Our best breakfast of the trip was served this morning. Bacon, eggs, sausage, baked beans, granola, and potato bread. Irish or British, I'm not sure, despite the potato bread, but the delicious meal was served by a grandmotherly lady (whew, not the bar man from last night) who commiserated with us on the state of politics in America ("I don't know who voted for him.") After we told her where we were going, she admitted she'd only been to the Causeway Coast once! As the lady kindly filled our water bottles, we snuck some toast and jelly in a napkin for later snacking.

We thanked ourselves later.

Our drive straight to the coast took a little over an hour. As we glided over grassy hills with grazing sheep and cows, we noticed we were running low on fuel. But the few stations we saw were inconveniently located, so we waited on it and instead headed, only turning around once, to Dunluce Castle. Why? Because it's a castle. Why not? We didn't know it was a Game of Thrones thing...

... and it turns out it actually isn't, even though the Game of Thrones tours still stop there. (Yes, there are Game of Thrones tours of Northern Ireland.) Despite the Wiki entry, Dunluce Castle ain't what Pyke Castle was based off of. The latter is pretty much all CGI anyway, though used some local coastline as a backdrop.

The entrance to the castle parking lot is blind, angled, steep, and one lane. We turned around again to approach it from a slightly-less-scary direction. Gah! But made it. Got one of the last spots.

I am including the above satellite image for two reasons. One, so you can laugh and say, "You could have taken one of the OTHER two easier entrances, guys." Two, so you can see how small the parking lot is. If you look at the large version of the image, you can practically count cars. I see less than 30 on the entire property, including the ones driving in and out.

I'll come back to that.

In the meantime, Dunluce. Fun to walk around in (especially with our perfect weather) and peer off the edge of. For once, they were a bit more careful with the fences and grates around areas you could fall. But most of the time, you didn't realize you were on a cliffside.

We continued along the scenic coastal route, following the signs to Giant's Causeway and being careful of stopped tour buses, and photographers, or both, on the narrow road.

We stopped and got gas along the way. Didn't realize it was full serve, not sure if that cost extra? Paid just over 40 pounds. Probably shouldn't have paid cash, since we're running low on pounds, but we don't want to get much more out since we're headed back to Euro country tomorrow. But, hey, no more worries about running out of fuel, at least, since there is something of a stretch between towns.

Before coming, I knew Giant's Causeway was along the water and that it had cool rock formations. That's about it. When we passed a sign that said "Full use park & ride" well before we were even in sight of the water, I wondered if that meant that no closer parking existed. Optimistic, I kept driving over the narrow twisty roads. We passed a sign for Parking Lot 1. It said "Full." Just as I was wondering if we'd have to turn around, we were directed to another lot.

And, out of nowhere, in the middle of rural N. Ireland, is the equivalent of a mall parking lot! Or a mini Disneyland, maybe. Row after row of cars. Parking lot attendants patrolled the area. Overkill? Perhaps not. We had to drive past three rows before seeing empty spots.

Curious, I did a satellite image comparison. Counting the main lot and the two overflow lots (but not the park and ride lot), there are at least 365 spots at Giant's Causeway! More than 10 times of Dunluce Castle. This baffles me. If you're a tourist coming up here anyway, aren't you doing all the sites along the coast? I mean, these famous places are only about a 15-minute drive away from each other. Does everyone come to Giant's Causeway because it has the best marketing? Or because it's a World Heritage site and when you get down to it World Heritage Sites beat castles and bridges?

Or are people here simply because there is a place to park?

Either way, not only did they not underestimate the crowds, but they know how to handle them. The ticket line went fast (asking where we were from was part of the process) and the mini-museum and gift shop entertained us before we exited out to the coastal trail.

Sis had the mark of this place quickly: "Giant Tourist Trap."

As we gazed at the hordes of people, we both thought to ourselves, "This is really just a bunch of rock formations... right?"

Correct.

The pretty path to reach them is just a bonus.

There is a shuttle if you don't want to walk. This is one of the most handicapped accessible sites I've ever seen.

