Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Carrick-a-Rede is a short bridge doing a very old job. A rope span about 20 metres long hangs across a chasm some 30 metres above the sea, joining the cliffs of the North Antrim coast to a small rocky island whose Irish name, Carraig a' Ráid, is usually rendered as "rock of the casting". Salmon fishermen strung the first crossing here, the National Trust dates it to 1755, to reach a spot where fish migrating along the coast toward the rivers Bann and Bush could be netted. For generations the crossing was a rough affair with a single handrail and wide gaps between the slats. The present bridge of wire rope and Douglas fir, made by a Belfast firm, was raised in 2008.

The setting is what turns a practical crossing into something memorable. The island is the best example in Northern Ireland of a volcanic plug: around 60 million years ago molten rock forced its way through the chalk here, leaving a throat of hard dolerite in front and softer volcanic tuff and breccia behind. The sea has since stripped away the weaker rock and left the small island standing apart. From the cliff path the colours are unusual for these shores: black basalt above, white chalk showing beneath it, and in calm weather water of a clear green-blue in the channel below. Rathlin Island lies offshore, and on a clear day the coast of Scotland is visible across the North Channel.

The walk out along the headland is part of the pleasure. The coastal path passes cliffs where guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars nest, and the sea here is visited by porpoises, dolphins and in summer basking sharks. On the island stands an old fisherman's cottage once used for shelter and storing gear. The salmon fishery itself has faded with the fish: catches of hundreds a day in the 1960s had dwindled to a few hundred a season by the early 2000s, and the bridge is now crossed for its own sake. The scene has long drawn artists and writers; an engraving by Thomas Mann Baynes appeared in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book in 1832, and Seamus Heaney pictured a lone figure waving from its thin line of ropes in a poem of 1978. Plenty of visitors who cross confidently find the return harder, and some over the years have been ferried back by boat.

Getting there

The bridge is near the village of Ballintoy on the B15 coast road, about 5 miles west of Ballycastle and 7 miles east of Bushmills; Coleraine, the nearest large town, is about 24 kilometres away. The practical airport is Belfast International (BFS), roughly 45 miles by road; Islay Airport in Scotland is closer as the crow flies but lies across the sea. Ulsterbus 172 runs from Coleraine, services 252 and 256 from Belfast, and the seasonal Causeway Rambler links the coastal sights. From the car park it is a 1-kilometre walk with steps and uneven ground.