After the whirlwind that was Ireland, I still had the rental car for one day so after bidding farewell to Justin at the airport I sped North. It would be a relaxing and dreary few days, actually what I needed to recharge before crossing over to Scotland.  Honestly, even though I had to drive to the Dublin airport the next day to drop off the rental car and catch a bus back to Belfast, it was so worth it having the car.

When I am solo traveling, I like to do things on my own program, what I want when I want to do them. Because of the way the sites are spaced out in Northern Ireland it would be very hard to do this without a rental car. There are some ways to take public transport, but without a car the best way to get to these places is by taking a commercialized tour.

For all the hype that the Giants Causway gets it is a beautiful place and a nice place for a stroll but that is about that. If you haven’t heard about it, here are a few things.

When you arrive at the welcome center it is very easy to see the path and start walking down to the giants causeway. Legend has it that the Giants Causway was formed with fights between giants. When they picked up pieces of the Antrim coast and started throwing them into the sea.

It really is neat to see, and it was really nice to just take a few hours to stroll around, think, and listen to some tunes.

Just sitting by and imagining giants, myths, and fairytales come to life.
Blurred take on this mountain

I just love the deep green color of the Irish coast. It feels so alive up here, even in dreary weather.

Next stop in the day was Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The rope bridge is not far from the Giants Causway, about 15 minutes by car.

This is also a stroll through the countryside and is not too vigorous. Just some ups and downs and one more up and then one more down.

As always the scenery in Ireland is on par, very colorful and vibrant.
So much to see

Time to go to the center of the bridge and jump up and down so everyone freaks out!

Just taking a stroll, most often I like to hid behind the camera, but every once in a while…

While at the gift shop on the way out, I inquired directions to Winterfell and the Weirwood forest. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a very intricate tree. The Dark Hedges to be exact. One of the filming locations for the Weirwood forest in Game of Thrones. By now it is no secret that Northern Ireland has been used for quite a few filming locations in Game of Thrones.

This location would be hard to get to without a rental car or as a part of the game of thrones tour, which I had considered doing, but decided to go my own way and stop at just a few of the locations.

There were a few people also out and about, but no big crowd on this day which was really nice

After the my personal drive around, I headed to the hostel I had booked, parked the car, dropped off my luggage in the locker, and headed out for some.. you guessed it.. gin.Belfast is a quaint town. The next morning after dropping off the car and riding the bus back, I walked around downtown and of course headed over to the Titanic Museum. The titanic was built and launched from Belfast after all.

If that’s not your cup of tea there are plenty of things to see around the city and also shopping if you are in the mood.

Anyway, next up I’m taking the ferry over to Scotland and meeting up with an old friend in Glasgow. Don’t miss it.

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.