Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You Nature

Of course everyone who visits Northern Ireland is required by law to visit the Giant's Causeway.  This marvel of nature is often rubbished as not being quite worth the drive there - but I must tell you Dear Listener that I and Letter to America listener 'Mr. X' had quite a time.

He looks very dramatic standing close to the waves. 

Here's someone else admiring this wonder of nature.

What's he doing with his hand?

Oh, he's making a call.

So anyway, I decided to get close to the action.  How dangerous could it be?

Gee, those waves look kinda large.  Maybe I should get closer.

Oh, oh.

'Mr. X' and I got soaked and my new camera died after this shot - so maybe no new photos for a while - but we had fun and I would recommend going to the Giant's Causeway - if only to go to the gift shop in which EVERY item is hexagon shaped.

Comments

[Alan]

Good photos ...

I've often said that the Giant's Causeway is worth the walk down the hill, and worth 50p for the bus ride back up again.

Our geography teacher had a hexagonal stone from the causeway in the geography classroom. He was into geology, and had half-inched a broken-off piece (about 20cm thick) some years ago. But much more spectacular to see all the organ pipes in situ.

[Richard Payne]

Is anyone mad enough or brave enough to surf those waves there?

[Jefferson Davis]

Awesome shots, but I hate your camera was wasted in the waves crosshairs. :-)

[keith]

"Is anyone mad enough or brave enough to surf those waves there?"

There are some good surfing beaches on up round the coast, Portballintrae, Portrush and Portstewart.

[Phil]

I'm just glad that only your camera died, and not you, at the hands of Mr. X.

[Jett Loe]

Cheers Phil. The camera is officially fucked - returned it today - camera store is gonna send it off to be repaired - but of course we're in the middle of a postal strike so who knows when it's comin' back - quite possibly there won't be any new photos on the site for a while...

[mairéad]

ha haaaaaaa....so this is proof you're an actor?god help the marines...
greetings from overly sarcastic waitress who is clearly bitter at having to work part-time while doing a full-time phd but appreciates customers with a sense of humour!!

[Wayne]

The pic of the wave that nearly took your life makes a great screensaver. I call it 'Jett Propulsion'

(p.s. I'll bet you feel bad about mocking my 'Postal Strike' story of the week, now don't you?)

[Damon]

Well, at least it was only your camera that lost its life - I was sure Mr X was up to something wicked - or maybe I was thinking of that Alan Partridge episode where the fan invites him over to the house and goes insane :-)

[Stephen]

Good photos though. (And didn't someone die years ago doing the very same thing? Or have I misremembered?)

[mr x]

well he survived a day with me, not many say that.

[francesca]

Ah, Giant's Causeway... the coldhearted killer of my Pentax SLR. (Or is it my own fault for walking out over slippery, barnacle-covered rocks way, way farther than was advisable?) And I didn't even get great pictures of the in-progress fall like you did. All I ended up with was shots taken from afar, a screwed-up film advance, and a small scar on my left elbow. - From an American ex-pat wannabe

[Jett Loe]

Yeah, I'm glad I at least got some nice snaps out of it - though it would have been cool to have had one of me lying on my back and Mr. X trying to coax me back to consciousness...

[Alan]

You went a week to early. If you'd gone up to the north coast this week, you'd have been able to go across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge a couple of miles down the road.

The rope bridge connects the cliffs to a rocky island. Used to be very wobbly - now much safer (and slightly boring).

It is removed during the winter for safety, and only re-erected each Spring.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4719050.stm

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-northernireland/w-northernireland-news/w-northernireland-news-carrick.htm

[LM]

I love the Giants Causeway, in particluar the legend of finn mccool!

http://www.thenorthernirelandguide.co.uk/2006/01/30/the-giants-causeway-and-the-legend-of-finn-mccool/

I love the thought of giants striding across the Irish Sea!

[Anna]

those arae really great pictures Jett, too bad your camera broke though.

[Dawn]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Jett Loe]

No problem Dawn, thanks for visiting!

[Northern Irish Surfer]

Yes some of us are mad enough to surf that, just watch for the rocks though