Carrick-a-Rede The Rope Bridge
20th of may 2023
We got up early as we thought it best to get there when it opened. The road in has a barrier and is on a tight bend so we didn’t want to approach the entrance with lots of other cars and tour buses. We had to stop at the barrier and call the phone number shown on the gate and a nice young man came up in a van to open the barrier for us. The car park was mostly empty, but we parked up in a space further down that they suggested for Motorhomes. I was anxious to get our tickets and get going before the hoards of other tourists arrived. We were very lucky as it was early and there were a few others so no long queue for the bridge cross and time for a snapshot or two. The bridge was built to the small island for the salmon fishermen during the salmon season but with few salmon left it has become a tourist destination. They fished salmon from June to September catching almost 300 fish a day which by 2002 dwindled to 250 for the whole season. They lived in a small hut on the side of the cliff and had to winch to let down and bring up the boat out of the water. From there they had to cross the rope bridge and trudge up along the cliffs with their catch to get it to market. We had a pleasant walk and the views over the cliffs were spectacular, we also enjoyed watching the other tourists tackle the bridge, wondering how many change their mind or become frozen with fear halfway across.
Game of Thrones filming site, number one
After a coffee and snack we decided to explore the bottom carpark/ old quarry where a scene or two from Game of Thrones was filmed. It was empty as the barrier was closed and no one else was around so we walked around, took some photos and tried to imagine what it was like with the cast and crew doing their thing. If you haven’t worked out by now, we are fans of GOT and have been rewatching it in our evening down time to understand the landscape and how it’s portrayed in the show.
By now it was time to refuel the beast, stock up on some essentials and find a place to have our lunch. The nearest town with fuel was Ballycastle and we found it also had reasonable supermarket with room for our rig (this is sometimes a challenge) so after stocking up our fridge and larder we drove down into town to find a spot to have a bite to eat. It was Saturday and full of locals and tourists but after a cruise around we found a carpark next to a park and got on with our meal.
The Dark Hedges
Our next destination was the Dark Hedges, another GOT site that has a role to play in the atmosphere of the show. It is a site that has long been a local tourist destination, carvings on the beech trees testify to many people coming the site over many years, but a new tourist is coming that have come to know the road as the ‘Kings Road’ in the series and for this reason the tour buses just keep turning up. We with many others made the pilgrimage to walk along the very road Arya Stark and the new recruits for the night watch walked on the start of their journey to the Wall.
Camping on a farm
With a full day adventuring we found ourselves a nice little campsite behind a small cottage set among farmlands. We needed a proper shower, and it looked like the rain would settle in for the night so it was a grand spot to park up.
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