Tour of the North Coast

Warning! Lots of photos ahead! :P
(and for some, inexplicable reason, a large blank space that I can't seem to fix for love nor money!) (|-(

A small pool guarded from the sea by stern, gray, windswept rocks.	The mouth of a cave at Ballintoy Harbour, surounded by plant growth and a treacherous ditch.
A second, darker cave. I went into this one and it has a passageway curving deep into the cliff face.	The barren landscape formed by volcanic activity.
The birds love the shelter this cave provides and are always nesting in it.	Inside the cave. Spooky...and very, very cold...and wet.
The shoreline around the harbour.	You can clearly see the rock formation known as 'the Giant's Table' at the entrance.
A closer look at the Giant's Table.	A view of Carrick-a-rede rope bridge (just out of view behind the rocks)
The water looked almost Mediterranean.	My dinner! (see below for more details)
A view of the imposing cliffs at Murlock Bay.	Me with binoculars looking out over the bay. Beautiful view.
I took this a couple of minutes after I finished my evening meal	The harbour at Portstewart. You can see the convent on the far right.
Interesting rock formations (taken at the same spot as the harbour shot)	The Skerries, off the coast of Portrush
Taken from the path to the rope bridge.	In my opinion, one of my best shots yet! The sun setting off the coast at Portstewart - taken from the top of a cliff, above an inlet. This shot is dedicated to Mark and his love of my sunset photography.

I had an absolutely brilliant day today. We basically went for a tour of the North West coastline!

I woke up at about 7am in preparation for the trip and I managed to get a bit of internetting done on my lappy before I went. At about 8am, there was some pretty bad thunder and lightening and I though it might start to pour, but it held off for a while.

When we left at about 11am, it was very overcast and it really looked like it was going to rain any second, but thankfully it never did. Although the cloudy skies played silly buggers with some of my shots, causing chromatic abberation everywhere! Our first stop was Ballintoy harbour, which you have to go down a windy road down the cliff to reach. The harbour is very picturesque, providing lots of photos, although it was such a cloudy day that I had to keep adjustingsettings. Still, I think I got some good photos!

I struck out on my own to do a good scout of the place and managed to cover the entire site in about forty minutes, while my Mum and my Uncle sat and chatted (and ate scones). When they finished, me and Uncle Richard went and explored one of the caves, which was extremely cold!

We were back on the road again at about 1:30pm, heading along the coast to Ballycastle. We made a quick detour to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, to have a quick skelly. The path to the bridge is a 2KM round trip! Far too long for me to walk,so we borrowed a wheelchair. Thing is, wheelchairs aren't built to cope with dirt paths.

Thankfully a guy from the South was walking along with his three daughters and his wife - he offered to help push and struggled up the hills with me. Seriously, I haven't met such a kind helpful person in a long while and it's good to know that there are some still out there! If you're reading, thanks so much!

A quick bit of photography and we were back on course, arriving in Ballycastle at about 2:15pm. We spent a long time there shopping (getting a card and a present for our friends in England - yes, we're still searching!) before making for our final destination, Murlock Bay, east of Ballycastle.

We arrived at about 4:00pm and for a long time I just stood there gawking at the view! It's honestly that good. You can see the entire bay from where we stopped and the water was shimmering in the sunlight (it had brightened up considerably by this time) and the peace and quiet would take your breath away! I eventually pulled myself out of the contemplation of the scene and removed my camera from its case. I got a lot of pictures of the bay itself and some of me in the shot with binoculars. I sat there for a long time just drinking the beauty in. Simply fantastic.

When we had to move on, we made to get back into the car and found it crawling with little flying insects called cleggs. They bite. Viciously. Clearing the car out was immense fun. I say that with my tounge firmly in my cheek.

Back on the road and heading for home (killing cleggs that had escaped the intial cull) we went the inland route for speed, pulling up outside our house at 5:30pm. After a quick turnaround (we had to pick dad up) we headed back out and made for d'Arcy's in Portrush at the recommendation of my uncle.

d'Arcy's is quite a rustic place, as the building it is in looks to be for the Victorian era, with walls and ceilings succumbing to the passage of time by sagging at weird and wonderful angles. Still, it has a lot of charm and the food was excellent! I had the grilled Irish salmon on a bed of roasted vegetables in olive oil, with two Britvic 55 Apples to drink, as well as a summer berry pudding for afters. Lip-smackingly delicious - the salmon was so tender you could have cut it with a piece ofpaper!

We were reluctant to end the day, so we went for a walk on the path that overlooks the harbour at Portstewart. The sun was setting and the camera was snapping - I managed to get into a really good position (by doing a bit of scrambling) and got some top-notch shots. The one of the sunset framed by the cove is probably my favourite and the fact that a nice couple were standing watching it going down in a perfect position didn't hurt the composure of the picture!

All in all, I think I had a brilliant day today and I'm really pleased with the photos I managed to take. Good times.

David