Leaving Rathmullin in Ireland, we headed into Northern Ireland toward Rushmill, where will be spending another couple of nights.
Almost immediately upon entering Northern Ireland, the difference between this and The Republic of Ireland was apparent. While acknowledging that we were for the most part driving through a rural environment, the changes could not be missed. Everything looked so “English”. Houses in the villages and surrounds were rarely stand alone or detached, unlike in Ireland where the older ones were mostly single storey and a single gabled roof and the newer builds were very modern. In the North there were rows of Victorian era buildings, 2 & 3 storey, front bay windows, all looking the same and when we came into the coastal towns, we could have been in any seaside town in England.
The other noticeable difference was in the farms. In the north. they appeared far more prosperous, much larger farm houses and many more estate like houses, fences rather than hedge rows or stone. The biggest change was in the roads themselves. Smoother, straighter and wider which was a much welcomed change for driver and passenger. Clearly the Romans didn’t make it to the south.

Taking advantage of a warm late afternoon, we drove out to see the Dark Hedges, a country lane lined with Beech trees, planted 250 years ago by the then owner of a country estate, Gracehill, granted to his grandfather by King James 1 in the early 1700s. Originally 150 trees were planted to line the entry to the estate, however, over the ensuing years, age, traffic and several storms have left sections of this planting somewhat threadbare. That, and the self absorbed behaviour of selfie obsessed tourists made the whole experience somewhat underwhelming.
But, moving on, the next day it was out (not too) bright and early to see the Giant’s Causeway. Now this was overwhelming. The sheer enormity of the raw power of nature over the past millennia was on full display, and all of the Irish myth and legend that surrounds this place was further enhanced by the low cloud and misty rain that created the perfect atmosphere to stimulate our imagination.

Moving on, it was time to find a place to eat dinner and the Quays Inn in Portrush seem like a good place to start. Finding a car park didn’t pose too much of a problem, but trying to buy a parking ticket from a machine that only worked if we had “the app” or cash, of which we had neither, was a problem. With only 30 mins to go before a ticket was no longer required, we were almost going to chance it until someone who was leaving stopped and gave us his ticket. The “Irish” thing was that the ticket was bought that day at 16:14 for 1 hour and was valid until 9:05 the next day. Another stranger confirmed that it was OK to use, so with that we set off to the pub for a beer and something to eat.

Our last day and leaving Rushmill in the north, we drove down to Belfast and spent some time in the Shankill Road area looking at a number of Unionist murals. Once again it was interesting to note that the wording and tone of these murals were voracious in their criticism of the Republican movement, which of course is understandable, but the sentiment appeared to do little to heal the division that was, and I think still is present. In contrast the Republican murals in Derry were more focused on losses on their side or criticism of the the British Army’s involvement than of the Ulster Unionists.
So with that, it was back on the road to Dublin with one last hurrah on more narrow roads through the Mourne Mountains, once again more impressive than can be captured in a photograph.

Just when we thought it was all over, as we approached Dublin airport on the other side of the motorway, a semi-trailer was well and truly ablaze and the traffic was stationary for kms. The effect of this on the traffic congestion when we entered the airport complex surpassed all previous tensions of our 2,760km odyssey. After some effort and several loops of the maze of roads within the airport area, we finally made it to our hotel, who had no record of our booking, just to really complete our day. But, we dropped off the hire car and made it safely to our room for the night, which I am pleased to report is on the 4th floor of the Airport Radisson Blu hotel.

So, after EngLAND, 🏴