downhill, northern ireland

Sadly, in the morning we had to leave the Hilton behind. We caught a train to Castlerock, which is about 2.5 hours north of Belfast, along the very northern coast of Northern Ireland. Our destination was actually a smaller town called Downhill, where we had a hostel booked. We had to go on a bit of a trek to find it (about an hour!), but when we finally got there it was totally worth it. This hostel is definitely my favorite so far. It's literally RIGHT on the beach, underneath some cliffs. Ireland is definitely up there on my list of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It doesn't even feel like a hostel; its a house really. It's so cozy and the view from our room is awesome. There also isn't much around here, so we are able to relax instead of worrying about fitting all the sights in. After we got settled, we caught a ride into town to the grocery store with some people from our hostel that had a car. They were from France, and we did our best to communicate. Their English was not bad! We also found out that they would be heading to the Giant's Causeway the next day like we were, and could give us a ride then as well. We were so grateful because we would have had to try and figure out a bus all the way there.

When we got back from the store, we rented wetsuits and body boards from the hostel and went bodyboarding! The water was so cold, and the waves were huge.. we wouldn't have lasted more than two minutes if we didn't have those westsuits to keep us warm though. Wearing a skin tight wetsuit I wasn't too fond of, but the boarding itself was sooo awesome! We took pictures with our waterproof disposable camera, so sadly I won't be able to post any pictures of us in action.. In the evening we went for a walk along the beach and took some pictures. Mike's feet got attacked by a sniper wave and his running shoes got SOAKED, lol. The lady who runs the hostel told us a trick though - stuffing newspaper in wet shoes dries them out really quickly! We used the huge kitchen to make a hearty meal of spaghetti, chicken poppers, garlic toasties and brocolli - soo yummy!

This morning we had a nice breakfast and then headed to the Giant's Causeway with our new French friends. I guess now would be a good time to mention to two mean old ladies that are also staying here. We were eating our breakfast in the kitchen this morning as we were packing our lunches for the day, and one of them was like "there's a dining room for eating you know, you're blocking the way here" Sheesh. Then a little while later as we were still getting organized, we were by our food cubby which is by the entrance to the dining room and she was like "there you are in the way again" What a crank! Mike said to her "all you have to do is say excuse me and we can move!" Apparently they have been a real problem for the owners, they are just crabby towards everyone. The owners were even thinking about asking them to leave. They are also the reason that Mike is sleeping on the floor of a storage area tonight! When they booked, they only gave their last names and the owner assumed they were men. When they arrived they weren't pleased to find that they would be in our dorm, a mixed dorm, instead of a female only dorm. Mike was the only guy in the room, but that was still a problem for them. So there was a bit of a mix up with the bookings, and the owner offered to take us to a hostel in the next town, but we like it here so much that Mike doesn't mind the mattress on the floor!

Anyways, our ride dropped us off at the rope bridge first, which was neat but nothing compared to Lynn Canyon, lol. While we were there it started POURING rain. These storms come on so fast, it's crazy! It was soooo windy and my umbrella broke =( . Our ride had only dropped us off there and it was up to us to find our own way back along the coast to our hostel. We headed to the parking lot and approached a young couple for a ride to the next sight, the actual Giant's Causeway itself. They said sure, no problem and we were on our way. Of course it got sunny just as we were leaving!

The Giant's Causeway is a series of rock formations that are millions of years old. There are thousands of six-sided stones, all stacked around eachother, going out into the sea. It's hard to describe, but an amazing sight, so look at the pics below! The scientific explanation is that they were formed as lava cooled and cracked millions of years ago, but legend has it that it was built by a giant as a path to Scotland where an enemy giant lived. The Irish giant's wife dressed him up as a baby, and when the Scottish enemy giant came across looking for the Irish giant, the wife said he was out. The Scottish giant, seeing how big the baby was, thought the giant must be massive if his baby was that big! The Scottish giant then fled back to Scotland in fear.

Surprise surprise, while we were there it started pouring again, this time worse than the last. We caught the shuttle back to the entrance point and actually saw the French people from our hostel. We were so relieved because we thought we could just catch a ride back with them, but they had just come from and 8km hike and still had to go back and get their car somehow. We decided to head to the parking lot again. We approached a couple in a reallllly nice Land Rover, and they were able to give us a ride to Bushmills, where the distillery was. Perfect!The SUV was so nice, with tvs in the back of the headrests and really cool navigational system. It was funny, we were like ooohhh lets ask them, they have a nice vehicle! lol..

The Bushmills Distillery is the oldest Whisky Distillery in the world, from the 1600s I believe. We were going to do the tour, but decided to just check out the gift shop instead. We headed back to the parking lot to figure out the last (and longest) leg home. This is where it got interesting. Who do we see? The guy who worked the front desk of our hostel in Dublin!! What were the chances! He was more than happy to drive us right to the doorstep of our hostel. Things could not have worked out more perfectly. If we had even done one thing differently that day, like actually taken the tour for example, we never would have seen him and would probably still be stranded in Bushmills, lol. Everything happens for a reason!

Back at the hostel we talked with one of the girls who works here, Rosanna, for awhile. She and the lady who runs the hostel, Macall, are actually from Seattle. Macall met her husband here in Ireland while travelling, and now they run this hostel together. We made our dinner, the same thing we had the night before, and then talked with Macall. She told us about how they're always looking for people to come help out here, especially when they go away on vacation themselves. It was funny, it sort of felt like an informal job interview, lol. She said be sure to leave our emails so she can keep in touch. Who knows, maybe we will be the ones working here next summer!
In the morning we are catching a train to Belfast International Airport where we will be flying to Inverness, Scotland. Hopefully the weather is a little better over there!