Back in April of this year, I took a beautiful day trip excursion to the Giant’s Causeway with my friend Jacqui and her long time friend, Liz. The northern coast of Eire is a different country (Northern Ireland is a part of the UK) and it took us about 3 hours to drive from here in Dublin up through Belfast before we hit the coast road.

While up in Northern Ireland, one of the places that we stopped was the National Trust site at Carrick-a-Rede. Now this place doesn’t sound too scary – Carrick is Irish for “Rock in the road”. That is, until I tell you that the place has had a rope suspension bridge of some form connecting the Irish “mainland” to the island of Carrick for some 250 years. Originally built for Salmon fisherman who caught salmon that went around the edge of the Carrick (not anymore as the salmon are gone) as they headed inland to spawn, the rope bridge has now been taken over by the National Trust and is now part of a national park.

The rope bridge is there and now a tourist attraction. It spans 20 meters across from the mainland to the isle of Carrick, across two sheer cliff faces – to rocks and shallow sea some 30 meters (230 feet) below. Now for someone (me) with a fear of falling (me) it’s a beautiful view as you hike up along the cliff tops… and stand in line to cross the rope bridge, up to 6 at a time.

The crossing itself, however, is completely different.

You climb down a series of metal stairs and then line up to go across the bridge with thin planking and ropes holding together for your hands. The rope bridge bounces as people go across, and swings slightly in the wind. Yes, I crossed, but let me tell you, this is NOT a smile. This is a grimace, and I’m repeating to myself “don’t look down” “don’t look down” “don’t look down” so that I don’t freeze mid-bridge.

Once across, the island of Carrick isn’t very big. It’s maybe 200 meters long, but it affords some gorgeous views of the salt spray, the cliffs, and some birds and fauna that are specific to the island itself. It even inspired me to throw caution to the wind, enjoy some sun, watch the waves breaking through the island caves…

and hang my feet over the cliff edge….

Ok so not really. There’s a ledge under my feet, but I had you there for a minute, right?!?

And so, from me .. until the next blog…I stand at the edge of Europe, thinking of you folks “across the pond”.

For more pictures from Carrick-a-rede, please see my flickr set here.