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Spanning a chasm some eighty feet deep is the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, it's construction once consisted of a single rope hand rail and widely spaced slats which the fishermen would traverse across with salmon caught off the island. The single handrail was subsequently replaced by a two hand railed bridge, the currentcaged bridge was installed by the National Trust during Easter of 2000 as a further safety measure.
Although no-one has ever been injured falling off the old bridge, there have been many instances of visitors being unable to face the return walk back across the bridge, resulting in them being taken off the island by boat. A collection of old photographs in Sheep Island View Hostel show a local man doing various stunts on the bridge which include riding a bicycle across it and performing handstands on a chair in the middle. It was originally a seasonal working bridge for fishermen, since the demise of salmon fishing along the northcoast,the bridge is nowadays used and marketed as a tourist attraction. The domain name www.carrickarede.com is for sale. If your interested follow the link. |