Carrick-a-rede Craic

Next on the Irish Life Experience agenda was Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is a rope suspension bridge near Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island. The site is owned and maintained by the National Trust, spans sixty-five feet and is ninety-eight feet above the rocks below. Today the bridge is mainly a tourist attraction, with 247,000 visitors in 2009. Carrick-a-rede means "rock in the road." It is thought salmon fishermen have been erecting bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms. In the 1970's it featured only a single handrail and large gaps between the slats. A version of the bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built with the help of local climbers and abseilers in 2000. A subsequent design was engineered in 2004 and offers visitors and fishermen alike a much safer passage to the island. The current wire rope and Douglas fir bridge was made by Heyn Construction in Belfast and erected early in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000. Although no one has fallen off the bridge, there have been many instances where visitors, unable to face the walk back across the bridge, have had to be taken off the island by boat. Crossing the bridge is not for the faint of heart and there were definitely a few weak knees at the thought. The area is exceptional in natural beauty with stunning views of Rathlin Island and Scotland. Simply breathtaking! A special shout out to Katie. She sprained her ankle during the Rugby Workshop and has been such a trooper lately. She had crutches for two days and managed to hop her way and get piggy back rides from friends and ILE Staff-just so she could see the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. What a champ! She didn't even complain once. We finished our Northern Tour for the day with a stop at Ballycastle, just as it started to downpour. The students each received a dinner stipend. Fish and chips seemed to be the popular the popular choice on the menu for most of the ILE'ers. After dinner, we decided it was time to head back to Dublin, before it got too late. During the next few hours, Angie serenaded us with a few tunes from ACDC. The ILE Staff also treated the students to a few Michael Jackson tunes on their iPod's. We are just trying to groom the students for the many sing songs we will be having on the west coast during our Holidays. We finally returned back to King's Hospital in Dublin at 10:00 PM. I don't know how they did it-I was exhausted-but the students decided they had enough energy to go dance at the King's Hospital Disco. Amazing! So..., this sums up our Thursday with the Irish Life Experience. What a magnificent day!

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