Causeway Coastal Route (284 km)

Belfast to Derry · one way, about 284 km back to the start

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Why this ride

284 km from Belfast to Londonderry County Borough, about 3 h 58 of riding. It goes by way of Carrickfergus, Cushendun, Carrick a Rede and Giants Causeway. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Roadbook

1. Belfast start

   Belfast is a Victorian industrial city that has spent the last few decades reinventing itself, and it is worth giving yourself a morning here before you head out. The Lagan river runs through the middle toward Belfast Lough, and on its banks stand the two enormous yellow cranes of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, known as Samson and Goliath, where the Titanic was built and launched in 1911. The area around them is now the Titanic Quarter, with a big museum shaped like the prow of a ship. The city's other great landmark is the hills; Cave Hill, whose cliff face is said to have inspired Swift's idea of a sleeping giant, rises right behind the north of the city.

   Politics and history are everywhere here, and visitors who take a walking or taxi tour of the murals will understand a lot about the Troubles and the peace that came after. Away from that, the Cathedral Quarter and the city's pubs are lively, with live music most nights and food that has become genuinely good. Stop for an Ulster fry if you are hungry; it is the sort of breakfast that sets you up for a long ride.

   For motorbikes, Belfast is the start of the Causeway Coastal Route, one of the best roads in the British Isles. You leave north along the A2 through Carrickfergus, with its Norman castle, and then follow the coast of Antrim past Larne and the Glens, with the sea on one side and green hills on the other. It is a big road, sometimes slow behind lorries and tourists, but rewarding in clear weather, with the Scottish coast visible across the water on good days. Rain comes in fast, so be ready.

   Fuel and food are no trouble in a city of this size, with filling stations on all the major roads out. Traffic is heavy at rush hour, particularly on the Westlink and the M2, so aim to leave between nine and ten. You will find plenty of secure parking near the city centre, and many of the hotels have bike spaces.

2. Carrickfergus scenic

   Carrickfergus has a Norman castle that has been standing guard over Belfast Lough for more than eight hundred years, and it is a fine place to begin a ride along the Antrim coast. John de Courcy, an Anglo-Norman adventurer, built it in the 1170s after seizing a swathe of Ulster, and the stout keep, curtain walls and gatehouse have survived sieges, bombardments and centuries of garrison life. It is among the best-preserved medieval castles in Ireland, and it sits right on the shore, with waves lapping at the rocks and ferries and ships passing in the lough beyond.

   William of Orange landed here in June 1690 on his way to the Battle of the Boyne, and a plaque and a statue on the quayside mark the spot. The town is also the ancestral home of the parents of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, and a small cottage of the Ulster-Scots tradition is preserved nearby. The mixture of Norman, Scottish and English history gives the old town a strong sense of identity, and it is rather underrated by those speeding past on the motorway.

   The Causeway Coastal Route starts or ends here, depending on your direction, and the first miles along the A2 are mostly urban, with traffic lights, roundabouts and the commuter flow from Belfast. It is not the exciting section, but it is the gateway, and the road soon opens out along the lough shore, with views across the water to the hills of County Down. The surface is generally good, and speed limits are strictly applied, with cameras. Weather in Northern Ireland changes rapidly, so a waterproof layer is sensible at any time of year. Spring and early summer bring long evening light, and September is often calm and clear.

   Offshore, the lough is busy with ships, and on the other side of the peninsula to the east, the Gobbins cliff path on Islandmagee is a dramatic walkway along sea cliffs, with bridges and tunnels, which can be reached by a short ride. The marina at Carrickfergus has cafés and a pleasant promenade, where gulls, oystercatchers and, in winter, brent geese feed on the shore.

   With a population of nearly thirty thousand, the town has fuel stations, supermarkets, banks and plenty of places to eat. It is the last big stop before the coast road proper, so fill up here, take a coffee on the quay, and walk the castle walls if you have time. Ulster fry, a hearty plate of bacon, sausage, eggs and soda bread, is the traditional breakfast to set you up.

3. Cushendun scenic

   Cushendun looks like a Cornish village that has been dropped, by mistake, on the coast of County Antrim, and in a sense it was. In the 1920s, the local landowner, Ronald McNeill, Lord Cushendun, commissioned the Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis, the creator of Portmeirion, to design a set of cottages around the green in memory of his Cornish wife. The result is a neat curve of whitewashed houses with slate roofs, now owned by the National Trust, and quite different in style from anything else on the Antrim coast. It is a quiet, small place, with a beach, a river mouth and a pub, and it has the feeling of a secret.

   The village stands at the foot of Glendun, one of the nine Glens of Antrim, a series of deep green valleys cut into the plateau. Scotland is startlingly close here: on a clear day, the Mull of Kintyre can be seen across the North Channel, only about twenty kilometres away. The sea caves at the end of the beach, carved into red sandstone, have featured in a famous television fantasy series. Irish and Scottish Gaelic cultures have long mingled in this corner of the island, and the Glens still have a distinct identity.

   The coast road between Cushendall and Ballycastle, the A2, is the best part of the Causeway route for riders. It rises and falls along the cliffs, with long sweeping views of the sea and the glens, bends that come in a pleasing rhythm, and a surface that is generally good. Traffic is lighter than on the Causeway end, though still busy in the summer holiday season. The weather can be changeable, with sea mist, drizzle and strong winds, and a clear day is a gift. The best time of year is late spring and early summer, when the gorse is in bloom and the days are long.

   The scenery is gentle yet wild: green fields running to the cliff edge, white-washed farmhouses, and the dark outline of Rathlin Island on the horizon. Seabirds nest on the cliffs, and basking sharks and porpoises are sometimes spotted offshore in summer. Look for the carved wooden benches and small stone memorials along the route.

