continued from Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 8
HEADING EAST FROM THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY
Going east around the coast of Northern Ireland to the town of Ballycastle, you will see some of the astounding scenery of County Antrim. The glens of Antrim are known for their spectacular beauty, particularly around Cushendall, Cushendun, and Glenarm.

From the charming town of Ballycastle on the coast, you can take a short boat trip out to Rathlin Island, a rare place of wild beauty and of extraordinary ecological value and historical interest.

This island lies 6 miles off the coast of Northeastern Ireland, and only 16 miles from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. It’s eight miles long and less than one mile wide, and shaped like a boot. It is comprised of layers of basalt on limestone on the higher parts. It is surrounded by limestone and basalt sea cliffs reaching 470 ft in places.

Three lighthouses stand as monument to its wild coast, where over 40 recorded shipwrecks lie in the depths nearby. There are underwater cliffs, caves and a marine botanical paradise here.

Robert the Bruce, who won Scotland’s freedom from England in the early 12th century, (the Robert who betrays William Wallace in Braveheart, then changes his mind at the end of the movie and offers battle instead of a truce), spent some time in exile in the caves on Rathlin.

When Robert saw how a spider in the cave with him kept weaving its web over and over again every day no matter how many times Robert destroyed it, Robert decided if the spider could do it, so could he!

Rathlin Island is also a paradise for birds all year round, but becomes a haven for puffins, guillemots and kittiwakes every summer from about May to July when these migratory birds come down from the Arctic to feed, mate, nest, rear their young, teach them to fly, and then head off on their travels.

The male puffin’s beak is only highly colored when he is looking for a girlfriend. They use the beak to burrow into the cliff face to form their nest, where they reat their chicks. A Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds warden is usually on hand to give you a great view of a nest through his high powered telescope at this time of the year.

Continues in Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 10