Port 101 Belfast, United Kingdom

by Ed · Published July 11, 2022 · Updated July 28, 2022

Dia duit! (Good morning!)

It is yet another gray, drizzly morning when we arrive in Belfast, Ireland, on 26 Jun, 2022! I overslept and wake to find our tug already pulling us around so the ship’s pointy end is facing the harbor entrance!

The port is very industrial. There is no walking into town today!

I have a tour today! Joy has two tours today, while mine lasts pretty much all day!

Joy is taking a Hop On-Hop Off bus to get a flavor of Belfast in the morning, then she has an afternoon tour for a city drive and pub visit. I am going to see the Spectacular Giant’s Causeway and a few other north coast sights!

We are greeted by this sign painted on the cruise terminal!

On the bus our tour guide, Andrew, tells us the cranes are telling us “Hello & Welcome!” Actually H&W means Harland & Wolff, and these two cranes are Samson and Goliath, the two largest cranes in the port, or even in the country!

The Spirit Aerosystems building used to be Short Brothers, the company that helped Orville and Wilbur build the Wright Flyer, and went on to make the first aircraft!

As we drive to the north shore the countryside is beautiful – rolling hills and hedgerows! Green, green, green! It’s not called the Emerald Isle for nothing! Today we get a little sun so we can see and appreciate the green! The other day in Cobh was not as grand a day for weather!

The stone walls of this old church still stand, as well as the headstones in the cemetery!

We arrive at Dunluce Castle! In the 1500s the MacDonell clan took over the castle. Sorley Boy MacDonnell, the Scottish-Irish chieftain left the castle to his son, making him an Earl. In 1639 the Earl and Countess were throwing a lavish party when the cook came in to the hall and announced there would be no supper that night. The entire kitchen had fallen into the sea!

This is another of the Game of Thrones filming sites!

Led Zeppelin also used Dunluce on the cover of their album Houses of the Holy!

Also C.S. Lewis wandered this site many times, and it became his inspiration for The Chronicles of Narnia!

I zoom in to see if I can get a dramatic shot of the tip of the castle and the coastline. Imagine my surprise to see a man with binoculars at the castle!

We move on to the east to arrive at our primary stop, the Giant’s Causeway!

There are three ways to get from the Visitor’s Center to the Giant’s Causeway: 1) pay £1 to ride the shuttle (each way), 2) walk along the road on the Blue trail, and 3) walk along the bluff on the Red trail! I did the latter, of course! No one else in our group went this way, so I have some nice photos that they don’t have! I was warned to not miss the Shepherd’s Staircase that will help me get down to the Blue trail or I’d be walking a few more miles to the end of the park where the Red and Blue trails meet. We only have two hours here, so I’m “eyes wide open” looking for the Shepherd’s Staircase!

The view is lovely from up here! But it is windy!

I meet a dozen people coming toward me on a fundraiser – they climbed the Shepherd’s Staircase!

You can see that I’m now on a pretty high bluff! That’s the Blue trail down below!

The countryside from this viewpoint is simply beautiful!

As I pass the point under which the Giant’s Causeway sits I get a view of the next bay, Port Notter. At the next point is a formation called The Amphitheatre, and visible in this shot is a formation called The Organ! I’ll show you a close up of the Organ in a moment.

Walking a little farther opens up this view on the distant point. Some called this the Giant’s Needle, and I saw other references that this is Finn McCool’s chimney. If you see smoke coming out of these rocks, Finn is home!

Who is Finn McCool, you ask? I’ll tell you in a moment.

There is a relief map of this part of the coastline near the top of the Shepherd’s Staircase. The round button is where I am standing, overlooking Port Notter. The Organ is to my right, and the Amphitheatre is around the point to my far right. The Giant’s Causeway is on my left – I walked past it on the bluff and need to double back to reach it.

