CAUSEWAY
COAST
Portstewart,
even further west, with its wonderful three mile strand, is Portrush’s
quieter cousin. There is no shortage of golf (18), (18), (9), (9). Westwards,
across the Bann's mouth, lie the quiet resorts of Castlerock
and Downhill; Castlerock with its 1600 Hezlett House, Downhill
with it's romantic Mussenden Temple. Award winning Benone's
Blue Flag beach is further west again. Ireland has some of the longest,
cleanest, most deserted beaches in Europe. Eleven miles along the coast
road from the town of Limavady, Benone stretches from the entrance
to Lough Foyle at Magilligan Point to the cliffs of Downhill.
Coleraine, on the River Bann, to Binevenagh’s east, is
a prosperous market and university town, with theatre, and marina. Coleraine
is one of the shopping meccas in the north-west with some long established
and outstanding retail fashion houses. Always worthy of a visit is Bishops
of Coleraine displaying a large selection of designer footware for
the whole family. With trained staff and comfort and fit a priority,
visitors will not be disappointed (Tel: 028 7034 2465).
Limavady, where the novelist Thackeray fancied a barmaid called
Peg and wrote a song for her, and where a Miss Jane Ross transcribed
The Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)
from James McCurry, a passing fiddler, still keeps its original wide
Georgian street plan.
Roe Valley Country Park and Samson’s Tower are interesting
diversions, nearby. Dunseverick Castle, by the Causeway’s
Benbane Head, has associations with the sad Irish legend of Deirdre
of the Sorrows, a king’s intended who fell, fatally, for his bodyguard.
Portbraddan, a tiny and picturesque village tucked into the
cliffs at one end of beautiful White Park Bay, claims the smallest church
in Ireland. The Bay itself has a well marked Nature Trail. Car parking
is extremely limited.
Ballintoy’s pretty harbour, at the west end of White Park
Bay, made of sturdy limestone blocks, is a departure point for boat
trips to the Causeway or to the stack of Sheep Island.
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, west of the Causeway, for centuries
has given fishermen access to another of the region’s riches, the
summer salmon which run the coast, some ending in the great fixed engines
(nets) below the rocky island. Now the brave can test their nerves over
the 80ft/25m chasm. Nearby is the National Trust’s Larrybane Information
Centre.
Kinbane Castle’s ruins, east of Carrick-a-Rede, are another
testimonial to the power of the McDonnell clan.
Ballycastle, departure point for Rathlin Island and scene of
Marconi’s first overwater wireless transmission. There is hope
that the ferry service to Campbeltown in the west of Scotland which
opened up both areas to each other in the past, will be restored. The
town has a fine Diamond (main square), traditional shop fronts, a Folk
Museum, blue flag beaches, funfair, ice cream, golf (18), excellent
tennis courts, good salmon and sea fishing and one of the oldest fairs
in Ireland, the Ould Lammas Fair, held over the last weekend
in August when the streets are full of ponies, horses, Yellow Man (a
traditional hard candy), dulse (edible seaweed) and music in the pubs.
Another festival, this time of traditional music and dance, the Fleadh
Amhran agus Rince, is held here in June.
Rathlin Island, 30 minutes by boat from Ballycastle and just
12 miles from Scotland’s Mull of Kintyre, was from where the exiled
Robert the Bruce, inspired by a spider’s perseverance on a cave’s
wet wall, returned to conquer his native heath. The dispute to settle
whether the island was Scots or Irish was settled in 1617 when an absence
of snakes (St Patrick banished them from Ireland) proved it Irish. The
Keeble Nature Reserve is a bird watcher’s paradise.
