We left Tandragee around 10, headed for a night in Portrush followed by a day trip to Rathlin Island. We made a couple of stops for shopping and lunch and then arrived at Carrick a Rede bridge
Lots of tour buses in the parking lot
The walk out to the bridge was just beautiful but Liz and I decided to enjoy the day on a nice bench when we came to the long set of stone stairs. Here’s some scenery shots
Tom and Maurice carried on to the bridge and here they are coming back up the steps. Loads of tourists but I’m sure nothing like what it would be at the height of summer. Heard quite a few US accents and there seemed to be several Asian student groups.
Back in the car we continued on to Portrush and the Royal Court Hotel, our destination for the night and launching pad for our next days ferry ride to Rathlin Island. The Royal Court is a quintessential Irish hotel perched on a cliff overlooking the sea
After we settled in to our rooms we went down for a beach walk; great combination of some exercise and dinner appetite enhancer. I need the first far more than the second! Note the super crazy guy swimming with no wetsuit in the Irish sea!
Very nice dinner in the hotel which finished up just in time for sunset viewing on the patio. Wagers were placed on time for complete sun below the horizon. Tom won with 9:43. 
Early breakfast and then we were off to the Rathlin Island Ferry. It was about a 45 minute trip to the island and the shuttle bus was waiting to take us up to the sea bird area, about 4 miles from the ferry landing. The island also has a number of walking trails but I expect that the sea birds are the main attraction, especially the puffins.
Quite the walk down to the viewing platform including these stairs
The birds are all flying around and nesting in these cliffs and rocks. The little information center hands out binoculars and there are numerous volunteer and paid rangers that have telescopes set up and actively engage you in discussion about the birds. We enjoyed meeting a young woman from Germany doing a gap year and working on Rathlin. Puffins, not so much. Only saw a few down on the rocks so we were a bit early in the season but the other birds put on an excellent show including a few territory smackdowns!
On the way back the Puffin Bus dropped us off a bit before the Ferry landing so we had a nice stroll and looked at the seals lounging on the rocks and the wildflowers.
And last but not least, a classic Irish lunch
We stopped on the way home for a lovely visit with Ivan and Jean and all slept very well that night!