The little seaside city of Portrush quickly turned into one of our favorite places in Northern Ireland. It also was the only day we had sun shine while in Ireland. If there was one day to have sun, this was the day that we needed it. This was the one city where Philip and Ben did their own then and I went off to explore on my own. While some might be nervous about exploring a new city all on their own I was excited to get out and see the land and have my own personal adventure. Boy was it an adventure! We got Philip and Ben off to their golf game (more on that in a minute) and I grabbed a cab to go to Dunlace Castle. I had been looking forward to seeing the castle for weeks and figured it would be a fun experience but I had no clue just how amazing this day would be.
When I got to the castle (which was about 3.5 miles from where Philip and Ben were playing golf) my breath was instantly taken away. A quick look around showed that I was the only one at the castle so for a couple hours it was just me and this bad boy that was built in the 13th century. The image above shows the path that I took to walk down to the coast and view the castle from below. This day I took a full backpack of gear with me and the weight of it plus the steep nature of the walk way plus winds gusting at speeds I’ve never felt before made me almost bust several times. It was a little scary but became hysterical and I learned to just roll with it.
A beautiful thing happened while I was at the castle. A gorgeous rainbow appeared as I was taking one look back at the coast and the castle. As you will see below it was perfectly placed between the castle and the cliffs. While Ireland is known for its rainbows you actually don’t see them that much (or so our friends who live there told us). To have one appear at the castle was a perfect end to my adventures there.
Yes perfection. Right after I grabbed this image it started hailing golf ball sized hail. Thankfully it was a short hail storm cause I had no where to really hide from the storm.
So instead of taking a cab back to town I decided to walk back. The road to the castle was right on the coast and on the drive up I knew I had to walk back so I could enjoy the view slowly. Deciding to walk back was one of the best decisions I made. And also one of the worst. The view was the best I had the entire trip and I had some great time alone with my thoughts. What was bad is I thought the whole trip would be down hill since the drive appeared up hill. Yeah I was wrong. Some how the walk turned into an uphill battle of me against the wind. But as you can see, the view was totally worth it!
Headed back into town and looking at the golf course on the coast.
The castle can be seen in the right side of the image. Can you image having this view all the time!
Little did I know that this would be the only sun we saw on this trip. 🙂 The grasses are so lush and soft. You can lay down in the grass and it feels like a soft bed. Trust me I was tempted.
I got to experience an overhead view of the golf course the guys played at and I am so glad I wasn’t trying to play here. It is an amazing course though and one that is played by some of the best golfers.
These little guys were begging to go home with me. Come on aren’t they so cute!!
So while I was experiencing the rainbow at the castle Philip and Ben got to see it from the golf course (The guys played at the Royal Portrush Golf Club , they played the Vally Links course). Not a bad view while golfing. 🙂
Cheers,
Savannah and Philip
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