by Andrew Harrington (Temple University)
THIS PAST FRIDAY I went up to Ballintoy, a small little town on the northern coast of Ireland consisting of one main road and two pubs. It was most likely one of those towns that was developed around a pub. We came into town in the late afternoon hours, and as we arrived and greeted the owner, she informed us that since I didn’t make a prior arrangement, I’d be staying in the dorm style apartment with a team of football players. Kyle took great amusement in this, much to my chagrin. No sooner we dropped off our gear, we went off in search of the pubs in town.
The bar we found was a sort of strange place filled with a bunch of old guys watching football on a small television and a large dining room resembling a forties era ballroom, with seventies style carpeting. We found that there was no ATM in sight, and when we asked to use credit cards to purchase our grub and brews, one old, gnarly looking woman replied, “Oh, we’ve got one upstairs somewhere, I think”, she seemed to be implying that they’d have to drag out the instruction manual and push the dust off the machine before they could use it.
Since Alex and I were going to be leaving early Saturday morning, we decided we would split off from Kyle, Darcy and the two Cait’s, and trek to find the Giant’s Causeway. We took a taxi west along the coastal route, and as we pulled up to the town of Bushmills, it was starting to rain. We told the guy to pick us up in a little over an hour, which he didn’t seem to understand. He seemed to think you could spend all night there, and I assume he thought Alex and I would turn on the romance on those wet, cold, hexagon shaped rocks.
We braved the rain and cold wind, and tumbled down a winding hill to the rock field next to the ocean. Despite the tourists scrambling over the rocks with umbrellas and little whining kids, it was a beautiful scene. The cloudy, rainy weather added a daunting character to the rocks. I didn’t mind being cold, and when Alex and I returned to the top of the hill, we had some wine and chips. A nice finish to a good day.
The Northern Coast
