Yesterday was such a brilliant day a warm summers day a lovely welcome back to Northern Ireland, only to wake up to a slight drizzle of rain and high overcast clouds I just hope the weather in Scotland is a lot better than what we have been experiencing in our whole time in Ireland. Today is our last day in Ireland as we take the P&O Ferry back to Cairnryan Scotland tonight at 11pm from Larne.

Our cycle into the town of Antrim is out of the question it is cold, the weather has turned bad with constant spats of rain sitting in motorhome catching up on downloads and backups while Richard is watching movies on his IPad. Still raining bypassed Antrim don’t like walking in the rain headed straight for the M2 dual motorway with the usual views through the thick tree buffer on either side of the motorway heading towards Belfast before turning off to A8 (M) road to Larne then B59 to A2 on the Causeway Coastal Way. Missed going to see Titanic Belfast an iconic building in the heart of Belfast docklands, Richard didn’t want to go anywhere near Belfast he hates driving in big cities.

Travelling up the coast of Belfast Lough with glimpses of the river and normal views of farmland through the town of Greenisland till we stopped at the large town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim the oldest town and one of the oldest settlements in Northern Ireland as a whole. The town itself is dominated by the famous Carrickfergus Castle, built in the 12th Century by John de Courcy and is the oldest and best preserved Norman Castle in Ireland. The castle sits in a commanding position of the harbour and Belfast Lough, loved how they had statues of English soldiers positioned with rifles at the top of the castle and some windows very realistic.

Enjoyed the stroll around the castle (didn’t go inside left the wallet in the motorhome) and out on the seawall protecting the inner and outer harbour. Richard was in his element again with a couple of chaps fishing at the small entry to the outer harbour. Then chap even let Richard cast his rod and fish a bit plus gave him some feather hooks to try at home when he is fishing for herring. It was good the rain stopped long enough for us to enjoy looking at Carrickfergus.

Today is a bad day for junk food my day off from preparing meals seeing we are catching the ferry at 11pm tonight so lunch at McDonalds at Carrickfergus before continuing up the coast by the Belfast Lough on the Causeway Coastal Route to Islandmagee a beautiful coastal and country peninsula situated on the east coast of County Antrim between the historic port of Carrickfergus and the port town of Larne. It is joined to the mainland at Whitehead midway between these two places, and an attractive raised causeway also gives access across Larne Lough.

The main narrow winding road round the peninsular was a bit hair raising especially going to Skernaghan Point and Portmuck Bay a beautiful spot of rugged basalt cliffs (the Gobbins) looking east towards Scotland which can be seen on a clear day but not today as it is raining. One can view the Isle of Muck a bird sanction just off the point where we watched a P&O Ferry sail by to the Port of Larne.

A lot of the views you could only see from the road as there is no access to the coastline, the only way is the picturesque coastal walks and we didn’t want to do this in the rain Would have been interesting to walk to the headland known as Black Head. At one time Islandmagee was well known as a haven for smugglers who stashed their contraband goods in the many caves of the rugged shoreline and in underground constructions in surrounding fields, this trade was at its height at the time of the English Corn Laws.

Wish the rain would stop so we can enjoy our last day in Ireland, back on the A2 Causeway Coastal Route driving by the Larne Lough weaving our way to the Port of Larne, stopped at the ASDA Supermarket to top up our food supply and have a pizza at the nearby Domino’s. How to kill the stomach in one easy lesson.

Last views of the Irish countryside we have travelled through a lot of farmland including agricultural, seen many mountains, lakes, river, waterfalls, forest and woodlands, coastlines of cliffs and the never ending winding roads with stone-hedges or thick trees by the roadsides. One thing we will not miss is the rain, mist and fog, we would have enjoyed the scenery if we could see it.

11pm couldn’t come quick enough, it’s raining we had plenty of time for a shower and rest before the security check of the motorhome and driving onto the ferry. We were all prepared in our warm clothes with pillows to sleep the two hours on the ferry but apparently from Larne to Cairnryan we couldn’t take our pillows up deck to the Lounge. Looks like a sleepless night the Lounge area is too noisy ended up in the Video Room watching a silly video “The Great Wall” with Mat Damon in the starring roll.