Day 16

Sunday June 25th - Port Stewart to Belfast - 108 miles - Total so far 1623 miles

From My Pictures

To say I slept soundly is an understatement, comatose is probably a better description. I woke at the seemingly unearthly hour of 3.45am and enjoyed breakfast that had been left out for me whilst overlooking the beaches of Castlerock in the distance,

The route today was destined to be one of the best of the trip so far. The combination of excellent roads, hardly any traffic, stunning coastal views and perfect cycling weather made this by far the best day so far.

I slipped out of Port Stewart and headed across to Portrush pausing just enough time to take a photo back towards town. It was a strange feeling because suddenly I was back in a typical British seaside resort even down to the chip bags blowing in the wind. The road signs were the familiar British ones, I had pounds in my wallet and the whole "feel" of the place was more British than the Irish I was so used to. Perhaps it was the fact that the roads didn’t look like roadwork’s in progress or the fact that the coastline was so developed with all sorts of tourist attractions but it certainly felt like a completely different place.

The cycling was a joy. With no cars except the occasional taxi heading home I had the whole road to myself and as it wound gently up and down I had some spectacular early morning views.

Dotted along this part of the coast were a number of castles all perched on precarious cliff tops. One of these was Dunluce Castle, built in the 13th century, which was occupied until the 17th century. This magnificent castle was quite a sight

From there the route took me through Bushmills home of the oldest legally brewed whiskey in Ireland (or so the signposts said). Being a whiskey brewed in the North I hadn't actually heard of it until this weekend. It was only the weekend before I had been taking Susie back to Sweden when I saw a bottle for sale in the Duty Free at Dublin airport. For some reason I thought it was an American whiskey, fine connoisseur I make!

From Bushmills the next place of interest was the Giants Causeway. This is Ireland’s first World heritage site and is a very unusual rock formation formed 60 million years ago. 37,000 or so black basalt columns, mostly hexagonal columns on the edge of the sea. Legend has it that the giant Fionn McCumhail built the causeway out to the Scottish island of Staffa where his fancy lived.

What seemed strange is that access to the stones was so unrestricted. Many of them showed signs of wear and tear from the countless tourists that have walked over them. I guess at some stage they will have to rope it off to save it from just wearing away which would be a shame.

Not far from the causeway was yet another unusual attraction. The rope bridge at Carrick-A-Rede was quite impressive as was the coastline out to it.

The bridge itself used to be constructed each year by the Salmon fishermen who ran the salmon fishery on the island. Now it’s a National Trust site and the bridge is permanent.

Next stop was Ballycastle and then out on the coast road around Torr head where I was able to see the Mull of Kintyre in the far distance, yes it really was Scotland that I could see. The scenery in this area was just stunning and the climbs up the hills were perpendicular!! Still it was well worth the effort and I was so glad I chose to come this way instead of taking the A2.

Once I was past Torr Head and through the Glens of Antrim I joined the A2 again and followed its lazy meanderings all the way to Belfast. This road was a joy as it was level, flat and barely a few feet from the sea the whole way. It was also very popular with motor bikes that whizzed up and down past me. At Carrickfergus was a very impressive castle and of course coming into Belfast I could make out the famous Harland and Wolfe shipyard with their distinctive cranes where the Titanic was built.

On arriving in Belfast I was able to locate the main railway station and took the short trip back to Dublin. An amazing weekend of cycling and amazing to think that I am almost finished, only 1 weekend of cycling left to get back to Dublin.

Day 15

Saturday June 24th - Derry to Port Stewart - 140 miles - Total so far 1515 miles

From My Pictures

This day also includes 18 miles from the Friday as I decided to leave work a little earlier and catch the bus back to Derry with the idea of staying in a seaside town rather than in Derry itself. After a rather unpleasant stay in Sligo where it was bought home to me that most B&B in the city centers are flop houses for drunken stag parties the idea of getting out of Derry had great appeal. Also I just dont feel comfortable being a Brit in Northern Ireland, I know its totally unreasonable but my only other dealings with Northern Ireland have left unpleasant memories.

