The Beautiful Antrim Coast. Saturday 30th May 2009.

Alan and Sandra had organised to take JR and I up the Antrim Coast, all the way to heaven. It could be heaven it is so beautiful, especially on a day like today with the sun shining. AJ was staying in Belfast to hang out with Peter and have a day without us oldies. Sarah and John took them go-karting and they had a ball. Junk food, computer games, an X-Box 360, fast karts and each other – they were in paradise, albeit a very different paradise to us.

We followed the Antrim Coast Road and its blue expanse with views to Scotland. Ballygally Castle sits overlooking the blue and was where Mum and Dad went for dinner-dances back in the day.


Alan detoured inland to Glenariff Forest; its floor was dewy and glistened as the sun reached it through the green forest canopy giving warmth to the ground where wild bluebells sprang. Waterfalls rushed to their destination into pools stained brown like Guinness, made so from the peat upstream. Alan pointed out clusters of shamrocks growing on the moist slopes which are surprisingly quite rare in this neck of the woods.

We lunched on steak and Guinness pie with peas and chips at the whitewashed McBrides Pub in the seaside village of Cushendun. The F.A. Cup was kicking off, so before long the dining room filled with beer swilling soccer fans. They all cheered in excitement when Everton scored in the first minute, the atmosphere was electric and it was great to experience the soccer culture of Northern Ireland.

Along a little more was Portaneevey. There was a caravan selling dulse (sea grass) and an uninterrupted view of the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge which we would attempt another day as Rob had offered to take us when we first told him we were planning to visit.



I had never been to Ballintoy Harbour and was glad Alan stopped here this time. We all licked home-made ice-cream while wandering along the water. Families played in the sand and canoes paddled in the water; it seemed everyone was out to enjoy the warm summer sunshine.

Further along the coast is Dunluce Castle, I remember reading about it last visit. Its kitchen fell down the sheer cliffs and into the sea.

We ventured no further than Benone Strand, an expanse of white sand beach you would not expect to find here. It is the norm to drive along the beach here, everyone was following suit. The sun was low in the sky as lovers walked hand in hand along the rippling shore.

We stopped in to meet Sandra’s brother Mark and his wife Roberta, they were just gorgeous. AJ and Peter arrived with Sarah and John, not surprisingly AJ was not filled with joy to see us knowing his day without the oldies would soon come to a close. Luckily for him Sandra asked if he could stay the night and she would drop him back home in the morning. We all stopped for a late night kebab and ate with Lilly around the Glencairn kitchen table and shared stories of our day with her.

Love you Alan and Sandra and thank you both for a day we will never forget. See you in Oz!