Hey friends, wishing you all a happy first of October! Right now, as I write this from the living room of our little cottage, it’s a hot-mug-of-apple-cider sort of evening. Tonight I’m sharing with you some journal entries from my trip to the North Antrim Coast in northern Ireland.

Dunluce Castle

We glimpsed it first as we rounded a grassy knoll — the beautiful gray stone ruin, framed by the distant cliff shores and the crashing spray of ocean waves beneath the towers. We were blessed with impossibly clear weather. From the furthest court, I glimpsed through what once was a window and could see the entire expanse of the Antrim Coast as it receded, white and glorious, to the far blue distance.

We roamed the ancient ruins of Dunluce Castle for nearly an hour. As I later learned, it was the inspiration for Cair Paravel in The Chronicles of Narnia, and it was also apparently a filming location for Game of Thrones. All that to say, it was clearly a landscape of fantasy quality, and a view worth the moment of astonishment it inspires.

Ballintoy Harbor

Not far down the beach, we stopped at a wide field of grazing sheep and walked down the coastline to Ballintoy Harbor. At the end of the road, there’s a little hidden cove of black cliffs, rippling seagrass, and crashing waves upon a beach of pale pebbles.

Roaming further out on the rocks, I found an inlet where the waters rushed in and sprayed up in a great frothing foam, then soaked down in rivulets.

Thought the view couldn’t get better? JUST KIDDING. The coach drove us along the coastline and, I’ll be honest, it was the most beautiful landscape I have ever beheld in my life. We kept driving, past a vast cover of gentle white-tipped waves, until we reached the parking lot of the Giant’s Causeway visitor center.

Giant’s Causeway

After we had collected our tickets, we walked down the coastline trail, the wind whipping around us and filling our lungs with the salty air of the sea. Around the corner, we caught sight of a brilliant rainbow stretching across the expanse of Giant’s Causeway.

The rocks were scattered with tourists, all snapping photos and angling for a better pose. When at last we reached the black octangular stones, the sky had cleared to a wide everlasting blue. I don’t know if this makes sense, but the ocean feels ancient here — or wilder, maybe, and deeper, as though there really could be sea dragons roaming in the deep current there. For a while, I wandered and watched the waves spray up against the shores. The stones made clickety noises under my steps.

There is a shuttle system that provides a ride up and down from the Visitor Center to the shores of the Causeway. I joined the rest of my friends for a cappuccino up at the cafe. When we emerged, slightly mollified with warmth, the sky had transformed.  Over the sea, distant clouds were thick with rain, falling in droves of sleet, and then to the south, above the cliffs, the golden flood of sunbeams shone through a shining cloud.

Thanks so much for joining me on this day trip to the North Antrim Coast! I’ll be leaving Northern Ireland in three days (guys, how can September have gone by so fast?!?!). For the next two months, we’re returning to England, but since we have a four-day weekend, I’ll be heading to OXFORD!!!!

<3 Olivia Grace