Giant's Causeway via The Ampitheatre — Causeway Coast

You can only get into the visitor center if you pay the entrance fee (parking included). You should definitely book online in advance. We parked a little way off (start/finish) for 10 pounds. From here you can start the tour in a relaxed manner (but book here too or arrive early). In general you should only visit the location very early or in the late afternoon, otherwise you will walk in rows with the bus tourists and run the risk of not recognizing the rock formations 😎.

Only follow the red or yellow path and avoid the blue one if possible (tourist path)

An absolute must-see when traveling through Northern Ireland is the Giant's Causeway in the north of the country. These gigantic rock formations are over 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, now washed by the stormy sea, formed from volcanic lava 60 million years ago. A natural wonder, as if created by humans. The natural landscape has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A trail approximately 2.5 km long from the visitor center leads past the basalt formations, where you can also climb. Unfortunately, after about 2.5 km at the viewpoint "The Amphitheater," it is closed. A short trail, but one of a kind, with a very special significance.

What does a cyclist do on a rest day? They change their mode of transport and visit what is arguably Northern Ireland's greatest natural wonder without a bike. Getting to your destination by train and bus is stress-free. The train station in Derry is very nice, the trains are modern, the double-decker bus is fun, and the ticket machines are easy to understand... Unfortunately, the weather was very bad, so I only included pictures of that.

It's a bit strange when you hike to the cliffs and others take the bus to their "doorstep"... But everyone has to know for themselves 🥴 It's best to continue hiking quickly, because most people only stop at the beginning of the rock formations!

The "Giant Road" is a natural geological wonder consisting of around 40,000 hexagonal interlocking basalt columns up to 12m high that were formed by volcanic eruptions, lava flows and eruptions 60 million years ago. It's just amazing what volcanic activity is capable of when you stand there! It is not for nothing that this causeway was declared a World Heritage Site 30 years ago. There are many myths about the Giants Causeway; here is the legend that gave the trail its name (copied from the guidebook): A giant named Finn MacCool fell in love with a young girl living on a deserted island in the Hebrides (Scotland). In order to get dry-shod to his beloved, Finn created the stony path.

Today we should be enjoying typical Irish weather all day 🌞 (even the locals are talking about the unusual weather). The Giant's Causeway is incredibly impressive with its approximately 40,000 basalt columns.

Our next tour took us to the "Giant's Causeway" - a natural wonder and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Giant's Causeway is located on the northern coast of County Antrim, near the small town of Bushmills. We started from a small car park below the Visitor Centre at a small train station. We crossed the tracks and first followed the signs to the Visitor Centre. From here we followed the Red Trail, which took us up the cliffs along the coast to the "Shepherd's Steps". To continue following the Red Trail we climbed the 162 steps down from the cliff. At the end of the stairs we first turn right and follow the path to the "organ" - these are meter-high basalt columns that look like giant church organ pipes. From here the path leads us to the "amphitheatre", one of the most beautiful formations of basalt columns. The semicircular basalt columns reach a height of almost 25 meters - simply magnificent 😍. The trail ends at the amphitheater and we walk back towards the organ. Here we keep to the right and walk towards the Giant's Causeway. On the way we pass "Fionn mac Cumhaill's Shoe" - a large stone that looks like a shoe and is said to have belonged to the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill. This is also the giant who, according to legend, is responsible for building the Giant's Causeway. Then we come to the "Giant's Gate", the path through the fracture point on the causeway. And then there are the 40,000 interlocking basalt columns that run into the sea in front of us - it's simply fascinating what nature has created. We spend some time here to really take in the natural wonder, you just can't get enough of it 😃. Then we follow the Blue Trail back to the Visitor Centre and back to our starting point. Unfortunately Komoot stopped recording from Giant's Causeway or I forgot to turn it back on 😅. So we're a few kilometres away from the viewpoint.