Going North Part 1

It really took a long time from planing this trip to finally make it. We wanted to drive up so many times but never could make it. One of the difficulties is the long driving. It takes ages to get up there.

as you see there is no fast way

Last week on Friday we allowed the kids to leave school at 12 and with a beautiful day we chose to get up the coast road. The first stop we made was in Sligo. Just a short break before we went further to Donegal and shortly after crossed the border to Northern Ireland. It took us already 4 hours to get there so why not stop in Londonderry, The City of Walls.

It was amazing to walk on the wall. A good break before we went on the final ride for the day up to Bushmills. We stayed in the "The Smugglers Inn" close to Giants Causeway, where we wanted to go the first thing the next day. The room was amazing! We even had two rooms so no squishing and squashing. The dinner in the bar (the children chose) was huge and delicious. A real great way to end the first day of an amazing journey.

The next day it was all about going down to Belfast. This time the planed driving was not that long and we had all day to stop whenever we wanted to. Early morning after a little breakfast we drove the last mile up to "Giants Causeway". It was nice and sunny but freezing cold.

There were not many cars there when we arrived. Of course we walked down to the stones in the cold shadow listening to our handsets and all the stories along the way. It only took some minutes that my little girl took over the camera and I had two of them. Now I could listen to the children version which are more funny. Lucky us the stones were in bright sunshine to warm us up. It is a gorgeous place and we chose to walk in a circle up the shepherd stairs back in bright warm sunshine!

Our next stop was Carrick a Rede. When we planed the trip we were looking forward to go there but the weather in October might not allow us to cross the bridge. If it is to wet they close the bridge for safety but we were so lucky. The sun was still shining and it was nice and warm. The black cloud was appearing but for now we just enjoyed a lovely walk to the bridge. I was expecting it to be bigger but for some people even this was enough. It is high but not a little tiny bit wobbly.

In the early afternoon we made our way along the coast heading to Belfast. The road is scary on some parts but as no one else wanted to drive there we were alone in the wild north in a fantastic area. The view was amazing. Unfortunately I was the driver and the rest in the car was relaxing, so no pictures taken. We arrived in Belfast in the early evening and the children were excited. We had a little walk around the hotel and got some Japanese dinner. The only problem we had: we did not get a drink afterwards with the children. No, I am not talking about going to a night club late at night. It was 7:30pm and we were on the way back to the hotel and just wanted to have one pint before we go to bed. The first pub did not want to serve us drinks if we don't eat (just to let you know the sign in front said "food served until 8pm") and the second one explained us not children in bars and he does not know any place to go. This was not the best start in Belfast so after a little shopping in Tesco it was the room and the TV. But who cares as we all were excited to see the Titanic in Belfast the next day.

...but this is a story for an other day!