There Is Much To See And Do
Ballycastle
is a small seaside resort of architectural character which
holidaymakers go back to time and time again. Apart from
nightclubs, it has everything: fine beach, camp sites, splendid
sea and river angling, golf course, tennis, bowls,
ruined friary. Cliffs and covers.
In
Ballycastle's pubs you will meet deep sea fishermen, geologists,
archaeologists, botanists and fossil hunters, artist, amateur
historians and family holidaymakers. Every 'Irish exile'
knows of the nine Glens of Antrim: other visitors from many
nations have drawn there by tales of their beauty and peace.
Old tales are still told, in bar pallor or home, for the
Glens are the most Irish part of the North.
In
Glenaan is the reputed grave of Ossian, the greatest Celtic
poet; Cushendun was the home of Moira O'Neill, poets of
the Glens, and in this same village the English Laureate
John Masefield found a wife. Folk music and dancing are
part of the Glens' way of life, and no old song is more
widely sung than 'The Ould Lammas Fair at Ballycastle O'.
If
that was all, it would be enough for the Glens of Antrim
to be a perfect place for a holiday. But if you never looked
at a single glen, you would be driving past them on possibly
the most scenic route in the British Isles-the Antrim Coast
Road from Larne to Ballycastle. It is sheltered by mountains;
trees grow to the water's edge; above the road loom white
cliffs; round each headland is another glen, another trout
stream, another village; beach follows beach all the way.
In
a distance of 40 miles there occur examples of nearly every
rock formation and epoch, from schists over 300,000,000
years old (the earth's original crust) to lava fields, glacial
deposits, raised beaches and flint beds. The red sandstone
tints the beaches. All the way along, black and white boulders
are scattered like dice.