   Cushendall, about eight kilometres to the south, has a petrol station, and Ballycastle, sixteen kilometres north-west, is the largest nearby town with supermarkets and services. A quiet stroll along the beach in the evening light is an excellent way to end the day.

4. Carrick a Rede scenic

   Fishermen first strung a rope bridge across the chasm at Carrick-a-Rede some two and a half centuries ago, so that they could reach a small island where Atlantic salmon swam close to the rocks on their way to the rivers. The name comes from the Irish for the rock in the road, meaning the obstacle that salmon face on their journey. Today the bridge, owned by the National Trust, is a steel-and-timber structure about twenty metres long and some thirty metres above the sea, and it sways just enough to give a thrill without the terror.

   The approach is on foot. From the car park on the cliff, a footpath about a kilometre long follows the headland, with the sea on one side and green grass and basalt cliffs on the other. The view across the channel to Rathlin Island and the Scottish coast on a clear day is among the best on this coast. The crossing itself takes only a few minutes, and on the island, you can look back at the cliffs and watch seabirds wheeling below your feet, including fulmars, guillemots and razorbills. In windy weather the bridge closes, and there are timed tickets, which in summer should be booked online ahead of time, since walk-ups often find the day sold out.

   The road to it, the B15, is a short, narrow coastal lane leaving the A2 near Ballintoy, with a few bends and gentle climbs, and the traffic in summer queues for the car park. It is a pleasant, rolling ride, with fields of sheep and cattle, low stone walls and sudden glimpses of the sea. Ballintoy Harbour, just along the coast, is a tiny cove with black basalt rocks, and it has appeared on screen as an island in a fantasy series. The lane down to it is steep and narrow, with a very tight turn at the bottom, so take it slowly.

   The geology is volcanic: the cliffs here are basalt and chalk, left by lava flows and later layers of sea-bed sediment. Look for white chalk beneath the black basalt, and the rich green clifftop grass where wild flowers bloom in early summer. Seals sometimes bask on the rocks.

   Ballycastle, about seven kilometres to the east, has stations, shops and cafés, and it is also the ferry port for Rathlin Island. Arrive early or late to avoid the crowds, and take a warm layer, because the wind on the headland is cold.

5. Giants Causeway scenic

   About sixty million years ago, lava poured across what is now the Antrim coast, and as it cooled, it cracked into columns, most of them hexagonal, tens of thousands of them, packed together like a vast honeycomb. That, in short, is the Giant's Causeway, and the science is simple enough, though the sight is still strange. The columns rise in steps from the sea, some forty or fifty centimetres across, with tops as flat as tabletops, forming a causeway that disappears into the waves. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

   The legend is better. According to Irish tradition, the giant Finn McCool built the causeway as a path to Scotland so that he could fight his rival Benandonner, but when he saw how big the Scottish giant was, he ran home and disguised himself as a baby. Benandonner took one look at the size of the baby and fled in terror, tearing up the causeway behind him. Identical columns exist at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa, which gives the tale a certain geological logic.

   Another piece of history lies offshore. In 1588, the Spanish Armada galleass Girona, carrying hundreds of survivors from other wrecked ships, was driven onto rocks near here, and nearly all aboard died. Treasure from the wreck, found in the 1960s, is now in the Ulster Museum in Belfast. A small cove nearby is called Port na Spaniagh in memory of the disaster.

   For the rider, the Causeway is the crowning stop of the coastal route. The A2 from Ballycastle and the B146 and B15 near Bushmills wind along the coast with big views and good surfaces, though summer traffic is heavy and the narrow lanes near the site are congested. The visitor centre, run by the National Trust, has a large car park, and the walk down to the stones takes about fifteen minutes, with a shuttle bus for those who prefer not to walk. Boots are better than bike boots on the wet rocks. Spring and autumn are the best times for fewer crowds and dramatic skies, and the weather is as changeable as ever.

   Bushmills, a few kilometres away, is the home of the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland, with a licence dated 1608, and tours and tastings are available. Portrush, about ten kilometres to the west, is the nearest sizeable town with fuel, supermarkets and seaside amusements. A bowl of seafood chowder with soda bread at a café in Bushmills is the standard lunch.

6. Derry finish

   Derry, or Londonderry depending on who you ask, is the only city in Ireland that still has its complete medieval-style walls. They were built between 1613 and 1618 by London guilds as part of the Plantation of Ulster, and they run for about a mile around the old town, wide enough to walk along and studded with cannon. During the Siege of 1688 and 1689, thirteen apprentice boys shut the gates against a Catholic army, and the city held out for 105 days, which is a story still told with strong feeling on both sides.

   Later history was harder. In 1969 and 1972 the Bogside district below the walls was the stage for the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday, and the murals there, painted by local artists, are part of how the city remembers those years. It would be wrong to treat any of it as a tourist sideshow. The Peace Bridge, opened in 2011, curves across the River Foyle between the two sides of the city, and a visit to the Guildhall, with its stained glass and big clock, tells a more cheerful story of modern Derry.

   For a rider the main thing to know is that Derry is the end of the Causeway Coastal Route and a gateway to the Atlantic coast beyond. A few miles to the east, the A2 runs along Lough Foyle toward Limavady, with the basalt cliffs of Binevenagh above, and then the Downhill Strand and its clifftop temple. West is Donegal and the Wild Atlantic Way, which would take another few days to do properly. The roads are wide, usually well surfaced, and the wind off the sea can be strong.

   Derry is a city of well over eighty thousand, so there is no shortage of fuel, food and bed. The walled town has pubs with live traditional music most nights, and the cafés near the Guildhall do a good strong tea. Parking on the street within the walls is limited, so use a car park on the edge and walk in. Take time to walk the full circuit of the walls before you go.

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