April 12, 2014 Northern Ireland, Giant’ Causeway and Ramada Inn Restaurant in Portrush

April 12, 2014 Northern Ireland, Giant’ Causeway and Ramada Inn Restaurant in Portrush

We picked Willy up this morning at 9:30 and drove north, stopping to eat some breakfast at one of the Green Apple Market in one of the roadside stops.  At Cookstown we diverted to the Scenic Road so we could stop at the Beaghmore stone circles.  The scenic road leading to the stone circles is one of the most narrow roads I have ever driven on.  Thank God there were very few cars.  The site dates to the Bronze Age, 1200 to 2000 B.C.   There are rows of stones aligned with the rising sun and the rising moon on the winter solar equinox and several pairs of circles next to the rows of stones.  The stones are relatively low, about one to two feet tall.  The largest circle, instead of a single row of stones around the circumference, had over 800 stones arranged within the circumference.

Map of Beaghmore Circle site.

orientation of circles with horizon line

tangential rows of stones pointing to sun rise and moon rise on horizon line

    

looking across circles to horizon

  

800 stone circle

looking back

stones aligned with horizon line toward the 800 stone circle

    
    After the stones, we drove to Portrush on the north coast of North Ireland, English Ulster.  At was 3:00 p.m. and we were hungry but since lunch finishes around 2:00 it was difficult to find a restaurant serving lunch.  We ended up at the Ramada Inn, which is actually a hotel overlooking the bay.  We sat in the lobby café so Willy could watch the soccer coverage.  Service was slow and I had visions that we were in for a terrible meal.  After about twenty minutes someone came to take our drink orders.  Willy and Suzette ordered hot whiskies (hot water and sugar with whisky and a slice of lemon stuffed with cloves floating in it).  In another twenty minutes someone came to take our order and by then I thought we were due for the worst meal in years.  Willy ordered a Fried Cod Filet with mushy peas (warm mashed green peas) and fried potatoes in garlic sauce.  Suzette ordered Apple and pork sausages on twice baked potatoes with some savoy cabbage (“bubble and squeek) garnished with wonderful caramelized red onions.  I ordered a dish named “Crispy duck legs with stir fried vegetables and plum sauce.” 

After what now seemed like another obligatory twenty minutes the food was served and our order for drinks for the food was taken.  I ordered Magner’s Irish Apple Cider and Suzette and Willy each ordered a Bass beer.  All the drinks were served from the tap.  I loved the cider that tasted fresh, as if without any apparent preservatives. 

            The dishes looked very appealing.  Here are pictures of the dishes:

The duck was fantastic.  Two duck hind quarters with crisped skin and yet soft inside laid on a bed of lovely lightly stir fried savoy cabbage that was not completely collapsed. The two duck hind quarters were drizzled with plum sauce of the kind you get in good Chinese restaurants.  It was a fabulous dish; perhaps the best of the trip so far.  Each dish was about 6.50 to 7 pounds.  A pound is about US $1.75, so less than $13.00 each.

After lunch we walked back to the car and drove out to the Giant’s Causeway, about 7 miles north of Portrush.  The Giant’s Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Two in two days.  The Giant’s Causeway is a geological oddity formed by volcanic action.  Shafts of hexagonal uplifted basalt stacked vertically.  There was a 30 mph gale blowing when we arrived at the Giant's Causeway, so the landscape was dramatic.  Here are some pictures:

Map of Causeways

Suzette at Giant's Causeway

foam at Giant's Casueway

Giant's Causeway

Willy on Giant's Causeway

On the beach at Portrush

On the beach at Portrush

Coast near Giant's Causeway

near the Giant's Causeway

surf rolling in at Giant's Causeway

Bob at Giant's Causeway

The Little Causeway

The last place we stopped was Dunluce Castle impregnably perched on a crag perched above the crashing waves of the ocean.

Donluce Castle

Dunluce Castle 

The outer defenses located on a rocky promontory in the ocean

We stopped at the old Bushmills’s Distillery in Bushmill, but it was closed so we drove back to Portrush and stopped at the Lidl supermarket and purchased a bottle of Bushmills Whiskey, a bottle of a Bailey like cream and whiskey liquor, several packets of cookies, some chips, potato chips and other snacks for tomorrow.  After stopping for gas and a lemon, we returned to the B & B and drank hot whiskeys and watched TV.  A great day with surprisingly good food.

Bon Appétit