Itinerary: We drive to Antrim’s north coast and the Giant’s Causeway. These vast outcroppings were formed by volcanic action millions of years ago. We view this wonder from a cliff top and allow time for those who wish to climb them. Then it’s on to the small town of Bushmills, home to Bushmills Irish whiskey, to view the distilling process. We drive through Antrim’s lovely glens and coastal villages to Belfast (Northern Ireland’s capital), for a 2-night stay.

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High 17°C/Low 10°C

We actually reversed the itinerary today, visiting Bushmill’s before climbing on the rocks at the Giant’s Causeway – a bit counterintuitive for a group of seniors who are a occasionally wobbly even before drinking!

But first, we had to cross back into Northern Ireland, where there were suddenly a huge number of Union Jacks flying, left over from King Charles’ coronation day celebrations. We also passed stacks of wooden pallets, being piled up in preparation for bonfires on July 12th, which celebrates the Battle of the Boyne in 1609 when Protestant William of Orange defeated Catholic James Stewart for the crown. The holiday, which began in the late 18th century, is also referred to as Orangeman’s Day. Given all that we’ve learned about historic English oppression of the Irish, about The Troubles, and about the hard-won peace between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, I have to admit that I’m surprised such an overtly anti-Catholic “holiday” is considered acceptable. Somehow, in my mind, burning effigies and the Irish tricolour in “celebration” being considered “in fun” is akin to Ku Klux Klan cross burnings being “fun”. But I’m an outsider, so what do I really know? Our Cork County bus driver didn’t want to appear too critical, but he did share a few anecdotes about situations where he was made to feel very unwelcome in Northern Ireland over his years of bringing tour buses here.

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Anyway…. whiskey.

The Old Bushmills Distillery was granted a license to distill in 1608 in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, in a small village along the River Bush, making it the oldest licensed distiller in Ireland – although our guide, Johnny, was quick to point out that UNlicensed whiskey was distilled here for centuries before that.

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Unlike during our tour of Jack Daniels in Lynchburg Tennessee, or the Oban Distillery in Scotland (Episode 29j) , here at Bushmills we were not allowed to take any photographs inside the distillery. We even had to completely turn off our cellphones. Ostensibly this was to prevent the alcohol-saturated air in the facility from igniting, but somehow neither JD or Oban were worried about that. I wonder what that implies about Irish whiskey?

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We were walked through the whiskey-making process from the purchase of vast amounts of raw ingredients (barley, water, and yeast); to mashing; fermenting; triple distilling; the filling of barrels which previously contained bourbon, sherry or port (to impart those flavours into the whiskey); aging, and finally bottling. It was interesting to learn that the bottles are washed with the same kind of whiskey with which they will be filled before actually being filled.

We learned that the big difference between Scotch whisky and Irish Whiskey – besides the letter “e” – is that the malted barley for Scotch is dried over peat fires, giving it a smoky taste, while the malted barley for Irish whiskey is air-dried, without smoke. The other difference is that Scotch is generally distilled twice, and Irish whiskey three times.

After our tour, we were able to taste a 1 ounce portion of one of three iconic Bushmills whiskeys: blended Black Bush, 10 year old single malt, or 12 year old single malt. Ted and I, on Johnny’s recommendation, both chose the 12 year old.

Ted enjoyed its smoothness. I have to admit to enjoying neither Scotch nor today’s taste of Irish whiskey. I do, however, like Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey, whose malted barley, corn & rye is dried over fragrant wood fires and filtered through sugar maple charcoal, and which is aged in white oak barrels which have never contained any other spirits. I guess that demonstrates that the process really does make a difference.

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Once out of the production facility, we were allowed to turn our phones back on and take as many pictures of the bar area as we wanted.

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There was a scheduling glitch with our arrival time at Giant’s Causeway, so our bus was turned away for 2 hours. Our ever undaunted driver, John O’Keefe, gamely drove back into the town of Bushmills and set us all loose to find a quick lunch. Several in our group opted for prepared sandwiches from the grocery store, eaten on a bench in the sunshine. Ted and I popped into the Bilberry Mill Café and had a quite yummy very cheesy pizza, and lattés; not very “Irish”, but then in just 2 weeks we’ve already become a bit tired of our unvarying meal choices of poached salmon, chicken, turkey, or ham, always with tons of mashed potato; fish and chips; and cream soups.

We ended up with 90 minutes at Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Causeway is one of 12 sites around the world where the shifting of tectonic plates and the cooling and shrinking of successive lava flows has created incredible hexagonal towers of interlocking basalt.

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It’s no wonder that almost all of the sites have created legends involving “giants” who placed these rocks. In Ireland’s case, it is the warrior/hunter Fionn McCool, eater of “the Salmon of Knowledge”, who is responsible.

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We were told not to climb the Stookans. Stookans is an Ulster-Scots word for “haystack”, and these were – of course – placed here by Fionn.

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Do you see the camel? One night, Fionn was out drinking with and entertaining a group of his friends, when he realized that it was getting late and if he did not get home to read his son Oisin his bedtime story, and cuddle his wife Oonagh, she would be angry enough to throw away his dinner. The Irishmen offered his transportation home to allow him to get there faster, but horses and donkeys were too small to carry him. Finally he was offered a camel (wait…what??), who he rode home. The camel apparently liked Fionn enough to stay, and can be seen sleeping beside the bay.

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Ted’s photos really tell the tale of how imposing this geological formation is, and how varied the stone shapes.

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We’ve been beyond lucky with our weather on this tour. While I’m sure it would be incredible to see this area with waves crashing on the shore, I’m really glad we got to experience it in bright sunshine and without the strong winds for which it is known.

After a bit of souvenir shopping (a supply of quirkily-patterned Irish tea towels for my #2 daughter-in-law), it was back onto the bus to head into Belfast.

Our hotel for the next 2 nights is the maldronhotelbelfastcity, in a great downtown location. The rooms are fairly small, but comfortable, and with its double glazed windows and air conditioning it will certainly be much quieter than our hotel in Letterkenny, where sleep proved to be a challenge.

But first, dinner: better than the last few nights, but still nothing to rival the food on our Senior Discovery tour of Scotland (Episode- Food in Scotland). We had great fun during our meal, though, sharing courtship stories with Jerry and Myrna, a couple of retired teachers getting ready to mark 54 years together.

We’re down to our last 2 days in Ireland before returning to BC where we’ll be the tour guides for a couple of weeks.