Giant's Causeway

Besides taking in the rural and rugged coast of Northern Ireland, The DINKs wanted to check out the UNESCO World Heritage site known as The Giant’s Causeway.  Folk legend Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhail) allegedly built the causeway to walk to Scotland and battle his Scottish counterpart Benandonner.   One version of the legend tells that Finn fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Finn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend that he was actually their baby son. When Benandonner saw the size of the “infant,” he assumed the alleged father, Finn, must be gigantic indeed. Therefore, Benandonner fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed by Finn.  This legend corresponds with geologic fact: a portion of the same geologic wonder (aka “causeway) is visible in Staffa, Scotland. 

Giant’s Causeway is actually 40,000 basalt columns (some 12 meters high) created during ancient volcanic eruptions 50-60 million years ago.  I’m not going to go into too much detail, here.  I’ll let the pictures speak for our impressions, but hiking on and around Giant’s Causeway should be on everyone’s “bucket list.”