“The geology’s a head-fry for most people,” says Eimear Flanagan, the amiable local guide. She’s a specialist in showing travellers a slower, more secretive side to the County Antrim coastline, not least in the form of the walk from Dunseverick Castle. “Yeah – it’s the cool route to the Causeway,” she smiles, matter-of-factly.
We meet early one morning to make the hike, following the sea cliffs as they snake off to the west. A succession of isolated headlands and steep precipices follow, buffeted by the stiff, salt-scented wind blowing in off the water. The day is brisk but clear – kittiwakes and fulmars ride the air currents, and the view across to Scotland is green and vivid.
Eimear is a fine talker. She veers from legends to politics to religion, as well as the more immediate subjects of our surroundings (that complex geology, if you’re wondering, is all to do with cooled magma). It’s a genuinely beautiful – and genuinely quiet – walking route. If there’s a highlight en route it’s surely the preposterously scenic viewpoint known as Hamilton’s Seat, a panorama of grandstand cliffs that we have entirely to ourselves. By the time the Giant’s Causeway arrives, sheened with surf, the crowds come as a jolt.
The coastline up here is fiercely attractive, but its magic sometimes gets lost beneath the weight of tourism. Once high season’s over, however, there’s real appeal in visiting over late summer or autumn, particularly if you spare the time to make the coastal hike. There’s even a bus that runs from the Giant’s Causeway back to the little car park at Dunseverick Castle – frankly, what more excuse do you need?
