After another late night visiting, we slept a bit later today but were again greeted by the sunshine. So it was off to tour Old Bushmill's Distillery and see more of the coast! Our first stop was the distillery - where we learned it doesn't hurt to know the local rector . .. someone in Louise's church works at the distillery, so we got complimentary passes for the tour! Bushmill's is the oldest whiskey distillery in the world, so we couldn't leave without a visit. We have found it really interesting to learn more about how this spirit is made, and had fun seeing the workings of such a large distillery. The free taste at the end was good, but it was hard for us to finish at such an early hour! But we tried them all before heading out to the coast and St. Grobbin’s, the smallest church in Ireland.
Unfortunately the door was locked, but we peeked in the window to see a small room, about the size of a large dining room table. Inside were a Bible, a small communion table and a guestbook. After peeking into the church we wandered up the road a bit to gaze at the view over the sea. We ran into a couple of walkers who recommended we stop just up the way at another little community where a cafe served snacks and tea. Since we were heading that way toward our next stop we decided to take their advice. The cafe was jam packed with folks out enjoying the sunshine, so we asked a couple dining outside at a large table if we might join them. We enjoyed tea, scones with jam and rhubarb tart (all homemade) while chatting with this couple who were enjoying a little seaside holiday. It turned out they knew some folks that Louise knew in their hometown and we had a nice visit while enjoying our snacks.
It was hard to convince ourselves to get back into the car, so we wandered along the coast a bit more before heading further up the coast to the Carrick-A-Rede bridge. This little island has been a spot for fishermen for years, and there is a narrow rope bridge connecting it to the mainland. While it used to be a bit more rustic, it is now a steel rope and for four pounds you can hike down and walk across it to the little island. Louise has been having some knee trouble, so she opted to sit in the sunshine writing letters while we hiked in to be tourists! It was a lovely path with gorgeous views of the sea, the cliffs nearby and the hills with little creeks and springs running into the sea. We made our way across the perfectly stable (though swinging) bridge to the island. It is amazing how loud the waves are when you are standing in the middle of the bridge. More info on the bridge can be found here: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-carrickarede . We enjoyed the views on the island and on the walk back - all of us agreed we could just sit by the sea and listen to the waves all day long!
But we wanted to tour the churches where Louise serves - so back we went to Kilrea and Aghadowey to see St. Patrick’s and St. Guaire’s. They are both lovely churches altho the untrained eye might have a harder time finding St. Guaire’s. That is because Aghadowey is not a town, but a townland. So while there are some businesses (the local golf club and pub for example) and three churches (presby, Church of Ireland and Catholic) there is no actual town, just an area comprised mainly of farms.
We closed out the evening with ice cream down town and dinner at the local pub with the sexton, Iris. The ice cream was yummy (and comes with a cadbury chocolate bar!). Plus the Brown Trout had all sorts of good food. In fact we had not one, not two, but three kinds of potatoes on our table before the evening was done including “champ” which is mashed taters with scallions and lots of butter! There have been some potatoes at almost every meal in Ireland - they really like their spuds! Our faves so far have been the chips (read: fries) with sweet chili sauce and sour cream - mmmm!
Unfortunately, Louise got a call while we were out that one of her parishioners had passed away, so we had to make a quick exit. She dropped us at her house where we tidied up our stuff and began to pack while she made a pastoral call. We can hardly believe our vacation is nearing a close, but there is one more full day tomorrow!
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