For bank holiday weekend, we traveled to the Antrim Coast, an area we quickly visited in 2013. We left school an hour early to get ahead of traffic in Dublin and we got to our apartment in Ballycastle around 6:30. It doesn't seem like there is a lot of parking along the harbour, but we could always find a spot. Our apartment overlooked the harbour and playground and was a great location. We walked up the hill a bit to eat at Nellie Rua's. No restaurants amazed us while there, but oh well. There was a Spar next to our apartment, as well as 3 ice cream options, so we got some desserts Friday night.
Saturday morning we had 10am reservations at Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. During covid a few popular sites started timed entry. There were plenty of tickets when we bought a couple days in advance but by the time we were leaving the bridge area, we heard they were starting to sell out. The weather was absolutely beautiful. After crossing the bridge we stayed on the island taking silly family pictures, the kids had fun pretending to jump off the cliff. We had views of Scotland on this day! Our plan was to grab lunch food in Ballycastle and start driving east/southeast along the Coastal Causeway toward Glenarm Castle and see how far we could make it. Lunch was not easy or good, should have just made sandwiches.
All the drives for the Coastal Route were really nice, scenic, and winding. We first drove by Fairhead, the cliff you can see from Ballycastle. We were a little confused as there was a massive climb fest going on, had to pay to park, and signs that said no trespassing. We learned later we probably could have made it work, but we continued on to drive by the Cold War Naval listening station (decommissioned). We also drove by a sign for Murlough Bay and made a note of it to stop by later if we had time (which we didn't). Our next stop was Torr Head. We grabbed the last spot and took Colin up the hill with us. The views were great and Colin liked the abandoned building. We then drove the coast road to Cushendun. Here there is a beach strand and some caves. We walked the beach just for a couple minutes, then drove over to the caves. The caves are just an area you walk around and explore. The kids had fun and it is a neat area. Next we drove the coast road toward Glenariff. We stopped at Layd Church along the way. We wanted to stop at Sandstone Arch, but the road is narrow and there is no where near to stop. It was a nice drive, though. When we got to the Glenariff area, we decided to head in toward the Glenariff Forest Park. We paid to park in the lot and decided to do the waterfalls hike. If you are wanting to visit the waterfalls, I recommend you park at Laragh Lodge Restaurant. It is a 5 minute walk to see these waterfalls from their back door, and then you can sit and have a Guinness instead of walking an hour in and out of the canyon from the upper forest park lot. We drove 40 minutes back to Ballycastle and had pizza at Thyme Cafe (they do pizza on Saturday nights), and Kacey had a delicious chai. The kids played at the playground at the harbour for a while, and Liana even went out to play on the beach a bit. After another round of ice cream and dessert, we got to bed.
Sunday morning we had reservations at Giant's Causeway at 10am, mostly to get us up and in there before the crowds hit. It was another really nice day, just a bit more overcast. The crowds were not too bad when we got out there and we were able to get plenty of pictures without having other people in our shots. By the time we left, it was starting to get crowded and the car park was full and backed up. We enjoyed walking around on the columns with low summer tides. The black rocks indicate high tide during winter and its quite a big difference (it was high when we visited in 2013). I recommend checking tides and if you have flexible plans, don't visit during high tide. Kacey took the long route back which goes further east and then up the cliff wall and across. I took the kids to the tide pools on the walk back out. We didn't spot anything except for dead crabs and huge 3 leaf clovers. When we all met back at the visitor center, Kacey said I should run up and check out the view. So Nolan and I ran up the hill for really nice views and a sheer drop cliff with no indication. We got on the road for Portrush for some lunch.
Portrush was starting to get quite crowded but we lucked out with a parking spot right next to a potential restaurant, so we just took it. The food was average but we had a decent view of the water. We drove around the harbour area on our way out and it was quite crowded. There was some kind of car show event going on and traffic in town was pretty bad. We were slightly against it so we didn't wait too long. We went west to Rinagree Point. It was a nice view, if you get out to the correct car park. Next we got to the east of town and stopped at White Rocks Beach. Kacey and I walked out to it, it is a pretty big sandy beach with cliffs as the back drop. The next stop was Magheracross view, looking down the cliffs toward Wishing Arch. This little car park was packed with people standing in line for an ice cream truck. We walked out to the two viewpoints of the cliffs, another really nice view. Just down the road a bit further was Dunluce Castle. We had previously visited the ruins, so this time we took the free trail down near the rocks and base of the tower. We had reached it just in time as that trail closes early at 3:30pm. Our next stop was Dunseverick Castle. There is a very small carpark but we grabbed the last spot, almost in the road. I took the boys down and up the walk to the castle, and then for view of the coast. We walked by some sheep on the way back and climbed the hill for fun on the way out. Along the coast drive we headed down the hill to Ballintoy Harbour, but there was no where to park, and the hike to Elephant and Skull Rocks seemed longer than we wanted to try. Our last stop of the day was Kinbane Castle. It is a big descent down to the rock peninsula where the ruins are, but it was worth it. We spotted a random sheep on a cliff edge just hanging out, not quite sure how it got there. We headed back in to town for some food and more playground and beach time. Kacey and I tried Morton's at the harbour for fresh fish and chips.
The next day we hadn't planned yet. The weather was not a good so we skipped visiting a bay nearby and went to the Belfast Zoo. It was pretty dead but we enjoyed seeing some animals without the crowds for about 2.5 hours.
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