Giant’s Causeway - what’s under your feet?

Over Easter saw us visit Belfast Zoo. The next day, Good Friday, we took a drive up to the North Coast, a stunning day to visit the Giant’s Causeway.

(As you can tell by the opening sentence to this post, it's had the gestation period of en elephant. First, it got saved as draft for a week or two, then the formatting seemed to upset Blogger. Finally I've got around to fixing it up ... coincidentally just in time to fit in with the latest episode of Letter to America, which has a Giant's Causeway theme too!)

While the mythology is pretty far fetched, the geology of the causeway—the basalt columns—it’s pretty spectacular.

 

 

They demand to be climbed up and walked over ...

to be photographed up close, and from far away.

The boot stands out along the shoreline as it’s about twice the size of any of the other stones sitting around.

The organ pipes are grand as they rush up the side of the hill.

It’s a pity that the path has subsided so much that the long walk is now curtailed by a doorway ...

... and it wouldn’t be Northern Ireland if there wasn’t some barbed wire!

But perhaps the most amazing aspect of the Giant’s Causeway is that when you stomp up the pathway, climb the steep steps to the top of the hill, and stand looking out over the water, recovering your breath, you can’t see what you’re standing on top of.

You’ve no idea what’s in underneath the cliff top. The hexagonal columns are miniscule. The organ pipes are under your feet and hidden from view. You can’t tell that you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.