the north coast - carrick-a-rede rope bridge

Another 'North Coast' entry! Again, I'm slotting this post into days where I have no posts!

We had just visited: White Rocks Beach, Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway and finally we arrived at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, just as the sun was setting and the bridge was closing up for the day! To be honest, we weren't too disappointed to be missing out on this crazy bridge - it's certainly not for the faint at heart! But we did take the (long) walk down to see it again and of course, take some pictures. As you can see, the bridge was closed for the evening.

And of course, some history...

Carrick-a-rede means 'rock in the road'. It is thought salmon fishermen have been erecting bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years. In the 1970s it featured only a single handrail and large gaps between the slats. A version of the bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built with the help of local climbers and abseilers in 2000. A subsequent design was engineered in 2004 and offers visitors and fishermen alike a much safer passage to the island. The current wire rope and Douglas fir bridge was made by Heyn Construction in Belfast and erected early in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000.[2] Although no one has fallen off the bridge, there have been many instances where visitors, unable to face the walk back across the bridge, have had to be taken off the island by boat

You can read more here.