Exploring the World as a Roving Retiree

Another gorgeous day! Perfect for exploring Rathlin Island, a quick boat ride from Ballycastle. The town was small and charming. We arrived before lunch time so the pickings were slim. But I ate a chicken burger from a food truck at a park on the water and saw this chair. Mary and I wanted to go to the Seamus Heaney Center or his grave but didn't get to either.  When asked, I said I was from America and they all mentioned the hurricane in Florida.  After lunch, I went to the Visitors Centre (also a museum about Rathlin) and then went on a 4 mile walk. It was supposed to go to the Lighthouse but I didn't get that far. I sat in the lovely field of a farm with the occasional sound of a sheep and nothing else.  100% chance of rain tomorrow! 19 more days in Ireland! Will you keep reading? 😉

Today I took a bus to the Giant's Causeway.  I hiked a lot above before descending the stairs to the basalt rocks formed by volcanic eruptions. There were lots of people there on this sunny day. Beautiful! But what it must be like in the summer!  The legends about the place are fun to read about. A rainbow! After a bus to lunch at the restaurant in Ballintoy where Michael and Catherine played music, I walked to Carrick-a-Rede, the rope bridge. I was already way over my minimum 10,000 steps and it was a long hike, up and down, to the bridge. I made it there but just to see it. It is a lot safer than it used to be but I didn't feel up to it, especially for waiting in line. Catherine picked me up which was great because I had missed the bus. I bought myself an ice cream for the hike up the hill to the entrance. Nice drawings at the restaurant!

Today I went on a long walk up the road with Willow and she didn't chase any cars this time. Blobs of black (cows) and white (sheep) on green. I met my second cousin Alice! We have been in touch on Ancestry.com and she lives 20 minutes away in Cushendall. What's more, she was involved in the local historical society's book about this area! She came with many old photo books and gave some away. She took me to lunch and I ordered the "mini fry" which was filling enough for rest of the day for only 6 pounds (about $7). I think once is enough for that meal!  Photos of my father I had never seen before!  He would have just turned 16! With his father on the left (unknown man in middle) With his father. He looks about 13.

Michael, Catherine and their 13 year old son Tola went off to work and school this morning but their friend Donal was available and interested in going to Murlough Bay with me. He has a brand new hybrid car, a KIA Niro, so he had a bit of a challenge being sure whether it took diesel or petrol.  Then the road to Murlough Bay was closed for work so instead we went to see the street of the amazing trees called "Dark Hedges":  In about 1775, James Stuart built a new house, named Gracehill House after his wife Grace Lynd. Over 150 beech trees were planted along the entrance road to the estate, to create an imposing approach. It wasn't full of tourists but certainly was not empty. Going off season is good and bad; lots of places are closed now and tours are stopping or cutting back. You can no longer drive on the street since Game of Thrones made it famous. Then we went back to the house and I went for a walk with Willow the border collie and saw the house Catherine's gran...

 I went on a walk up the Glenmakeeren Road with the dog. It was cold and windy and I really needed a hat so I didn't get far. Then we went to mass down the street.  It was for Catherine's mother Mary who died a year ago. I was afraid they would expect me to take the wafer but even Catherine and Michael didn't do that. Afterwards we chatted by the headstone. Catherine's mother is the last name on the headstone.  Gen and Don's daughter who died shortly after birth is on it, too. Genevieve, Catherine's Uncle Hugh and Catherine Don (my first cousin once removed), Catherine's husband Michael, and his friend Donal from Belfast Back at the house, we watched "Black '47", a film (or fil-um as the Irish pronounce it), about the Famine of 1845-1852. It was dark, perhaps realistic, but centered on an Irish man returned from fighting for the British army to a land suffering and he wants revenge...or justice against the landlords. Then we hurried to the Full...

I have had great weather so far, warmer than usual, sunny! But it looks like that's over; the rains may be coming (just a little in the morning) and it's not going to reach 60 today.  I am on my way to Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, land of my grandfather and his grandfather, my cousin Catherine and her sister and brother next door. __________ I took the train and had a nice conversation with a lovely 60 year old woman from Derry, on her way to Belfast, who was reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird.  She suggested I sit on the other side to see what Michael Palin* called the best views by train of anywhere in the world. And they were great: the sea, sheep, villages, a beautiful church which I misses.   After the train to Coleraine I missed a bus to Ballycastle while waiting in the queue for the toilet. But another was on its way shortly and in the hour journey I was the only passenger for two thirds of it! The driver whistled, 4 of the passengers, all older, knew each other b...

 Mary and I started the day with a hike in a bit of drizzle and autumn cold to see the Free Derry murals.                     Bernadette Devlin Then we returned to the Airbnb to check out since I had unwisely canceled my second night there.  But there is lots to do in Derry and after a night of noise from a two year old in the room above ours and a lot of traffic noise ten feet away, I was okay switching.  We had lunch at a really cute place, the Cottage Coffee Shop, with the best scones I have had so far in my trip! We walked the walls of the city once again and went shopping for a new pair of jeans for me since I seem to have lost mine. We went to a big store called Primark which Mary called Penny's. All the jeans are made in Pakistan and are incredibly cheap, 10 Lbs! Child labor, environmentally harmful surely! Mary and I then said our goodbyes and she went to see her mother. And I went to the library! and browsed ...

We had breakfast at the B&B and got on the road Thursday. It was drizzling very slightly but soon turned into a beautiful day. We saw some gorgeous coast! Green glens of Antrim, indeed! https://youtu.be/uBowVReCgXM And the Dunluce Castle (seen in The Game of Thrones):  a now-ruined medieval  castle  in Northern Ireland, the seat of Clan MacDonnell. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim (between Portballintrae and Portrush ), and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. We made it to Derry by 11:00 to meet 5W member Pat and we walked the walled city. Lovely!  And if you've watched Derry Girls on Netflix you will like this mural. We had lunch and I had my third Guinness!  and then Mary and I returned to Guildhall to see the exhibit on Plantation Ulster (grim: the English trying to get all the Irish out and have only Scots and English in Ulster) and the stained glass and to read about Bloody Sunday (the killing...