Here is the top of the Shepherd’s Staircase! I am ready to head down. The steps are a bit tricky, with narrow treads and steep descents. Walk carefully! (I personally would prefer to climb the steps rather than descend them! There are only supposed to be 190-ish steps.)

On my way down, the Staircase makes a hard right turn to hug the cliff wall. I can see where the Shepherd’s Staircase meets up with the Blue trail just on this side of the Organ.

As I’m walking I’ll tell you about Finn McCool. Finn is a giant who lives in these rocks with his wife, Una. Finn was mad at the Scottish giant Benandonner who continually threatened Ireland. Finn used the long vertical rocks (I’ll show you these in a moment!) to make a land bridge between Ireland and Scotland to the north. Then Finn crossed over to Scotland and challenged Benandonner so they could be done with the threats once and for all!

Here is the point where I do a hairpin turn to take the Blue trail down to the Causeway!

When Benandonner appeared through the mist Finn realized he made a mistake. Benandonner was a huge giant! Finn ran back home before Benandonner saw him. He asked his wife to help hide him. Una gave him a bonnet, bottle and blanket and told him to lie in the bed like a baby.

Before I make the turn and head down, the Organ is right here! It is said that when you hear music from these pipes, Finn is playing the organ.

Benandonner arrived at the house and demanded to see Finn! Una let him in and gave him a drink, telling Benandonner that Finn had just stepped out and would be home shortly. She asked him to be careful to not wake the baby. When Benandonner saw the “baby” lying on the bed he panicked! If Finn’s baby was that big, the Finn would be the biggest giant he ever saw! Benandonner ran out of the house and back across the Causeway to Scotland, destroying the bridge behind him as he ran so Finn could not follow!

OK, heading down the Blue trail, we can see part of the Giant’s Causeway at the next point! That’s what Benandonner ran away on, and smashed it where it ends in the water!

I’ll be there shortly!

This gives you some perspective on the height of the rocks!

I approach the Giant’s Gate. Apparently Finn decided it would be easier to walk through than over the Causeway.

These are the long vertical rocks I told you Finn used to make the bridge to Scotland!

The scientific explanation for these columns of rocks is that this part of Ireland was formed from volcanic activity. When the lava cooled it split in crystalline formations. These rocks are 5, 6, or 7-sided columns. Then the stone fractured horizontally, but not straight across!

The horizontal fractures are of a cup/ball nature that has a rounded depression on one side and a rounded extension on the other. This helps lock the stones together to retain the columnar shape.

Here we see the Causeway extending out into the sea. There is a similar extension in Scotland where Benandonner lives!

(And this type of formation is seen elsewhere in the world from other volcanic sites! Only Ireland and Scotland built myth around the reality. The myth is what makes this so enjoyable!)

Some find solitude in the rocks.

Here is a good example of the crystalline nature of the columns!

I continue on the Blue trail to return to the Visitor’s Center. Here I encounter Finn’s camel, Humphrey. Can you see him? Let me zoom in.

Now can you see him? His head is tucked on the left so his ears are visible and his hump is just to the right of center.

That is enough fun at Giant’s Causeway!

We board the bus to our last stop at Carrick-a-Rede Island. This location is renowned for its rope bridge across the 20 meter chasm! It doesn’t look too bad here!

But how does it look now? That’s quite the drop! OK, it’s time to head back to the ship!

We get back to Belfast a little ahead of schedule. Andrew thanks us profusely! He says we are the only tour in his career that returned to the bus on time at every stop! So he has George, the bus driver, take us on a bonus spin through the Titanic Quarter!

The only bonus image I care to share is this one of the Titanic Museum in Belfast! Belfast is the home where Titanic was built and launched. She departed from here on Apr 2nd, 1912. She went to Southampton, England and ported there for a week, before heading to Cherbourg, France, for a day, then to Queenstown, Ireland, (now Cobh) for a day, and then departing on Apr 10th, 1912 to cross the Atlantic to New York City. She met her end several days later!