Time for Northern Ireland

First, Northern Ireland is a different country than Ireland and it's part of the UK. We would need a different currency as well. Two bus rides got us to Belfast and one more got us to Coleraine. Now we needed money and one more short bus ride to get us to our destination of Bushmills. Our cards to get cash were not working:-(  We got some pounds using  our backup source and then got a bus ticket to Bushmills. Seven hours layer we were sitting in a cafe and enjoying a meal and trying to figure out how to solve our cash dilemma. After eating we were off to find a place to lay our heads and hopefully get Internet access to contact the bank. We accomplished both. The sleeping quarters were a bit cold, but we needed sleep for our hike across the northern coast the next day.

Morning came early as it sounded like a heard of rats scampering across the ceiling (never figured out what was making all the noise), back and forth for an hour and it was too cold and early to get out of our sleeping bags. We decided we would need to make plans to move on after our hike and we did.  The day was to be clear, but it was raining and windy. Our hope was it would clear a bit and it did, so we saw little rain throughout the day. So with transportation plans and bed arrangements made for the evening, we packed and headed out to find breakfast. The cafe we found had a great cup of coffee and some breakfast food plus some goodies we packed for later and some great info for our day of hiking. Off we went. The first two miles got us to the coast where we caught a bus that took up further east so that we could walk back.  The driver laughed as he let us off at the beach. The seas were rough and timing was important as we would come to a rocky area that would be impassable during high tide. It was quite a scramble over the rocks, but we made it only to find out we would have to detour to the road for two miles as the cliff side ahead had had an avalanche and was closed. Back on the trail, we were now on the cliffs of the north coast of Ireland and the next five miles would bring us to the park area of the Giant's Causeway. The wind howled to the point it was hard to put one foot in front of the other and often we would have one hand on the wire fence that ran along the cliffs. Each twist and turn took us higher until we were 100 meter high above the ocean. It was one of the more dramatic hikes and the scenery stunning. We did arrive at the park area where there were many people ambling around, but we felt so fortunate to be able to view and experience the whole geographical area. We walked back to town and had an early dinner and then boarded a bus so that we could catch a train that continued along the coast to Londerderry.