Arrived in Derry for about 6pm on the Friday and rode out to Buncrana which is a pretty little seaside town on the shores of Lough Swilly. Apparently there is a ferry service across to Rathmullan and a couple of the department guys had recommended that I take this ferry and explore the West bank of the Lough. I was tempted as I had skipped this part last time as I was racing to catch the bus back to Dublin the last time I was cycling. However with so many miles ahead of me this weekend I thought better of it and instead kept to my original plan.

The B&B was easy to find and exceptionally comfortable. I took the landladies advice and visited a local hotel for a meal (which was very bland) and watched the football. An early night and equal early rise the next morning and I was on the road by 5.30am.

The early morning ride out to Irelands most Northerly point was very was one of "undulating" terrain, so in other words was absolutely knackering. As I hadn't been cycling for a month it proved to be a tough day as my legs weren't used to the workout they were getting.

The most surreal event was half way up Mamore Gap when I stopped to chat to the occupants of a Ford Escort coming down in the opposite direction. This pass was extremely steep so I was happy for the distraction but was somewhat surprised to find that the cars occupants were 5 young lads drinking beer at 6.15am. Anyway we chatted about various things such as was I mad to be cycling this early and increduality at the distances I was planning to do when it transpired that the lads were actually joy riders. So I got to meet the "criminal element" and must say they were very friendly, just hope the car gets back to the original owners and they didnt get into trouble.

The views over Lough Swilly were fantastic and it was interesting to note that this is where the British Fleet under Lord Jeleco was anchored here prior to the Battle of Jutland in World War One. In fact there was a rather impressive fort at Dunree that I had a quick look at that was built here in 1798 to guard against possible landings by the French.

The views up to Malin head were just stunning and the area as about remote as it gets in Ireland. How anybody can live up here so far away from a large town escapes me, I guess I am just too used to having all the mod cons around me.

Malin head itself was a collection of little farms clinging to the hill side and holiday homes. I did get squeezed off the road by a big 4x4 who stopped and had a chat. Seems he was one of the "bad guys" as he was not only the owner of the local shop and pub but also a devloper. I guess these remote communities fight tooth and nail to resist change to their way of life and the building of numerous holiday homes must be very contentious.

Heading back down South I had to make a decision as to which way to get across to Port Stewart. The easiest way would have been to catch the ferry from Greencastle across to Magellan point. This would have let me skip aboout 50 miles of coastline as the other option was to cycle back to Derry and then pick up the A2. Now I don't like the main roads and up until now I hadn't had to take many, basically Ireland hasn't got any. However in the North the roads are much more developed and the coast road from Derry to Belfast is bacially a main road. The other thing about main raods is that those in the North tend to be narrower and busier than the South and they don't have the slow lane that I have come to love so much.

Anyway wieghing this all up I decided to bite the bullet and cycle around rather than catch the ferry. Sadly the countryside wasn't much to write about let alone take any pictures of and almost 5 hours later I arrived at the point the ferry would have bought me too. But what the heck at least it meant my mileage for the day was something decent. The main road turned out to be a surprise as it had a slow lane and the traffic was fairly light and devoid of the huge trucks that I associate with most main roads in the UK.

The huge Army barracks at Ballykelly reminded that though most of the security apparatus has been dismantled the British Army is still here in some force. The barracks and fortified married quarters went on for a good couple of miles. It will be so good once lasting peace comes to the province as the people deserve to live their lives without fear. All the evil that has been perpetrated is just too sad to dwell on.

The beaches around Castlerock were just fantastic and I was so hoping to get an ice-cream there. I was to be let down though as the ice cream van was parked some distance down the beach and though my bike can get me around to most places it sucks through sand.

I arrived in Port Stewart and made enquiries at the first hotel about a room. They suggested that as it got a bit noisy there at night to go to a small B&B around the corner which I did and had a wonderful stay. They even had a bath that I could use so I watched England beat Uruguay before heading out for a meal and then early to bed.