SATURDAY CRITTERS - Carrick-a Rede Rope Bridge

Journeying further north I came to the National Trust Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which is a famous rope bridge near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. It spans 20 metres and is 30 metres above the rocks below.  

The last time I visited and crossed the bridge was about 35 years ago with my 2 small daughters and it had only 1 handrail and very rickety!  I have to admit, it was very scary and when over on the island I would have given anything if a helicopter had come to lift us off instead of crossing back again!

In this shot below you see where you pay.  Last time I did not remember walking so far as I did to the bridge so these are the shots as I took on the walk to and from the bridge.  By the way I am linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS and you will see birds a little later in the post.

You cannot see the bridge in this shot.

I cropped it in so you could see the bridge we are heading for.

The island in the background is Rathlin Island that I have had posts about last year when I took a group of birders to stay overnight.

As I hang over the edge of the cliff, I get another shot of the bridge even though I still have quite a distance to go.

Down, down I go and it has just occurred to me I will have to come up, up UP again!!  Never mind, it will be worth it. Are you still with me?

Now looking at this photograph, I hope you understand why I was terrified walking over this bridge 35 years ago with my very young children.

WOW!  I am made it to the bridge and I am ready to cross it.  Now this time it looks safer with 2 rails.  However, although I didn’t have 2 small children with me, I now had a camera and binoculars and was determined to take shots as I walked over as it swayed!  I was not able to hold on so I had to watch my balance.

I don’t know whether you can read this sign but it says there are no fences on the island.  Be careful!!

I’m over and this is the shot looking back. Did you follow me across?

Shag breed on the island.

Razorbill

Kittiwake

Oh dear, now I am over the bridge again and it is a long haul up. For those of you who have just turned in to THIS post, I started my journey on Monday’s post, about 6 hours ago in reality!!  So I am getting tired!

Kittiwake above and Fulmar below.

Mostly Razorbill in the water although there were Common Guillemots

 also nesting on the island.

That is Sheep Island in the distance.

A Rock Pipit 

Well that was a wonderful experience and now I am finally heading to my accommodation at the White Park Bay Youth Hostel.

I will leave you with these views as I stood at the Hostel looking down over this magnificent beach that the National Trust manage.

Well I hope you all made it back over the bridge and enjoyed the experience, views and birds on the way.

I have a video which can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/7i2PvnPNbdU

If there is a black space, click it and the video will appear.

Many thanks to those who have travelled with me over the past week and I hope you are enjoying the journey.  Tomorrow I will have a rest and leave you a Sunday Thought, however on Monday, I will continue my journey and show you all that I found when I was staying at the Youth Hostel.

So until then, I thank you for visiting and leaving comments and hope to see you again as we travel on to Donegal and eventually to Tory Island.