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After a lovely leisurely breakfast at our B & B, we drove to the Church of Ireland, Ballyrashane, to attend the noon service. This is a lovely country church where some of the Givens family is buried. In the cemetery, there is a gravestone that is dated in the 1700's. This marker fell over years ago and the writing was perfectly preserved. It is Rusty's intent to have the marker stabilized and restored. He has been in touch with the rector and she knew we were planning to visit this fall. At the start of the service, she announced that this was an "international" service because of the visitors from America. The church is small but there was a full choir, an organist and a lively group of parishoners.
We made our way back to our B & B via the Causway Coastal route stopping at places previously visited in 1997, 1999 and again in 2007. The Giant's Causway is now a very popular tourist attraction with a multi-million dollar visitor center, a parking lot full of tour buses and a pricey visitor's center. Our previous visits were when it was much less commercialized but in spite of this, it is a wonder to see.
We stopped along the way at Portbradden, where the smallest church in Ireland is located in a small hamlet off the road. We drove through Bushmills (the scene of many Irish Whiskey tastings in previous trips) and enjoyed a lovely, sunny trip back to Ballycastle.
After a "wee" rest, we made our way to Cloughmills where some Givens family live. We were hosted by Anne and John (Anne is a Given), Brenda (also a Given) and Ryan, Kara and baby Ben. Ryan and his family are Ann & John's son. We enjoyed our time in Cloughmills - a perfect ending to our Sunday.
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