Today 30 members of the group took a small ferry to Rathlin Island to view lighthouses and wildlife. I decided to stay on dry land and do the coastal walk to Fairhead lead by Jackie Wilkes. This was a little walked part of the coast line and at times we felt like explorers! We were joined by Alan the coach driver who was having a relaxing day off from driving....that's what he thought anyway! The walk took us along the shore line and we had good views of Rathlin Island and the lighthouses for most of the day. The state of the path was variable but we were rewarded with orchids and beautiful wildflowers along the way. As we climbed up on to the top of the sheer cliffs we could see climbers perched precariously hanging from ropes that were anchored around large boulders on the top.
As we began to make our way back towards Ballycasrtle I took a detour with John Stewart to find a burial chamber marked on his map. We sweet talked the local farmer into letting us on to his land by promising faithfully not to injure ourselves and sue him for damages. I think he might have been expecting a small bribe but when he heard the words 'we are from Yorkshire' he must have known it wasn't going to be his lucky day! On the top of the hill we found a stone circle with about 28 stones in it.
I finished my walk by paddling along the beach back to Ballycastle in the beautiful sunshine.
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