern Ireland was being held this weekend.  The course was set up in an extremely difficult fashion.  It was crazy seeing how the handlers would instruct their dogs through the course, and the dogs who have never seen this course, would make it or break it by the instructions of the handler.  To illustrate, here is a link to a short video of Kat’s dad Ronnie running his dog successfully through the course:  http://youtu.be/-BBLJiRZa90

Doug, Barb, Lynda and I headed out with Kat and Ben in a southerly direction. Our first stop was Down Cathedral and Saint Patrick’s grave.  The cathedral was amazing.

Saint Patrick’s day is celebrated on March 17th but I knew nothing of the man.  He is buried just outside the cathedral with the big stone marking his grave.

After this we headed out to Dundrum Castle, according to Ben one that used to belong to his family.

After seeing Ben’s old bedroom in the castle where he used to sleep as a kid 🙂 we headed further south for Newcastle, a town on the coast of the Irish Sea.  After a late lunch we walked the beach looking for agates and interesting shells.  A stop for ice cream and we headed back to Belfast to stop at Queens University (where Kat studied) and then conclude another wonderful day.

After a two hour train ride on the “Enterprise” from Dublin this morning, we arrived in Belfast in one piece.

As we were standing at a transit map at the Belfast Central train station trying to figure out the public transportation system to get to our downtown Belfast hotel, a gentleman inquired where we were looking to get to.  We told him and he said, “You know, if you get back on board such and such train and get off at the 3rd stop, your hotel will be about 2 blocks to your left.  In fact that train is leaving in 5 minutes.”  So….off we went back into the station to find the right train and sure enough, three stops later and a couple of blocks we found our hotel.  Serendipity!  Check in was a breeze and we were soon in our respective rooms.

Kathrine (our resident Northern Ireland expert) met us at our hotel and soon we were off to the town of Comber with her driving (on the wrong side of the road I might add).  Comber is about 15 miles from Belfast.  Kat lives in Comber and her parents, Ronnie and Laura, do too.  We visited Ronnie and Laura’s home and were treated with Irish hospitality all evening.  Here is a photo of Ronnie and the medal he received…..he suggests that Doug and Barb deserve the medal because of their love and friendship displayed toward Katherine!  🙂

The seven of us dined in a fine establishment in town.  I passed up the opportunity to enjoy chicken liver pate as an appetizer, although my lovely bride did not.  It must’ve been okay because she’s still alive and well.  Laughter and good times have been in great supply.  It is now almost 11 p.m. and time to turn in.

Went for a stroll through downtown Dublin.  We found a great restaurant with live Irish music.  Three pints of Guiness, one pint of Bulmer’s hard cider, two orders of fish and chips, one Guiness and beef pie, and Lynda had the lamb stew.  Someone tell Mary to hide her little creature whose fleece was white as snow because Lynda is now on a mission to eat more lamb!  She’s a little sad that today is Thursday and according to a restaurant we passed, she missed the Tuesday lamb burger special.