The Giant Story
Antrim’s Giant’s Causeway is a 60-million-year-old story of science. Or is it?
CNN’s John D Sutter is touring the island of Ireland clockwise. Eventually, he arrives to what he calls “Northern Ireland’s most popular attraction”.
His description of the Giant’s Causeway hints at the magical: “A golf-course green canyon wall slopes into a set of volcanic rock formations that are completely surreal: Near-perfect hexagon tubes are stacked next to each other like puzzle pieces.”
Something this pretty couldn’t be the result of a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, could it?
Well, there are two lines of thought on that one. The first involves a certain giant by the name of Finn McCool (also known as Fionn mac Cumhaill).
Think a friend might enjoy this article? Click to save and share
Giant fights
Finn is having trouble with someone across the water. The Scottish giant Benandonner is threatening Ireland. An enraged Finn grabs chunks of the Antrim coast and throws them into the sea. The rock forms a path for Finn to follow and teach Benandonner a lesson.
Bad idea – Benandonner is terrifyingly massive. Finn beats a hasty retreat, followed by the giant, only to be saved by our hero’s quick-thinking wife who disguised him as a baby. The angry Scot saw the baby and decided if the child was that big, the daddy must be really huge.
Mythical landscapes, magical tales
For Eleanor Killough, a guide at the new state-of-the-art visitor center, the Fionn story holds water: “Of course it was Finn McCool [Fionn mac Cumhaill]! That’s what we the locals believe anyway.
“We give our visitors the two sides of the coin – the stories and the science and let them decide, but most visitors leave believing this place is an ancient home of a mighty giant.”
As Eleanor says, though, there are two sides to the story.
The science bit
“The Giant’s Causeway is the aftermath of volcanic crashing, burning and cooling,” Eleanor explains. “An epic 60-million-year-old legacy to lava. Over 40,000 basalt columns. Interlocked.
“It’s no wonder this place is a Unesco World Heritage Site because beyond the mindboggling beauty, the Causeway is our portal into Earth’s most ancient past,” she concludes.
Picture-perfect scenes
Whatever you choose to believe, there’s no disputing that the Causeway makes a pretty picture. Thousands of tourists click their cameras here every year, and when the Olympic Torch visited Northern Ireland, it was a photo opportunity not to be missed.
Director Ben Joyner was so besotted with the Causeway, he put it on screen. The result won Discover Ireland’s “Jump Into Ireland” video competition.
Giant or science? Maybe you should check it out for yourself. Alternatively, discover other highlights and attractions in Northern Ireland.
Following in giant’s footsteps
The Giant’s Causeway has a giant reputation. Walk this way
The curious assembly of 40,000 basalt columns of cooled molten lava on the north Antrim coast is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of TripAdvisor’s 10 most dramatic landscapes on the planet. It’s also the scene of some of Ireland’s most exciting walking trails and paths, with easy paths, moderate strolls and more demanding hikes.
From the cliff-top Giant’s Causeway Coastal Path overlooking the iconic pillars of the Causeway, this geological wonder suddenly seems smaller than the shadow it casts in heritage and culture. Up here, all of north Antrimunfolds at your feet. Huge swells roll in from the Atlantic, and pockets of sunshine highlight the changing navy blues and emerald greens of the coastal waters.
It’s one of the island’s most stunning panoramas: the Scottish island of Islay, Rathlin Island’s chalky-white cliffs and the Mull of Kintyre at the tip of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland all stretch out before you. Edged by the foaming Atlantic, sheer cliffs, dramatic views and hundreds of species of floral and fauna have turned this tip of the island into a walkers’ paradise.
Think a friend might enjoy this article? Click to save and share
British newspaper, the Guardian, listed the coastal walk from the Giant’s Causeway carpark, along the North Antrim Cliff Path to the Dunseverick Castle car park as one of the Top 10 UK walks. Why? Because it boasts “some of the finest cliff scenery in Europe”. And they’re not the only ones who are impressed.
