Tuesday 24 April 2024
A
cold, crisp morning around 7c with brilliant blue skies. Up early and off to
drop Flashy at Bushmills Distillery for his 10.00 am tour. There were 11 people
and Anne the tour guide was very polished, not Polish, she was Irish but very
good at being a tour guide. At the end we had a taste of 12 year old Bushmills,
Very smooth, I can report. So good, in fact that Flashy bought a bottle and is
drinking it as he types. Anything can happen.
Lady
P collects him and we head off to Port Stewart, a short drive west along the
coast, where a pub meal is planned (after a long walk of course). Well, it was
a pleasant walk of about 25 mins to Harry’s Shack, right on the beach and we
anticipated the ubiquitous fish and chips.
Oh
no, the menu was heavily seafood as expected but our mussels entrée was
spectacular. Lots of butter and leeks with a hint of spice (chilli we reckon)
which is not so Irish. The whole sole for Lady P was trimmed and almost
filleted and not a big flat fish on the plate. But beautiful and tasty. Flashy’s
two fish tacos were very good and so well balanced with spice and moist fish,
that he scoffed them before Lady P could “I just want a taste” sample them.
As
the meal comes to an end, Lady P marches off to get the car. Isn’t she good?
Flashy and the staff indulge in another Chardonnay, set the watch for 20 mins,
then head off to RZV with the car. Perfect timing.
Not
satisfied with the walk. We head to the Giants Causeway. Now the following
comments are made after the event, after considerable sober discussion and a
lot of reflection.
The
Giants Causeway is a bunch of cliffs plunging into the sea. They are very much
hyped by the Irish, subject to a lot of tourist infrastructure and visited by a
lot of people (900k pa). I say again, they are cliffs plunging into the sea.
There are many places around the world, including other parts of Ireland, USA and Australia, where
cliffs plunge into the sea.
We
walked to the trail head, which takes you up to the top of the cliffs. Note, I said
up. Flashy is already pissed off. Then surprise, you go down 165 steps to the coast
track, which eventually leads back to the car park. For Flashy, it was a
wonderful walk in bright Irish sunshine looking at classical examples of
columnar jointed basalt columns. You believe this, of course.
As
a geography major, he was in his element. Great examples of volcanology and the columnar jointing was spectacular. But,
really? – a world heritage site?
There
was no, “Oh wow what a fantastic thing this is!” There was, “yest it’s good but
not special.”
In
summary:
On
a good day – a nice walk
For
a geology major or geomorphologist – pretty good
Generally
– Don’t bother if the pub is open.
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