On The Road Again: The Giants Causeway

Leaving Belfast was like a quiet reprose.  The sheer magnitude of it’s history and sites where in ways overwhelming and I knew it would take weeks to truly assimilate it.  In contrast, taveling along the remote North Antrim coast restored a dreamy calm.

Lurig Inn & Bar.  If you’re of a mind, you might hang out here and find yourself having a pint with actor Liam Neeson who enjoys The Lurig whenever he’s back home visiting his mother who lives about 15 miles away.

North Antrim coast

The Carrick-a- Rede rope bridge

Paddy the Pigeon – war hero of the village of Carnlough.

Paddy was an Irish carrier pigeon awarded the Dickin Medal after being the fastest pigeon to arrive back in England with news of the success of the D-Day invasion, out of hundreds dispatched.

Giants Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption.

The Legend

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner.  In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn’s wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down.

Instead of waiting for a shuttle, we decided it should be experienced with hiking to it and I’m glad we did.  The view as it developed before us was breathtaking and the foliage is worth the walk.  I found pressed between the pages of my journal, the purple thistle I’d picked along the way.

After hiking back up, we had lunch, beef stew and my all time favorite, Irish brown bread.

We boarded our coach after lunch and departed The Giants Causeway.  Onward to Derry AKA Londonderry AKA Free Derry.

If any of my Irish friends in blogworld has a better recipe for Irish Brown Bread,…..PLEASE do share!!!!!

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

 

Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter an 8-by-5-inch metal loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk both flours with the baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the egg; stir into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until a rough dough forms.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Form the dough into a loaf and put it in the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes.  Let cool to warm or room temperature, then slice and serve.

Enjoy!