Portrush.

Arrived here on Tuesday from Portsalon in Lough Swilly. We left Portsalon around 9 am and had a good sail out of the lough towards Malin Head. The wind behind us, as forecast it was a south westerly. As we neared Malin head the wind died and we motored around the notorious head admiring the scenery and taking pictures. After we rounded the headland we had to motor most of the way from Malin to Portrush as the wind had changed and was now coming from directly in front of us.

We finally got to Portrush and tied up on the pontoon before venturing up to the Portrush Yacht Club which is on the quay side for a drink, and then taking a walk around the town before retiring to bed.

There's not much to say about Portrush. It's a town like Morecambe or Barry Island but not as good as Minehead.

The Giants Causway.

On Wednesday we got our bikes out and cycled along the coast past Dunluce Castle and through Portballintrae. The castle wasn't worth viewing but the caostal views are worth the trip and Portballintare was a nice little village with a small a harbour. Cycling on we joined a path that ran alongside the Bushmills to Causeway narrow guage rail track. Unfortunately like most things here it still isn't open for the holiday season. Finaally arriving at the Giants Causeway which we have seen so many times on TV and now we have been there. Really well worth a visit and a fanatastic phenomenon. Legend tells the story of how the Giant Finn MacCool created the causeway and the stones around it as a challenge to his Scottish rival Benandonner. It was actually created 60 million years ago by volcanic activity.

More photos on the photos page.

After the causeway we visted the Bushmills Irish Whiskey distillery which turned out to be a bit of an on event as it was all shutdown for maintenance. So nothing, including most of the employees we saw, was working. We asked the tour guide why are people not told this before they part with their money, she could havetold themhow it's made before they got off the bus instead of looking at a shutdown production line. She said "Oh i now". So we had our free sample, included in the price of the ticket, bought 2 bottles and left.