We rose early the next morning, ate a traditional hostel breakfast (burnt toast) and went out to find our PaddyWagon tour bus waiting. We were to spend almost the entire day on this tour which would take us to several points of interest in Northern Ireland. The first stop of the day was the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge.
The hike to the bridge from the parking lot is one kilometer but there was a lot of wonderful, natural sights to see along the way. One of the most interesting things I saw and heard while there was a man trying to herd his cattle up the hill. He was standing at the top of the hill and he had a herding breed of dog chasing the cows. We could hear the farmer yelling before we could see the animals, so we were a bit confused at first. I actually thought he was yelling at the tourists to get a move on up the hill. Since he was at the top of a very steep incline I was thinking "Oh great, we have to climb that?!" I was very relieved to see the cattle and to finally understand what was going on.
The dog was running back and forth across the hill, trying to get the cows to go up the incline a little at a time in a zig zag motion. He was not having a very easy time of it, as the cows were more intent on grazing and standing stationery than moving up the hill. The little guy stuck with it, though, and got them to zig and zag a little bit.
Our tour guide pointed out Sheep Island which is a very small piece of land just off the coast where the rope bridge is. It used to be called Puffin Island but I don't remember why they changed the name. I think he said something about rats taking over and killing the puffins but I think that was a joke.
We also spied some Scottish Islands through the ferns on the hike. They are bigger than Sheep Island and much farther away. This was one of the lucky times of the hike when it was not raining. By the time we got to the rope bridge itself, a storm was imminent. We could see the dark clouds headed our way and the wind had picked up considerably.
We watched a few people cross the bridge before descending the stairs to do it ourselves. Apparently, the rope bridge used to consist of literally two ropes: one to hold onto up top and one to walk on. It's much safer now, complete with wood panelling and a strong net on either side to hold onto while crossing. Despite how safe it looks, the guard at the bridge said he might have to close it due to the weather. In fact, just before we crossed, the weather was getting very bad. It was extremely windy and the rain had started and it was very cold. Just as the first in our group stepped foot on the bridge the guard said, "Pretty risky." We asked him if it was safe and he said that it probably was but that he wasn't sure if he should close it because of the weather. I decided it looked safe anyway so I crossed. The wind was very strong and the rain was coming at me horizontally, but I don't think it was ever unsafe. The bridge did not even sway with the wind, it was very sturdy and was not even a long way to cross.
There was not a whole lot to see on the other side of the bridge, so we came back across after a few minutes. By this time, the storm had totally passed and we laughed about how silly we had been, holding the rope with a death grip. We took some pictures and then had to hurry back to the bus. We passed the herd of cattle again and this time we saw that the farmer had come down the hill himself. It seems his canine ambassador was not doing the job and he had taken over the herding. It looked like he was having about as much success as his dog, though. The dog appeared to be grazing with the cows. When you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
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