I feel like I’ve been lied to. Why? Because I’ve never once been told that the north coast of Northern Ireland looks like this:

Maybe you were told, but they sure never told me.

Otherwise, I might have made a concerted effort to visit it long before my initial chance encounter in May.

After we docked in Belfast with the ship, four of my colleagues and I hopped a $25 day tour from Belfast on a whim, up to the northern coast—which was quite reminiscent of the Ring of Kerry actually—and way out into the countryside, about an hour north of the city.

Vistas aside, the reason so many flock to Carrick-a-Rede is for the famed rope bridge.

It wasn’t even scary so much as it was fun—and presented even better views once you were on the other side.

It costs a couple pounds to pass, and what no one tells you (again) is that the walk there is pretty steep. And then the walk back is equally so. (We couldn’t quite figure out how we seemed to be going uphill nearly the whole time both ways!)

Given that our weather had been such crap the whole voyage up until this point, I was shocked we had such a sunny day on our side—and in Ireland of all places at that.

It didn’t stick around long, though, but at least hung around for us to get our token coastal pics for the sole purpose to make all of our friends back home green with envy!