May 9 – Dunluce Castle and Driving around Antrim and Derry Counties

The weather is holding with occasionally sun.  We drove first thing out to Dunluce Castle.  Mary had seen it from a distance (and early evening) when she took a tour of the area about 20 years ago while on business in Belfast.  This time we were able to walk through the castle.

It is in ruins (of course) but there was a lot to see.  It was the stronghold of the MacQuillans and later the McDonnells until mid-1600’s.  Legend has it that one night, during a large banquet, the cliff collapsed into the sea, taking the kitchen with it.  At that point the lady of the house had had enough and the place was abandoned. 

There were great views of the coastline from the castle.

Then we headed off along the coast,

skirting Portrush,

 and then into the interior through the counties of Antrim and Derry, just to enjoy the countryside.  

These steel silos/tanks beside what appears to be a castle seemed to be an interesting combination.

We were back in the hotel by mid-afternoon. 

We decided to try to find a pub in town for dinner.  However,  the town of Bushmills is small and has very limited eating options.  We found three fish and chips shops and a couple of Chinese take away shops.  So we settled on a fish and chip shop that had veggie burgers and a few chicken items.  Was pretty good.