05 | June | 2018 | Our Celtic Connections

Unfortunately, Dave woke up not feeling well this morning with a cold. He rarely gets colds, so of course he’d get one while on vacation. He was a trooper and powered through the day as best he could.

Our room at the B&B is very nice and the mattress is terrific! The personal touches and decor make it feel like a home…which it is.

The morning started with a full-on Irish Breakfast for me. Two fried eggs, two fried tomatoes, potato scones, UK bacon (different than US), two sausages, and black pudding.

I have tried black pudding before five years ago when we’re in Scotland the first time, but could not remember if I liked it or not. This local Irish version was quite spicy with a lot of pepper and I couldn’t finish it. We may try white pudding tomorrow. I ALMOST finished the entire plate. Almost. Dave made a lesser, but still hearty breakfast choice of eggs and bacon.

So much effort goes into providing breakfasts every morning at B&B’s and this one did not fail. Fresh jam, fruit, scones, rolls, and evens decanter filled with ice water with cucumber & mint fresh added.

It was a foggy, cloudy morning again so views aren’t as clear, but it’s not cold or raining. We have been very surprised at the calm seas and light winds. We were looking forward to some crashing surf. Nothing yet.

Theresa graciously offered to do our laundry from the first half of our trip for us. We gladly took her up on the offer! Just wonderful.

The first stop on our schedule today was to view the ruins of Dunseverick Castle. Despite being cloudy, the dramatic setting for this castle is terrific.

Next stop was to the world-famously Giants Causeway. Steeped in local folklore and mystery, these ancient basalt columns were formed by volcanic ruptures over a period of time. It was all explained to us, but I truly don’t quite understand just how these very straight, tall, perfectly edged columns were formed, but they are VERY cool and truly fascinating to see in person.

We arrived very early, which was good because we missed some of the early bus loads of people. Our tour guide Amy was terrific and after taking the walk down to the columns, it was nice to get a bus back to visitor’s center. Dave bought me a beautiful necklace in the gift shop.

Dave was then in the market for some cold meds, so we drove into Bushmills to find a drugstore or chemist as they’re called here. Luckily, we found one and picked up some cold medicines to start kicking this.

We also stopped for a bite to eat here at The Copper Kettle and enjoyed sandwiches and soup. VERY good and it was nice to support a local establishment and not the regular bus tour place.

The Bushmills Whisky Distillery is also here. We drove to pick up a gift for people who are showing us around Ireland later in the week and I’m bought a lightweight t-shirt since I didn’t bring many cooler clothes. We did not do the tour, however. Neither one of us are huge whisky fans and after see all the tour buses there’s I’m glad we didn’t go any further than the gift shop.

We stopped one more time at Dunseverick Castle as the sun had started to come out a little bit more and we were hoping better light. Lower tide and a little bit more light helped.

Then we drove to view the ruins of Kinbane Castle. Our vantage point was high on a cliff looking down on what is left of a 16th Century castle built on a highly-dramatic outcrop. The steps leading down to it are very steep and the path is overly rugged. We chose not to go down to see it…mainly because it meant coming back up. Dave didn’t feel good and I was about to crash & burn…which I did.

We went back to the B&B and both went to bed to try and get some much-needed rest. I set the alarm for two hours. Amy had done our laundry, folded and ironed things and placed them at the foot of the bed.

We were slightly rested, then went in to town for a light dinner at the Fullerton Arms. I had fresh tomato soup with a side salad and Dave tried the seafood chowder and said it was the best he had ever had.

After dinner we came right back to B&B and the views from our room, although still cloudy, were lovely. Still light out at 9:30. I hope Dave is better tomorrow. 🤧