Starring in Games of Thrones

We started with the first time slot available to do the Carrick- a-Rede or the rope bridge that featured in Games of Thrones. The weather wasn't the best - and due to the early time there were very few people there. It is 100 feet above the water, a bit shaky but perfectly safe - now! Previously it was used by salmon fisherman to set up nets hanging off the outer little island. As you can see in the last photo below they had only a single rope hand line to hold onto.

The next Games of Thrones location was at the very near Larrybane Quarry.

This is the scene where the female knight Brienne of Tarth is introduced in a sword fight. It looked like a small village in the series , was a big limestone quarry in the past - and is a large empty space now.

Then for a bit of light relief about 5 minutes away is Dunluce Castle established in the 1500s - and a missing town surrounding it from 1620.

It passed between the Irish and Scots but was eventually abandoned in the late 1600s.

It had been quite luxurious as the owners had gained riches - by plundering gold from Spanish Armada ships - and one earl marrying a very rich widow.

The recreated windows on the manor house and the kitchen and floors showed it had been quite grand in the past.

The last of todays visits has been a film location but not for Games of Thrones I'm afraid - the Giants Causeway - a spectacular location! We had booked the last entry session hoping that it would be a little quieter.

We learned that the hexagonal blocks were made from cooling lava that was shrinking and breaks with Y shaped cracks - usually forming 6 sided blocks - but they can be up to 10!

At last we saw some sun - after a rainy start at the rope bridge.

We walked out to the 'pipes' at the end - and when we returned Gus was nearly the last vehicle in the car park.

Our spot for the night was another cliff top - Magheracross car park. It was extremely busy with a huge queue for the icecream van - and we saw why - delicious sundaes. We started with one of those for dinner - and then went back to main course 🫢 😊 😋.

The views from the cliff top were amazing - including Dunluce Castle where we were earlier in the day.

We had a relaxing end of the day watching the golf open highlights in the van while people fought for parking spaces and queued for icecreams around us.