With heavy hearts, we’ve left the friendly confines of Machrihanish for the next leg of our trip – Northern Ireland.
We had a friendly sendoff from the morning server at the Ogadale with whom we bantered daily – she came out to our taxi to bid farewell! Most likely cheering our departure. Can’t blame her.
Getting from the Kintyre peninsula to Ballycastle on Northern Ireland is tricky. Our trip routing was developed using the ‘Kintyre Express’, a small (really small) vessel that ran routes between Campbeltown (Kintyre) to Ballycastle (N. Ireland) and on to Port Ellen (Islay), our final destination. Perfect!
Alas, the Express was a casualty of the Covid plague. No big ferries to replace the route. No flights within a few hundred miles. After exhaustive research, many pints, and divine intervention we found a replacement service – the ‘Aquaholics’. Yep, sounds crazy but they are actually a well-respected diving and water touring service that operate out of Portstewart.
Hard to believe, but the shortest distance from Kintyre (Southend, Scotland) is only 10-1/2 miles. It’s a little longer from our departure point on the Aquaholic vessel, but not much. It took 2-1/2 hours, almost an hour longer than scheduled due to the tides. Our route was though the north channel of the Irish sea where tidal flows are compressed into a narrow path. The normal speed is 18 knots. Going into the tide we averaged 10 knots. Bumpy at times. A sunny day provided fine views of the Mull of Kintyre and Causeway Coast landscapes. Fantastic.
Our driver, Stephen from ‘Route Taxi’, met us at the dock and gave a nice overview tour of the Causeway Coast along the route to our lodging in Portstewart. Good stuff – the rope walk at Carrick-a-Rede bridge, lunch at Ballintoy harbor, a ‘Dark Hedges’ of Thrones fame walk, and a tour of the Bushmill Distillery.
After checking in at our lodging at the ‘Cul Erg’ B&B in Portstewart, we walked along the Strand to the Anchor Bistro for pints and dinner. Good dinner, beers the standard, boring lineup. Good enough though.
In spite of the fact we didn’t play golf, it was a fine day
