Friday, February 05, 2010

Friday Field Trip - Northern Ireland

What I'm reading: Kisser, by Stuart Woods

Today it's my pleasure to turn the Friday Field Trip over to Jessica Odell, who now resides in Northern Ireland. She's giving us a peek at the Giant's Causeway. Take it away, Jess....



The Giant's Causeway is on the north coast of Ireland, in County Antrim. The hexagonal columns were formed by volcanic activity about 60 million years ago.



Local folklore links the Causeway to Finn McCool, a giant who lived on the North Coast. One day he entered into an argument with another giant, Fingal, on the Scottish coast. Insults were fired back, and then Finn began throwing clods of earth into the sea, as to build a causeway. Finn went back home and awaited Fingal. With the help of his wife, Finn conned Fingal and scared him off. Fingal tore up the causeway on his way back to Scotland. Similar volcanic columns can be seen at Fingal's Cave in Scotland.





Now it is a great tourist destination and I picked a good weather day and drove up to the coast with my camera. There are tons of hiking paths along the coast, with lots of great views. Maybe this spring I'll make it the 12 miles from the Causeway to the Carrik-a-rede Rope Bridge!


















Thanks again, Jess, for giving us a glorious day and a delightful peek into your surroundings. Someday we'll get there!

24 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

It's gorgeous! I'll put the area on my TBT (to be traveled) list...

Elizabeth

Mystery Writing is Murder

Terry Odell said...

Elizabeth, it's on mine too! You'd think we'd have finagled a way to get out there already.

Linda Poitevin said...

Oh...I SO want to go there!!! I think I'll go buy a lottery ticket... :)

Unknown said...

I will say that looking at the pictures is a bit nicer than our current weather! Today was ok..it didn't actually rain. :)

Mason Canyon said...

The photos are beautiful. Definitely a place I'd like to escape to today. We're in the upper 30s and we're getting 1 to 2 inches of rain. Yes, Ireland is the place to be.

Kristi Faith said...

I've always had a fascination with Ireland, thank you for the photos and the neat story. :) That rock looks like the perfect place to sit and write. :)

Author Roast and Toast said...

More pictures, I love them. It's the closest I'll ever get to going there.

Toni Anderson said...

It's a great spot :) Thanks for the photos!

Carol Kilgore said...

Beautiful photographs. The legend of Finn McCool is, well, really cool. And I love that name. Think of him as a super hero!

Sheila Deeth said...

Lovely pictures. I never made it to Ireland though my brother's visited several times.

Unknown said...

Glad everyone likes the photos!

Terry Stonecrop said...

Lovely photos and a good yarn to go with them.

susan said...

Love the photos..one of my places I love to see. susan L.

Debra St. John said...

Wow! Those are gorgeous.

Susan Macatee said...

Gorgeous photos!! Thanks for sharing!

Maryannwrites said...

What great pictures. Thanks for sharing those with some of us who will probably never get to see this gorgeous land in person.

BTW, I really like your new profile picture, Terry.

Jemi Fraser said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I visited Scotland years ago, but haven't made it to Ireland yet. Definitely on my wish list :)

Terry Odell said...

Thanks to all for stopping by today. It's been a gloomy rainy day here, complete with some tornado warnings, so I hope the pictures brightened everyone's day as much as mine.

Have a good weekend.

Terry Odell said...

Maryann - thanks - that's my website shot. I decided it was time to present a single image to the "world".

GunDiva said...

Those are beautiful pictures. I knew there was more to Ireland than Dublin and the Guinness factory! That's the Ireland I wanted to see when we went. Instead, we got Dublin.

Amy said...

Great photos, Jess! Wish I could have gone on that hike with you. We have basalt columns like that here in Oregon too. Love the rock that looks kind of like an elephant seal.

Marvin D Wilson said...

Love the photos and the tale to go with them. I SO want to go there sometime.

The Old Silly

Terry Odell said...

GD - We got to Cork when hubby had a meeting there, but didn't get to do too much sightseeing. I did get to the Blarney castle, and we toured the Jameson distillery. And ate at the Balleymalou House (forgive any misspelling) which we'd seen on the Food Network.

Unknown said...

Thanks, everyone! Really nice weather can be rare up here in the North, so we make the most of it. Hopefully this spring will be good and I'll get more photos of other places nearby.

Amy- you're welcome any time, and the rock is actually Finn McCool's boot!