It’s Sunday morning in Belfast, Ireland. We got up at 7:00 a.m. to be ready to get downstairs in the hotel lobby by 8:15 to catch the coach bus for the tour. We had purchased tickets for the Giant’s Causeway and More tour. It was about 10 minutes late, but the bus did arrive and we climbed aboard. Our first stop was to the hostel office to check in for the tour and to get a few bottles of water and bagels for breakfast. Ms. Kitty hunted down the food sources while I staked out our space in line for the ticket confirmation. There were some bizarre folks in line, loud and kinda obnoxious for this early in the morning. I hadn’t had my coffee yet, so I probably looked like the evil queen of death. ☺ Luckily there are no photos of me this way! It was a rather cold and damp morning. Then it began to flurry while I was standing in line. I wondered just what kind of adventure we were in for if the snow began to fall much more. But it only flurried in the city. We boarded the buses again and this time we were off for sure on our journey out of the city of Belfast. Luckily, the obnoxious folks did not get on our bus, they got on the second bus!! Yay, the gods are kind today.As we were zipping down the highway, out of the city and north through the countryside,
our bus driver gave a bit of information about what we would see today. He told us how to pre-order our lunch and that he also informed us that he “only controls the bus, not the weather so don’t complain to me about the weather, I can’t do anything about it.” His name was Darrin (pronounced Dah-ron). It was definitely cold today, but not nearly as we thought it might be. The bus had an inside temperature display that read 4 C for outside. Brrrrr. Yet, it was a nice ride through the countryside, the snow was beginning to lay down is some areas, more hill tops were beginning to be snow capped and it made it all look so much more quaint and beautiful.Then about 35 – 40 minutes into the ride, the driver announced we
would be making a short stop for a toilet break and leg stretch in a small town. Just as he finished telling us this information, we rounded a corner and the ocean appeared on the right side of the bus. Ms. Kitty and I had the very last row of seats so we could bounce from side to side easily, but I was on the left on the turn. My eyes grew wide and I know I stopped breathing for a moment. It was AMAZINGLY beautiful! Ms. Kitty quickly switched sides with me and let me gawk out the window with my cameras flashing away. I knew the images wouldn’t be the best through the bus window, and my own mental images would be far better than any camera could catch, but I tried 
anyway. The road was nearly beside the water, I could look over the edge and see the rocks and crashing waves below. The sea was deep green, with storm clouds hovering just over the water. As we moved closer to the small town, really more like a hamlet, we prepared to get off the bus for a moment or two. It was a cute little fishing town, I’m sorry I’ve forgotten the name. I was so enthralled by the view I forgot to write down where I was! I took a few pictures and we were off again on the bus to our next destination. As we rode along the seaside, more snow-covered hills dotted the landscape. We passed ancient 
stone arches, cave-like homes that the early Celts used to dwell and jagged rock overhangs where the bus had to switch sides of the road and drive closer to the edge to avoid losing the roof. The ride alone was spectacular. Having that back row was a definite bonus; we could see nearly all about us! Finally we arrived at our first main attraction of the day. The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This 
bridge is a simple rope bridge connecting the mainland to a small island where nothing is below you except sharp rocks and crashing waves. ☺ I was sooooo ready for this!! Unfortunately the natural parks of Ireland wasn’t ready for me. More like, Mother Nature decided this would not be the day for me to cross a rope bridge. When we got to the opening booth, the lady said, “due to the high
winds, the bridge is closed today. But you can still walk down to see the area if you like.” Okay, the wind was a bit bustle, our hair was getting tossed about, but surely this little wind couldn’t be THAT bad to close the bridge? Right? So Ms. Kitty and I decided that we’d walk down to see the bridge and see why these Irish were so chicken of a little wind. Well, hmmm, I have to say, they weren’t so chicken after all. The closer we got to the area, the more the wind picked up.The video of me pointing out the islands shows that it’s incredibly difficult to hear me because of all the wind. But surely, this still wasn’t THAT bad? Right? On we walked, until the steep decline to where the rope bridge would be. This, my friend, was a true adventure. I have only a single photo of Ms. Kitty on the decent, because after that photo was taken, I not only had to hold onto my camera for fear it would be blown off of me, but I had to hold onto the wooden handrail for fear I would be blown into the
sea! I am NOT JOKING. Our skin was being blown back, distorted like high pressure air would do, I could hardly walk straight, I had to hold the railing and I could barely open my eyes to see what was in front of me. We got to the bridge area, unable to talk or even hear one another, and decided this was an acceptable amount of wind to close the bridge. Yes, quite acceptable. So, we quickly decided to ascended the hillside for our escape. This was quite interesting as well. With the wind pushing us down, up and to the side, it was difficult to maintain upward momentum. Also, the wind seemed to suck the breath out of us and made it hard to inhale air, which was kinda necessary when climbing a 60 degree vertical hill! We were also in a bit of a rush, since we were supposed to be back at the bus 10 minutes prior. Damn Americans were going to be late as always. Would they wait for us? Ms. Kitty had faith they would not leave us stranded on the hillside, it would be bad for repeat business aparently. We did finally make it back to the bus, and were NOT the last to board; there were 2 more women after us, and by the way they were Russian, not American! 
Once again on our way we went through the countryside to our next stop, LUNCH! But before we got there, we took a quick stop by the side of the road to take photos of an old castle that was built a little too close to the North Atlantic Ocean, as it was now falling into it! I couldn’t see, the wind was blowing hard, it was
cold and all I could do was point my cameras in that direction and hope one of the 200 that I took would look good. I got back onto the bus and wiped the wind-induced tears out of my eyes. Nice warm bus, it was becoming my favourite place to be! After a few short minutes we arrived in another small town to the restaurant, New Mill Restaurant, and had our lunch. We had pre-ordered it on the bus thus when we got there they had it ready to go. I got the tomato soup with tuna sandwich and a Guinness (duh) and Ms. Kitty got the steak and Guinness pie with more Guinness on the side. A very good lunch indeed. It was a nice rest before we had to head off for our next part of the journey. But for now, I’ll leave you here, as the next two stops are quite interesting so I will want to give them their dues without too much length in a single posting. So until then, we will continue the adventure…….Yes, quite.
