Giant's Causeway

There is a World Heritage site in County Antrim in Northern Ireland that was declared so by UNESCO in 1986 which was also declared a natural nature reserve by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland in 1987. It is a beautiful, peaceful site and I have never been to any place like it. It is the Giant’s Causeway.

The Giant’s Causeway has two theories on how it was created. One of the theories is scientific and the other is mythology.

The scientific theory holds that the Causeway was created through volcanic action about 50 to 60 million years ago. The lava was molten basalt which squeezed through chalk beds to form a plateau. While it was cooling, the lava formed the hexagonal columns which make up the Causeway. I find it amazing that the columns are very close in size and that there are so many of them. They extend right into the water.

The second theory which is mythology involves two giants, Fionn mac Cumhaill, who was Irish, and Bennandonner, who was Scottish. Apparently, Bennandonner challenged Fionn mac Cumhaill to a fight who accepted the challenge and proceeded to build the Causeway to make things easier for them to meet. From this point, there are two versions of the tale.

The first version is that the giants met and Fionn won the challenge.

The second version is that Fionn saw how big Bennandonner was, turned, and ran to hide. His wife, Oonagh, disguised Fionn as a baby. Bennandonner saw him, and thought that this was Fionn’s baby, and how much larger the father would be, turn and ran, destroying the causeway as he went.

It is an interesting tale, either way.

The area that is covered with the columns are slippery when wet, and have been worn through time, weather, and humanity. If you venture out on the columns, you need to be extremely careful. A fall could result in a broken limb, a sprained ankle, or a dunk in the cold North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, which has a strong current. I did fall, but fortunately, all the damage that I did was twist my ankle resulting in walking with a cane for about a week and some irritating dull pain with the occasional sharp twinge.

There are some trails that you can follow, one of which seems to be fairly easy to do. The site has a visitor center at the entrance that you need to go through. You can then walk to the Causeway which will take about twenty minutes according to the guides. If you don’t want to walk, you can take the bus which runs about every twenty to thirty minutes depending on attendance.

I enjoyed the ride down and back to the top. I also took a look at the immediate surroundings after my slight incident. I want to go back some day and follow one of the trails that I saw that looks safer than the columns.