For today’s recollection, I think it is best to start with a bit of a story. As most of you could imagine, driving on the other side of the road is difficult as it is, and a job almost as difficult is navigation. (Thankfully it was not my job.) And today, we opted for the scenic route. Now we had a full car load, Mike and his wife Dana, Marianna, and my parents and I as well. Dana was fortunate enough to be the driver of our carload. Luckily for her, the driving was easy going. (Mostly). We were making our way around the coastline and decided to see how close we could get to this hill in the distance, called Slemish, that was rumored to be where Saint Patrick worked his first job keeping sheep. On a hill like that, it is no wonder he became a saint.

So we turn down a few roads, each one getting gradually smaller as we went, and we pass a sign that reads, “not suitable for heavy goods vehicles,” and we come across these two younger boys, they were probably middle-school age, walking down the lane. We pass them, and probably about thirty seconds later we come upon a sharp curve. Now this isn’t your average sharp curve. This is one with a rock wall on the left side and sky-high hedges on the right, the total distance of which was likely only three inches wider than the width of our car. For perspective, the road was about as wide as your average run/walk/bike path. And the curve was that wide with the bonus factor of walls on both sides.

Above is a picture of our pickle. Our mirror was about an inch away from the rock. The front bumper was touching the rock on the right hand side as was the rear end of the left hand side. I would have liked to climb out and take a picture, but the door would only open a half inch.

Right, so put the car in reverse and start going the other way. By this time there is a motorcycle facing us, waiting for us to get out of the way (only there’s nowhere to go) so he can go on his way. The kids have also come up behind us and are waiting as well. The only problem with our plan of reverse is that we were on a hill and even in reverse, the car wanted to roll forwards as soon as Dana’s foot began to come off the brake. Quite fortuitously, Mike and Dana had purchased the same insurance we did so they would be covered for hazards such as narrow crossing. Dana did indeed back us out of our pickle, we all lived, and so did the car.

It was later in our conversations that Dana fully knew that we could not have gotten through that turn in the road. It was my father that knew otherwise. In his words, “You could’ve gotten through, but you would’ve had to go really fast.”

So two turn arounds later we come into a small town and in amongst dodging oncoming cars and ensuring we don’t hit those parked ones that take up 3/4 of the road, we notice the two kids walking through town. They made better time than we did, and they were walking! Luckily we all were happy because we had ice cream for lunch.

This was my ice cream, it was as good as it looks. I would consider it the main course, or at least the main interest for me. On the side I had fish ‘n’ chips, which were quite good as well.

Our main adventure for today was the Giant’s Causeway. The people that lived here in ancient times believed that the big stone formations were made by giants, hence the name. It was defiantly a tourist trap, and rightfully so because it was gorgeous. I do not think I have ever seen a more beautiful spot by the ocean.

These formations were conceived way back when Pangea was breaking apart, as the tectonic plates moved, this caused volcanic eruptions, and lava to harden into formations. Over millions of years, this process built Giant’s Causeway.

Earlier, before all of our adventures, we got the pleasure of working dogs once again. We got to watch Eamon’s dog, Johnny, work. The fascinating thing about this dog is his unique markings, a long black stripe running down the length of his face.

Thank you to Eamon for holding sheep for Mattie and I as well.

This is a view from the hill at the Barn Lofts. The blue in the distance right underneath the pink of the sunset is the ocean.

This was a wonderful day and we have more scheduled for tomorrow!