We woke up very
early again- what’s new- and decided to get going. Guess what? It’s not raining
and the wind isn’t blowing so we want to make the most of the day. We stopped
for fuel and a coffee. A caramel muffin called toffee here was only one euro
extra so I grabbed one of those too. We didn’t stop long though as every time
the door opened, a cold rush of air assaulted my scantily clad body. (I was
still in my jammies.) At Cookstown however, (yes there is an S) we stopped for
a proper rest. I lay down and was asleep within seconds. Ross let me sleep and
was all prepared to drive and navigate
to the Causeway Coast on his own. He had his iPad strapped to the arm of the
passenger seat with duct tape, but as he started the engine, I woke up and asked
for a coffee. Luckily he hadn’t driven out of the Maccas carpark, so he hopped
out and brought me back a lovely toffee coffee, while I put in our coordinates
for our destination, which I kept as a surprise for him.
A beautiful day
dawned, with sunshine and everything, but of course it was cold, so when we
arrived at Downhill Demesne, we donned our Russian hats, and set off exploring.
The black-faced sheep welcomed us (well, actually they just stared at us!) as
we walked up to the ruined buildings.
The Earl-Bishop began building here in 1775 or thereabouts and it’s an
amazing place, now owned by the National Trust. It must be worth squillions.
It’s built on a huge tract of land on the headland with 360-degree views, and
the house was still in use until after the Second World War, when it fell into
disrepair. Such a shame! The Mussenden Temple still stands intact on the edge
of the cliffs, but will in time, be swallowed up by the ocean. We were so
fascinated by the sunshine we started taking photos of our shadows; something
we haven’t seen since being in Ireland! Check out the Downhill Demesne and the Mussenden Library at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/downhill-demesne-and-hezlett-house/features/the-flamboyant-earl-bishop-at-downhill
After our brisk
walk down and back from the Temple (it was really the Earl-Bishop’s personal
library), we were hungry and I decided to cook up a big Irish breakfast of
Irish pork sausages, whiskey smoked bacon, black and white pudding, eggs and
cherry tomatoes. Well, maybe it was because we were hungry, but it was delicious!
It was almost midday when the clouds started building up. We knew the Irish
sunshine couldn’t last a whole day, but by the time we reached Portstewart, it
was starting to rain. We continued on following the signs to the Giant’s
Causeway; thank goodness I got a break from looking at maps, but by the time we
arrived, it was pouring.
We decided to camp
here for the night if we didn’t get kicked out, but since the hotel was open
for dinner until 11pm, we figured we’d be well and truly asleep by then and the
van would be in darkness, which we were.
We couldn’t get
any sort of reception on our phones or modem, so I managed to hook into the
National Trust’s free wifi and posted on Facebook that we would be
uncontactable while in Northern Ireland. One of my scrabble friends gave us the
exact address of the 3 shop in Coleraine and Ross headed off there with my
limited navigation equipment to see if there was anything they could do. We
were told the SIM cards would work in Northern Ireland but we have not been
able to get reception at all even on our first night in the Gobbins. There was
nothing they could do so we returned to our free camping spot, had a small
dinner of brie, pate, grapes and crackers, washed up and went to bed. Of course
I woke up at 1.30am again, which is why I’m sitting here writing. It takes my
mind off the wind buffeting the van!
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