Minutes after starting on the path, we reached it!

The best thing about Giant's Causeway proper is the freedom to walk all over the hexagonal stones! You aren't trapped on a trail with the masses, you can jump around on the rocks the way they are clearly meant to be enjoyed. Tempering that slightly was a lady on along the edge (where the rocks were wet with ocean water.) She wore a vest and told people to stay within the posts (which I hadn't noticed). I guess safety is good.

Kids here were loving it.

Why is it called Giant's Causeway? You were wondering, weren't you. The reason it because it looks like there *used* to be a rock bridge all the way across the North Atlantic to Scotland's Fingal's Cave, which has similar formations (due to being part of the same lava flow.) I guess it's a long walk if you aren't a giant.

The right photo is reminiscent of Devils Tower in Wyoming. The geological process must be similar. Though their folk tales have bear claws not rival giants.

I expected that the rock formations were the end of the line, but coastal trails continued far afterward, with the occasional nifty-shaped stone popping up out of the water.

The particular trail we had our eye on was blocked off for renovation. (We didn't know this would soon become a trend...) so we headed back. I managed to lose our tickets! They won't let you back into the museum without them! Luckily, my receipt was good enough and we were pretty much headed out anyway after we watched the silly video about the folk tale giants (and the giant's wife, the real hero.)

And we continued onto our next destination along the coast.

We stopped along the way and a conveniently-located pull off. Then we had a picnic overlooking the ocean. The sign told us to. (Really, we just loved the sign.) Our goodies from breakfast, toast and jam and a banana, tasted delicious now.

Then we drove the quarter hour to the famous rope bridge.

We psyched ourselves up to cross the long, scary-looking bridge (that was on the cover of our Lonely Planet guide) as we meandered along the curvy road, following the signs.

So the parking lot for the bridge, located along the water, was in the middle of other two as far as size. About 150 spots with an overflow dirt lot that might take almost as much. So at least it's ready to take people coming from the Causeway who want some more adventure.

I'll stop talking about vehicular storage strategies for visiting tourists now.

After a steep switchback down, we found a spot to park (a little too easily...), disposed of our trash, and walked to the entrance gate.

The entrance fee was free. It was free because...

So we didn't have to answer the "will we, won't we" question and could walk the trail adrenaline-free. Just not cross the bridge. I don't know why the bridge was closed...

I kinda don't want to know.

The walk was beautiful. Stunning views. Not quite as handicapped accessible, though.

They let us walk right up to the entrance and look at what we could have crossed.

And I admit, I mentally rehearsed strategies for mind-over-matter, rising above the fear (just count to thirty and you're done, perhaps?), even though we couldn't make the heart-pumping journey.

Keeping in mind that any strategy you use must be used twice. The only way off the island is right back across the bridge!

The bridge exists in the first place since it is an excellent place to hang a net from to catch fish in the below water. I suspect it is mostly used now for tourism.

My kind of tourism!

Next stop...

...wherever we feel like going now!

One reason road trips with your sister are great.

We entered the city limits and started looking for parking. None was to be seen, then a car pulled out in front of us and we took the spot, honing our opposite-side-parallel-parking skills.

Two difficult things I found about the driving in this area:

• Really tiny roundabouts I was sort of getting the hang of roundabouts by now, but I still don't get these little ones. They are almost invisible; you can drive on top of them. And usually two of the three directions are on a major street, so I was too scared to interrupt nonstop cars to pull onto it from the side street. And cars didn't tend to stop either. No idea what you're supposed to do here.
• Opposite-side parallel parking It is perfectly legit to drive across the road and go into the wrong lane to park on the other side of the street. Facing the wrong way. (I read later that only us weird Americans seem to have a problem with that.) As we pulled out of our spot later, we almost ran head-on into a driver coming at us.

• Ages 3-14
• Respect other kids
• Bring a parent
• Throw away trash, Say no to strangers, No dogs, No bikes (But play ball! Are you kidding me?)
• Need help? Equipment broken? Contact xxx or Call xxx.

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