There are a couple of ways to get from Belfast to Derry, I suggest you take the scenic route around the Antrim coast. Following the sea, we passed through several small, quaint villages, each with their own harbour and a couple with castles! By far the most exciting place you get to is the Giant’s Causeway.

Having failed to do my research properly, I hadn’t registered that our route would take us right past the causeway. On seeing the brown tourist signs, we pulled off the road and parked up at the old railway station (parking is pricey but necessary). From there, it is a short walk up to the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre. As a National Trust place, the visitor centre has the normal range of gifts, brooches in the shape of a sheep, fancy biscuits and the like, as well as an interesting display about the causeway, but bypass it all, and get outside.

The walk to the causeway itself is about 10 minutes, pick up the audio guide and follow the crowds down the hill. The audio guide provides an insight into the area, the history, those who worked there and the myths and legends that surround the causeway. As you round the corner and the causeway comes into sight, you can imagine the Giant, Finn McCool building his road to get to Scotland. (Interestingly, you can visit the other end of the causeway at Staffa – which has now been added to our list of places to go!) The place is bizarre, one of those quirks of nature that you don’t quite understand, despite hearing the theory of its creation. The hexagonal stones and their basalt columns looked planned, they look like they were designed as some weird crazy paving, it isn’t like anywhere else I have ever been. It’s not cheap, but worth every penny.

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