The Giant's Causeway - Places of Geologic Significance on Waymarking.com

The causeway was formed by the cooling of lava which burst through the earth's crust in the Cainozoic Period. This resulted in the splitting of the basaltic rock into innumerable prismatic columns.

Northern Ireland has a legend about this area:
"The ancients knew differently: clearly this was giants' work and, more particularly, the work of the giant Finn McCool, the Ulster warrior and commander of the king of Ireland's armies.
Finn could pick thorns out of his heels while running and was capable of amazing feats of strength. Once, during a fight with a Scottish giant, he scooped up a huge clod of earth and flung it at his fleeing rival. The clod fell into the sea and turned into the Isle of Man. The hole it left filled up with water and became Lough Neagh.
Finn was said to inhabit a draughty Antrim headland:
"He lived most happy and content, Obeyed no law and paid no rent."
When he fell in love with a lady giant on Staffa, an island in the Hebrides, he built this wide commodious highway to bring her across to Ulster."

The first historical accounts of the Causeway started appearing in the late 17th century. The Bishop of Derry made one of the first recorded visits in 1692 and the Chevalier De La Tocnaye, who had the good sense to take his umbrella, galloped up to the cliff edge in 1797 when both he and his horse were enraptured by the view.
Before the famous coast road was built in the 1830s visitors complained about the ruggedness of the trip. But there was one shining compensation on the journey: the town where tourists made their last stop before the final push to the Causeway was Bushmills. Ever since 1608 saddle-sore travellers had been revived with magnums of the King's whiskey at the world's oldest (legal) distillery, which is still in business.

The Causeway proper is a mass of basalt columns packed tightly together. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Altogether there are 40,000 of these stone columns, mostly hexagonal but some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 40 feet high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 90 feet thick in places.
A fine circular walk will take you down to the Grand Causeway, past amphitheatres of stone columns and formations with fanciful names like the Honeycomb, the Wishing Well, the Giant's Granny and the King and his Nobles, past Port na Spaniagh where the Spanish Armada ship Girona foundered, past wooden staircase to Benbane Head and back along the cliff top.

It is a natural wonder not to be missed!

Waymark is confirmed to be publicly accessible: yes Parking Coordinates: N 55° 13.993 W 006° 30.925 Access fee (In local currency): .00 Requires a high clearance vehicle to visit.: no Requires 4x4 vehicle to visit.: no Public Transport available: yes Website reference: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
No specific requirements, just have fun visiting the waymark.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/14/2022 Tellu78 visited it 07/10/2021 josie301 visited it 08/16/2019 Skyecat visited it 07/24/2019 Kladings visited it 09/10/2018 fatcat161 visited it 07/14/2018 calve24 visited it 07/02/2018 veritas vita visited it 06/12/2018 Alancache visited it 05/11/2018 Eca_74 visited it 10/26/2017 CONPER visited it 08/15/2016 6Hinemoa2 visited it 04/30/2016 BRISTOLIAN visited it 07/19/2014 dubeczech visited it 04/26/2014 CMJN visited it 03/07/2013 demon999 visited it 07/27/2012 gaussfinder visited it 07/17/2012 DnRseekers visited it 12/01/2011 Noe1 visited it 10/24/2011 JudeDucInc visited it 09/24/2010 Ben_Madigan visited it 04/22/2009 RoseDesVents visited it 09/19/2008 kap4 visited it 07/30/2008 Geofather visited it 02/10/2008 toddrm visited it 01/02/2008 Windsocker visited it

View all visits/logs