Taking the first step
“My walkers are stunned by the beauty of it”, says Sean Mullan, operator of Walking And Talking in Ireland of the route from Ballintoy to the Giant’s Causeway. “There are so many special sights on the way, and walking it is the most impressive part.”
There are four recently upgraded and signposted walking trails around the Causeway, one for every ability. The coastal path extends 11 miles (18 kilometres) reaching out to another gem: the vertigo-inducing Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
The biggie is the Causeway Coast Way: the full coastal path from Portstewart Strand to Ballycastle, via the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The 33-mile (53km) stretch covers wide bays, sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and even golf courses.
Bridging it together
In the summer of 2012, visitor Lorraine Lynders from County Kildare did the full walk, Bridge to Causeway, and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. “You never know what’s around the corner or over the next hill,” she says. “It varies dramatically from long sandy beaches to quaint fishing villages, historic ruins to enormous cliffs. You don’t even realise how far you’ve walked, because it’s so beautiful the entire way!”
Distracted by the beauty? In Ireland, it wouldn’t be the first time…
Capturing the Causeway
There are only a handful of truly extraordinary landscapes in the world; the places that postcards go on holiday to see. The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is one of them
When TripAdvisor listed its 10 Most Dramatic Landscapes in 2012, the Giant’s Causeway calmly held its own between epic deserts and salt flats.
The moment your eyes fall on the 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, sliding into the sea like dark stone steps into bubbling foamy waves, is a jaw-dropping one. You’re going to want to high-five nature, call your old geology teacher to say “you were right, rocks CAN be awesome!” and pull out your camera all at the same time.
Not so fast. There are tricks to capturing the visual wonderment through the lens. We asked the experts how to get it right.
Chris Hill is an award-winning landscape photographer who counts the Causeway as one of his favourite subjects. His secret for capturing that misty magic in his image above is waiting for sunset.
“The Causeway always looks best during the last two hours of the sun. In spring and autumn it comes in from the side and turns the columns a beautiful golden colour. If the sea is rough it always makes for a better photo.”
Think a friend might enjoy this article? Click to save and share
But what about Ireland’s famously tempestuous skies, liable to change colour quicker than a mood ring?
Landscape maestro and County Down man Simon Brown is well used to these conditions, and his advice is to work with them.
“Don’t be put off by dark skies,” he says. “They can add atmosphere to a shot.” For the smooth wave effect in the photo above, his trick was “use a long shutter speed to capture the movement of the waves”.
All the pros agree that patience is not only a virtue, but also a necessity in landscape photography.
Luckily veteran Chris Hill has it in spades.
“It’s true to say I waited 30 years to take this shot,” he says of his brilliant scene of the Causeway’s basalt columns capped with snow.
That’s not to mention the travel difficulties winter weather means: “It’s not an easy place to get to in the snow – especially when you live 60 miles away.” But once you’ve got patience, then warm clothes, good boots and a tripod are all you need.
The biggest struggle for professionals is the fact that a place like the Causeway has been photographed hundreds of thousands of times before.
When Brian Morrison got his most recent Causeway commission, he knew it would be hard to get an angle that hadn’t been seen already. His solution was simple: to put people in the picture.
“I wanted to show people in exploring the stones,” he explains.
“The sun was low in the sky, about an hour away from setting so I decided to go with a silhouette. This meant that I could keep the exposure of the light on the stones and while getting interesting shapes with the people in the foreground and headlands in the distance”.
With a wide-angle lens, a polarizer to enhance the contrast and ISO set at 100 (maximum quality), he used a fast shutter to snap the figures passing the sun. The result is a striking new way to see the Causeway, and one that lets you imagine yourself standing there.
So if you learn anything from the professionals, it should be to find your own angle when you want to capture a place so famously photogenic. After that, it’s just a matter of dark skies and a tripod, right?
Historical Tours Ireland 