Day Trip to the North Coast!

Good morning, Derry!

The view from the train we took.

A real beach!

We made it to Castlerock. I'm pretty sure we were the only people awake in the whole town. We were here to visit Mussenden Temple. We only knew that it was on a cliff facing the ocean, and that it was west of the train station. Luckily, our lack of exact directions led us on a spectacular cliff-top walk.

Exhibit A.

We discovered that an old castle/manor was right next to the Temple! Awesome!

The view of Castlerock from up on the cliffs.

Yup, that's me. The views were spectacularly amazing.

At last, we spy the temple! We must be almost there, right?

I mean, it's right there. Look how close it looks!

Wrong! First we must traverse a ravine to reach the temple and castle!

Elaine bravely takes the lead.

The view up the hill we just climbed down.

In the middle of the not-actually-as-treacherous-as-it-looks ravine.

Oddly enough, there were stairs on the other side.

We encountered one last unexpected test of skill and agility. I think they really wanted you to earn it if you wanted to look at this temple.

Ok, now we're finally there!

Only in Ireland...

After the temple and random ruined manor, we went to Dunluce Castle, a very famous cliff-top ruin.

I spy Shannon!

You weren't allowed to go inside the secret cave. Apparently they thought rocks might fall on you.

The view from Dunluce.

Some real classy Christmas lights decorating the inside of the cafe we had lunch in.

I adore how much they use the word "wee" here.

Our last stop for the day: The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

Me crossing the rope bridge. Ignore my crazy hair. It was windy.

Elaine holding on for dear life.

The island the bridge took us to.

I think this guy had the right idea.

We definitely got our workout today.

The amazing sunset during the train ride back to Derry.