Day two of holiday in Ireland

After a good sleep we decided we would visit the Giant's Causeway.  Zach and I were ready first so we went a little walk round by the cottage to see what we could find. 

We could hear these rooks long before we spotted their rookery in a nearby tree.  They probably had young in their nests and were very vocal. 

 

Bluebells beside a small ruined cottage

In the nearby field we saw several cows with their calves.

also black and white lambs

Red campion in the hedge. 

When everybody was ready we went into the village of Bushmills to do a bit of shopping then we drove to the Causeway.  We were fitted with small receivers with earphones so we could listen to the guide telling us the history and folklore of the Causeway.  He pointed out lots of interesting things about the geology and the tales of the giant,  Finn McCool, who is supposed to be responsible for building it all

This is our guide, a local man who certainly had the gift of the gab, must have kissed the Blarney stone

. 

Zachariah listening intently to the stories of Finn McCool.

This is Finn McCool's camel 

and up on the hillside you can see his dog looking out to sea. 

Zachariah still listening intently to the giant stories

 Here are Finn McCools chimneys. Not smoking the day we were there so he mustn't have been at home

It wasn't a very sunny day but we did see some blue sky and some rather large waves.  This is very dangerous part of the coastline and responsible for many shipwrecks.  On 26th October 1588 the Girona which was one of the ships of the Spanish Armada sank during a storm.   The wreck was discovered in 1967 and excavated in 1968 and 1969 and many personal possessions and jewellery belonging to the 1300 sailors and noblemen on board were recovered.  There were only 5 survivors of the wreck. 

Remarkable columns of rocks which were formed 60 million years ago following volcanic eruption followed by cooling of the larva which formed hard rock called basalt. The columns have regular sides of varying numbers. Most have 5 or 6 sides but there are some with 4, 7 and 8 sides

Lots of places to climb on them but a bit worrying while carrying a baby. She did make it down safely. 

 A wave from Imran and Zach

Time to come back, I didn't go out there I needed to rest my feet so waited with the pushchair.

Dad had to retrieve a rather wet wellie when Zach left it behind

I'm the king of the castle!

In the middle of this photo you can see Finn McCools organ pipes.  No recital today as he was not home. 

It was very crowded with people climbing everywhere.  This made it difficult to get photos with no people in them. 

A very tiring day again and we were relieved to see a bus waiting to take people back to the visitor centre so we didn't have to walk. It was up hill on the way back.  Once at the visitor centre we had lunch and shopped for souvenirs. We were pleased that we had taken the car and didn't have to walk back the the cottage as Zach and I were rather tired after all the walking.  My next post will be of the many wild flowers growing among the rocks of the Causeway.