Bally-ing around N.I.

When we looked at the map of Northern Ireland, we were curious why every town name in Northern Ireland seems to start with Bally – Ballycastle, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Ballyholme – to name a few.

We googled what “Bally” meant and it confirmed our notion that it is an extremely common prefix to town names in Ireland. It is derived from the Gaelic phrase ‘Baile na’, meaning ‘place of’.

When we finally got off the ferry at Belfast after two days of driving up the motorway from London to Cairnryan, we headed straight for the coastline, in search of some beach!!!! As soon as our bags were safely in our rooms at the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle, we were off for a run! Woohoo!!!!

Ballycastle was our base from where we set off to discover Northern Ireland’s scenic coastline. We soon discovered that most places were relatively a short distance away, but there was nothing modest about the coastline.

First stop, the spectacular Giant’s Causeway, a UN World Heritage site is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption that took place over 65 million years ago!

Or was it?!?!?!?! We’ve heard otherwise.

Legend has it that the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Finn MacCool from the Feinan 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, Sadhbh, 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. 

Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.

We so loved seeing this, we sat for a moment to take it all in. Bucket list – TICK!

The breathtaking coastline continued to amaze us. We drove down a very small, narrow, steep winding road down Knocksaughey Hill to Ballintoy Harbour, a small fishing harbour.

Ballintoy means “town of the north’ and at the top of the hill is Ballintoy Church – the most recognisable religious building in the area.

Driving further west, the craggy castle ruins of Dunluce Castle suddenly appeared over the coastal landscape. Now a ruined medieval castle, it was once the seat of Clan McDonnell. It sits on the edge of a basalt outcropping surrounded by vertical deep drops.

It was closed for bridge repair. In any case, doggies are not allowed in the ruins.

Next stop – Downhill House, a mansion built in the late 18th century for Frederick, 4th Earl of Bristol and Lord Bishop of Derry at Downhill County.

Once a grand Italian inspired home, much of the building was destroyed by fire in 1851 before it was rebuilt in the 1970s. It was requisitioned by the RAF and fell into disrepair after the Second World War.

The Downhill Demesne also includes a dovecote, walled gardens, a summer house …

… and the Mussadeen Temple, another iconic Game of Thrones site.

From there we looked down onto Downhill Beach, part of a 7 mile stretch of sand.

We later went down to the beach for some exploration!

There were the other Game of Thrones locations mentioned in our previous blog – Aegon on the Throne

The iconic Dark Hedges and the Stuart Family Home

But Northern Ireland was not all about the coastline. One of our favourite places we visited was Mount Stewart in County Down, a National Trust property, is a neo-classical house with one of the most outstanding gardens in the world. Mount Stewart has been the much loved Irish home of the Stewart Family.

On the last night of our stay, we went for a different view. We checked in at Galgorm in County Antrim. Mum didn’t get to experience the fully booked out spa but we experienced staying in a Shepherds Hut. There’s only one that is dog-friendly so this time I got to stay over with Missy and Fiona while Mum had the night off.

We took a walk around the grounds and found the Chandelier garden! These chandeliers used to be in the original house but they’ve made it into an enchanting place to visit.

All along the way, we managed to find dog-friendly places to eat. While not so long ago, this was almost impossible, but things have been changing partly due to Dog Lovers NI who has been championing dog rights in Northern Ireland.

These are some of the places that we dined at …

The Lighthouse in Donaghadee is totally dog-friendly. They served Missy and George a plateful of sausages!!!

Pier 36 restaurant also in Donaghadee is doubling as The Commodore in the series Hope Street. Owners with dogs can sit in the front part of the restaurant.

Marconi Restaurant at Marine Hotel serve residents with dogs in the lounge. The hotel lounge area is dog-friendly.

Fullerton Arms in Ballintoy. serving traditional Irish cuisine. It also features one of the ten Game of Throne doors – made from the trees at Dark Hedges that were fallen by Storm Sandy.

Cultra Inn at The Culloden Estate and Spa – we had our last lunch at this relaxed and welcoming, sit by the log fire and take in the stunning views.

Mum finished off our Irish adventures with yet another Seafood Chowder (she had one every day!) and a Bailey’s coffee …

And one last stop, one last photo of the Titanic Belfast Museum. We didn’t have the time to go inside but we just had to look at it before leaving.

It was time to return the harbour in Belfast for the two-hour ferry crossing to Cairnryan, Scotland.

There’s also a crossing from Liverpool but we chose to drive further north for the shorter ferry crossing. Dogs in a carrier could go up in the lounge areas or they can be left in the kennels.

So as they say in Northern Ireland – If you weren’t so Ballymena with your Ballymoney you’d be living in Ballycastle instead of Ballyholme. LOL!

May’s comment: These were just some of the sights of Northern Ireland. This was a trip planned for February 2020, Darcy’s 10th birthday … but we all know the sequence of events. Tinged with a bit of regret and sadness, we explored Northern Ireland.

I know I am always looking out for signs of Darcy wherever we go and she showed up again in two places.

After bingeing on a TV series and in the middle of the night, I thought I’d go outside of our shepherd hut at Galgorm to see if I can find the Ursa Minor. At this time of the year, only parts of it is visible to the naked eye. I peeked outside the door and scanned the night sky for the very distinguishable Ursa Major (Great Bear / Big Dipper) but couldn’t see it. Surely it must be there as it is always visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere. I stepped outside and when I turned around, there was Ursa Major and two of the brightest stars in Ursa Minor right above our Shepherd Hut.

The other sign was so random. We based ourselves at Ballycastle for three nights and each day we would drive along Castle Street to our next coastal discovery. That’s where I spotted Ursa Minor Bakehouse! An unusual name for a provision store, but there it was!

On this trip, we finally met Maureen and Mark with Katie and Suzie. We have long been “friends’ on Facebook. Maureen had long been campaigning to make Northern Ireland more dog-friendly. Check out the latest news on Dog Lovers NI.

They showed us all the beaches where they walk Katie and Suzie.

we also met Tosca, and her mum and dad. They came to meet us at Galgorm.