The Giant’s Causeway

Yesterday was our last day with Ally, Cat and Davie, who were all flying home from Dublin in the evening. Ally and Cat were flying to Gatwick and Davie was flying to Manchester. We packed up in the morning, and at Cat’s suggestion we travelled eastwards to the little seaside town of Howth, which is only 25 minutes from Dublin Airport, so we didn’t need to worry about being delayed on a long drive at the end of the day. It was a pretty town, full of holiday makers. There were lots of people with sailing boats and kayaks as well as people just strolling around the harbour and out to the end of the pier. It was busy but very picturesque in the sunshine. I did however feel a certain sense of melancholy because it was our last day with the young people. We found a nice wee ice cream shop and because it was cooler inside it than outside, we sat indoors to enjoy our ice creams. This was just as well, because my delicious sorbet soon nearly fell out of the cone and Ally kindly fetched  me a cup to save it. All too soon it was time to drop Ally, Cat and Davie off at Dublin Airport. 
James and I continued north into Northern Ireland and spent the night in Lisburn, a bit south of Belfast. 
We spent the final day of our holiday visiting the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, to see its distinctive hexagonal basalt columns. I have fancied going here ever since we visited Staffa with the children many years ago. It’s stunning, with thousands of columns (caused by fractures occurring in cooling lava) of different heights, which you can walk and climb on. There was even a dolphin frolicking in the bay, it was really lovely. When we returned to Larne to catch our ferry back to Scotland it seemed like a longer time than nine days since the start of our holiday because we have seen and done so much.