BELFAST to ARMOY
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The estimations are that over 40,000 hexagonal columns exist on and around the Causeway, though I know of no-one who has counted them.
Contrary to the opinions of the writer Thackeray, who visited here 1842 and did not fully appreciate the symmetry of this natural occurence, they are very impressive and a 'rare to find' geological feature. They do outcrop in other parts of the world including America, Australia, Vietnam and Scotland. Locally too they outcrop inland and further along the coast.
Over the years many features in the surrounding landscape have acquired names such as the famous wishing chair, the giants boot, the ladies fan, the giants organ, the camel rock, the granny rock, the giants gate, the chimney stacks, the giants chair, the giants eye and eyeglass to name a few.
The majestic bays of Port Ganny and Port Noffer which sweep either side of the Grand Causeway lend to the drama of the location below the towering Aird Snout. Other equally and more impressive bays are really only viewable by boat, a service thal local boatmen once undertook from the Brenther just below the visitors centre and close to the rock camel. Today you can still get a boat to take you either from Ballycastle, Portrush or if you're lucky Portballintrae.
During the summer season hundreds of thousands of people walk upon the stones, it becomes an international gathering point where the feet of the world walk and tongues of nations fill the air. As winter approaches the numbers of visitors begin to dwindle and the stones return to the sounds of nature, wild birds, ocean and wind.
I am lucky living only two miles away and can experience this ancient landscape in total solitude once in a while, which is a rarity these days but it does happen.
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