London to Belfast via Scotland

After spending a couple of days getting used to the time difference and visiting the sites of London, it was time to hit the road and make our way to Belfast for Vic and Dave's wedding which was why this trip existed.  We had to be up nice and early to catch a 5:30am train from London Euston to Glasgow in Scotland.  From Glasgow it was another train to the small town of Ayr where we caught a bus ride (over an hour) to the port town of Cairnryan.  Along the way we found out where yellow wool comes from for making yellow sweaters and scarfs :P

Here we caught a ferry which would take us to Belfast in Northern Ireland.  This ferry was the largest ferry that either of us had been on and was more like an ocean liner.  It had a cinema, pokies, arcade machines, bars, a gift shop, some cafes, saunas, spa and massage service which we gladly took advantage of!

After 12 hours of travel by foot, train, bus, ferry and cab we finally arrived at the Europa Hotel in central Belfast.  The Europa holds the Guiness record for being the worlds' most bombed hotel, it was bombed over 20 times during the Troubles when the IRA ran riot.

After settling in we ventured across the road to Robinson's to join our fellow aussie travellers with the soon to be married couple for drinks.

For our first full day in Northern Ireland we booked a bus tour to visit the Giants Causeway.  First stop was Carrickfergus Castle for a quick photo op.  Due to time constraints with the tour we were only allowed to take photos of the outside and could not enter the castle.  The castle has Norman origins dating back to 1177 and has been besieged in turn by Scots, Irish, English and French.

We carried on up the coast and stopped for a short breather at Carnlough, a small coastal town with a picturesque little harbour.

Carnlough is also famous for the Londerry Hotel which was once owned and lived in by Winston Churchill.

We continued along the coast before arriving at Carrick-a-rede rope bridge where thrill seekers can test their wits with the rope bridge.  This bridge connects a small rocky island to the mainland and was once used by salmon fishermen.  The bridge is pretty sturdy however when it was originally used by the fishermen it only had one rope for holding onto.  At any one time only 8 people are allowed onto the bridge and to cross you have to make a 5 pound donation to the National Trust.

Following the bridge crossing the next destination was the Giants Causeway.  This is one of Northern Ireland's biggest attractions and consists of thousands of hexagonal basalt rock formations which look like stairs or a cobbled street.  Locals claim that a giant formed these, however we believe that it is due to volcanic activity from the past but we will let you be the judge.

Our second last stop for the day was a brief visit to the Bushmill's Distillery.  Again due to time constraints we were only permitted to visit the gift shop and bar and could not go for a tour of the site.  The Bushmill's Distillery was the first to get a licence to make whiskey in Ireland.

Irish whiskey differs from Scotish whiskey in that it is distilled 3 times compared to 2.  We decided that we could not visit without trying a drop so we ordered a tipple of the original, the results of which you can see for yourself.

The final stop of the tour was Dunluce Castle which dates back to 1513.  The castle is now in ruins and due to safety reasons we could not actually visit the castle.  Instead we stopped at a roadside look out for photos.  At one point in the castles history, part of the kitchen next to the steep cliffs collapsed into the sea, after which the wife of the owner refused to live in the castle any longer.