For the first time in my life, I was standing in a wide expanse of raw beauty, but I was alone. (Within an hour I was in Murlough Bay saying the same).
There is a Sea, next to Ireland that I never heard of – What a surprise! I had always presumed that only one label existed – the North Channel – but the Straits of Moyle (Sruth na Maoile in Irish and Scottish Gaelic) or Sea of Moyle sits in the North Channel between northeastern County Antrim and the Mull of Kintyre. The distance between the two shores is approximately 12 miles (20 km) at its closest point, and thus it is possible to see across in clear weather conditions.
The coastal road of Antrim was sublime and beautiful even though I arrived late to the area. With few cars, it brought me a constant murmur of delight; it had that perfect road-trip vibe.
Only a smidgen of effort has been required to take beautiful photos of Dublin this summer. The following were taken on a single evening last week.
There are some wonderful Ireland-focused blogs. Perhaps we need an official directory of high-standard personal blogs pertaining to the island. This one is a charm – rmchapple.blogspot.com by archaeologist Robert M Chapple, which contains a wide variety of engaging topics. I certainly will not be trying to compete with someone who keeps a catalogue of Radiocarbon Determinations and Dendrochronological Dates….
Rossglass has an extended beach, a mixture of sand and various rocks of different sizes. St John’s Lighthouse is in the distance.
The site is also the first in Northern Ireland to have a bye-law to protect shore-nesting birds and seal pups from disturbance during their breeding season.
The Skerries Islands are collectively of international importance because of their bird life.
I have made two quick visits to Chester. It is such a lovely city. Chester Rows, the Roman Walls, the Amphitheatre, Grosvenor Park, and the Canal Basins (and apparently there is even a Zoo!). But there was one thing that I could not find…… the Port! For hundreds of years before the prominence of Liverpool, Chester was the primary port on the north-west coast of England. And yet when I asked several local people for directions, they all said something like this: “I have lived all my life here, I should know the answer to that, but I’m not sure.” It was only after I returned home and did some research did I learn that this was more complex question than I had imagined.
It was 20 millions years ago that Britain and Ireland ended up where they are now. Almost 300 million years before that, the super continent Gondwanaland had began to separate in a north-south movement. Then 100 million years ago this shifted a an east-west separation, and by 40 million years ago the Atlantic Ocean was formed – and the continents as they are now were more or less in place 20 million years ago.
It is long accepted in Dublin that Bull Island did not exist until the building of the North Bull Wall – which was built in an effort to reduce the silt ending up in Dublin Port and as a result this silt was diverted elsewhere to North Bull. In 1871 the island was estimated at around 2km long, and now it is about 5km long and 1km wide.