Eve's day

Saturday, June 29, 2019
Bushmills, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
We woke up to cloudy skies this morning, but no rain .... Yet.
Today our agenda is to go to the two attractions Eve wanted to see the most, Old Bushmills Distillery and Giant's Causeway.
We went to the Old Bushmills Distillery first as it was noted on the brochures first come first served for their tours.....we're in Ireland, doesn't seem to be out of place to go for Irish Whiskey at 9:30 in the morning!
Apparently not everyone was as gung ho as there was just us & a German couple on this tour.  As we were such a small group, our tour guide Josh spent some extra time with us and gave us a little more information he gives the regular tours.  As luck would have it, we arrived during the 4 weeks of the year called "Silent Season".  This is when the plant is not producing as plant & equipment maintenance is being done.
Josh still gave us a very comprehensive & most excellent tour.  He went through the entire process Bushmills goes through to make, mature, blend & bottle their whiskeys.  Bushmills is the oldest distillery in Ireland.  The entire process of making the whiskey is all done on site, what they call from grain to glass.  All the Bushmills whiskey that is shipped around the world is made here.  When the plant is running, each bottling station produces 180 bottles an hour.  The plant bottles about 3600 bottles per day.  They have many, many warehouses on site to store their various whiskeys (in barrels)....the oldest one bottled is 21 years old.  As everything is on site, and learning from a fire in 1885, it's fire & safety first here.  They even have their own fire engine on site! 
At the end of the tour all of us were offered a tasting of either of the Black Bushmills or the 12 year reserve....we both went with the 12 year reserve as we keep the Black Bush in our home bar.  We were also able to buy any one of the Bushmills at the bar.  Greg took the opportunity to try the 21 year Distillery Reserve Bushmills Whiskey, which we won't be buying at 159 GBP per bottle, about $265. CDN.
Next up, back up the road to Giant's Causeway.  At the Saskatoon Folkfest Irish Pavilion which we have been volunteering for many years (Eve for 21 years & Greg for about 15 years), one of the cultural displays is for Giant's Causeway - it's recreated but not the real thing.... today we get to check out the real thing!
Giant's Causeway is Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site and said to be its most popular tourist attraction.  It was a healthy walk from the Visitor Centre to the site.  We went on a free tour (actually there is no admission but you can pay to get in).  Our tour guide was Aaron and he was excellent! We each had a headset so we didn't have to be right close to Aaron when he spoke do that was perfect! 
Giant's Causeway is on the Antrim north coast and has about 40,000 basalt stones, the majority of which are 6 sided hexagon shaped and in varying heights. They are quite amazing to see.  We were rather surprised visitors were allowed to climb on them all, which most everyone did.  The site is quite large with trails up the mountain sides as well as down to the water.  We logged almost 10,000 steps while there!  
Depending on which version of its creation you want to believe, one story is the site was created through volcanic action 50-60 million years ago.   
The better version was it was created by 54 foot giant named Finn MacCool.  The legend is Finn lived on the mountain with his wife Oonagh and baby Oshing.  (In the mountainside you can make out Finn's house and chimney) Finn was in a fight with a Scottish giant.  He built a bridge of stones across to Scotland just across the water, only to discover the Scottish giant was MUCH taller and wider, so fearful, he crossed back to Ireland..He asked his wife what to do & she had a plan.  She put him in the baby's room with a bonnet & diaper & told him to keep quiet but to cry when she coughed.
The Scottish giant came across the bridge & came to Finn's front door looking for him. Una said he wasn't home but invited him in for a cup of tea to wait.  While talking, she coughed and 'baby' Finn started to cry.  The Scottish giant asked who else was there & Oonagh replied just their baby.  Upon seeing the 54 foot baby, the Scottish giant thought if this is the size of the baby, the father must be huge.....scaring the Scottish giant back to Scotland, and he destroyed the bridge on his way back. To this day the hexagon stones are on the Irish coast but also can be found on the other side of the water on the Scottish coast as well.  All in all, this was an amazing site to visit, especially with free admission!

Two attractions well enjoyed today.  The next adventure us to find some lunch and a place to sleep tonight.

We got back into the Causeway Coastal Route & headed for Portrush which we wanted to visit, but arrived to find a huge festival, Pirates Off Portrush with traffic & people heavily congested everywhere, so unfortunately we will have to come back another time.  Portrush is also the site of this years Open Golf Tournament and we went right by the course, as they have already constructed all the stands and temporary buildings.

We carried in to Coleraine & found a small coffee shop.  Since it was 4pm now, we thought we would just stop for a sandwich or snack to hold us until supper.  We are finding that.most places we go serve quite substantial food portions.  Eve's chicken sandwich came with huge chunks of chicken, lettuce tomato and a whole sliced hard boiled egg, as well as a large amount of creamy coleslaw & fries.  Greg ordered sausages, beans & fries and that was a heaping plate as well.....hence, no need for supper, we were stuffed!

Now to find somewhere to stay tonight.  Originally we thought Portrush, but with the festival vacancies were practically non-existent.  We checked on some websites and decided to try Roe Valley Manor & Estate, which was way down the road further in Limavady, just outside Londonderry, or Derry as it's now known.  We were very pleasantly surprised. 

We arrived at a gorgeous country house with beautiful grounds beside the babbling River Roe.  We were met at the estate gate by the owner Sharon, and as there were no other bookings tonight she graciously said we had the whole house to ourselves and upgraded us to the luxury suite as well(it has 5 bedrooms a couple of sitting rooms, dining room kitchen and a few other rooms) .  Very generous.  One of the best kindnesses was Sharon allowing us to use the washing machine.  We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, walked through the grounds and just relaxed in the beautiful house.
 Even the short rain in the evening was nice.  
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Comments

Darlene
2019-07-01

Great day!! Thanks for including me on your list of recipients of your blog. I really enjoy it!!!

Aliaon
2019-07-01

LONDONDERRY! always...NEVER Derry

Ninesquirrels
2019-07-05

Six-sided hexagon stones. Definitely ancient aliens!

Ninesquirrels
2019-07-05

Driving a right-hand drive VW Golf. Nice little car - or so the Germans would have us believe...

2025-02-17

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