Island life along Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast

Driving along Northern Ireland’s windswept but spectacularly scenic Antrim coast road, past the turn off to The Giant Causeway, Dunluce Castle and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, out to sea between us and Scotland, is Rathlin Island.

Inhabited by a relatively small population, it can be reached by a 25 minute fast ferry, or a 40 minute car ferry from the seaside town of Ballycastle, and today we are booked on the 10am Saturday sailing on board the Spirit of Rathlin.

Standing outside in the queue waiting to board, we are accompanied by other day trippers, cyclists and a large amount of dog walkers, with every available seat inside and on the outside rear deck, soon taken. The ferry is tossed around by a howling North Sea wind, as the mainland slowly moves further away into the distance.

We arrive and berth into the island’s small sheltered port, with a scattering of terrace and detached houses around its perimeter. McCuaig’s Bar is easily spotted, and seems a sure beat for an afternoon visit.

Disembarking, parked directly ahead is Bert’s Puffin Bus, which runs between the port and the Rathlin West Light House and Seabird Centre. The bus winds slowly up the hill above the port. Our driver laughs to herself while informing us that the drive should be 15 to 20 minutes, depending on traffic. Even with narrow winding roads and a school with only 13 students on the role, congestion apparently exists.

It is mid-September and we have arrived on the last weekend of the summer tourist season, which explains the dramatic drop in temperature. Seasonal staff based on the island over summer, are preparing to pack up, and leave for the winter. A large colony of Puffin’s is one of Rathlin’s main attractions, unfortunately we are a couple of months late, as they too have already left for the year. From the visitor centre, a path winds down hill toward the light house, unique as it is an upside down lighthouse, built in to the cliff edge between 1912 and 1917. Although now fully automated, walking inside we pass through a series of small rooms which are setup to represent life of the former lighthouse keeper from when it was last manned in the 1980s.

Finally reaching the light room we are lucky enough to be shown inside, the 100 year old lenses still in use today. Outside the wind’s fury is intensifying, vibrating the walls and windows. It is hard not to be impressed by the dramatic location perched on a cliff edge looking out toward the Antrim coast in one direction and the Scottish coast in the other.

After returning on the Puffin bus, we head for McCuaig’s for a hot lunch, where we find many of the other passengers from the ferry. A couple of minutes’ walk further along the harbour, are a couple of small craft shops and an informative visitor centre, where we learn a few facts about Rathlin. Robert the Bruce spent time on the island, the world’s first commercial Marconi telegraph link was setup in the late 1800’s over to the mainland, and Richard Branson crashed his transatlantic hot air balloon in the sea in 1987, and was rescued by islanders.

Returning on the 3pm ferry back to Ballycastle, Rathlin is now no longer that island that we had only ever seen and never visited. It’s a look into rural island life, even if for just a day trip with your dog.

The Gobbins cliff path is a recently opened attraction situated on the pleasantly rural Islandmagee, around 45 minutes’ drive from downtown Belfast. Dating back to its construction and opening in 1902 as a popular tourist attraction, it could be visited by as part of rail journey from Belfast. Eventually it closed, and fell into dis-repair over the decades, before being re-built in 2014.

Pre-booked guided tours, run every 30 minutes from a new visitor centre. Starting with a comprehensive safety briefing, we next board a mini bus for a short drive to the small lane that runs downhill to the path entrance. Following the route of the original path, corroded iron bridges and hand rails still cemented into the rock, have been replaced by modern stainless steel reproductions.

Equipped with hard hats and hiking boots, we could only imagine how challenging the path would have been a 100 years ago, especially for women in long dresses and high heels.

The weather today could not be more different that our day to Rathlin Island. There is not a breath of wind and the sea is like a mirror, though our guide Robert assures us that the path can be a very wet experience on some days. An inspection is held each morning to assess the conditions, with tours running all year round.

The path winds along the cliff edge, only a meter or two above the water, through caves and over crystal clear rock pools, before ending at the point where the original path also ended. Perhaps the path may be extended one day in the future, we’re told.

Turning around and heading back the same way, we pass by other groups, before exiting through the small hole in the rock which also marks the entrance. From there we slowly trudge back up the hill and wait for our ride back to the visitor centre, altogether a 2 and a half hour experience from beginning to end.

Back in the car, and only a few hundred meters further down the road is The Rinkha. A local grocery store, but famous for its homemade ice-cream, which we decide is a well-deserved end of our visit to the Gobbins.