Crossing the border into Northern Ireland we stopped in Derry for a couple of hours to see the walls and visit the Museum of free Derry. We then headed up the northeast coast to the giants causeway. We were blown away by how incredible and dissimilar to any other rocks we have seen before and supernatural, it was easy to see how it got its name. It certainly left us feeling very in awe. The wind was formidable, and further along the coast we watched gulls struggling repeatedly to land on the cliff faces against the strong winds. Though it had its amusing moments, their persistence was extremely admirable and most of them seemed to make it after about 15 minutes of continuous attempt. Some of them looked like they were so shocked to have made it they almost fell over the edge again backwards!

We had another lovely weekend meeting up with Megan and spending a couple of nights with Siobhan and Allan, who looked after us like we were their own. Allan's cooking was especially impressive. The weather gods even turned it on enough for us to have a barbecue. This turned into Allan and Liam doing the cooking outside while the rest of us drank wine inside next to the fire. It seems they have the domestic roles well worked out over here!