54412IRE
Giant’s Causeway visit
Bushmill’s Distillery visit
· Bushmills: You need cash for entrances to Bushmills Distillery. Ring ahead to confirm your reservation. Tel: 028 207 33218
· Causeway Visitor Centre. TM pays admission charge.
· Parking: Coaches can drop and pick up on site. Free coach parking in nearby Bushmills.
· Warn the group to be aware of the dangers of walking on the cliffs and rocks, particularly if the weather is bad and the sea rough.
· Warn the group to have Sterling currency for Northern Ireland.
Discuss with your driver where to stop en-route from Sligo to the Causeway.
Ballyboffey, Co Donegal could be a good stop. Tourism Information: 074 9132377 www.ballybofeystranorlar.com
Londonderry: Tourist information is close to banks of the River Foyle. Tel: 028 7126 7284 www.derryvisitor.com If at all possible would be wonderful to
Allow group an impression of Derry.
Giant’s Causeway – visit
2012 New Visitor Centre open. ACIS will incorporate this into a visit. Audio guides provided. On arrival let a member of the Causeway staff know you are there and then keep your whole group together as they will address your group on how the audio guides system works. Then the whole group will enter through the coachpark side of the visitor center where they will be handed their audio guides. Make a rendezvous for departure and point out the facilities on the way to the Causeway. It is a half-mile walk along a well-surfaced road to the Causeway. Allow at least an hour and a half for the visit. A two-mile circular walk is also possible along the cliff path to the Shepherd’s Steps and back via the Causeway. There are other paths continuing further along the coast taking in more geological formations and viewpoints.
If any people cannot manage the descent there is a regular shuttle bus. Charge of £1 per trip.
The Giants Causeway is a highly unusual geological formation sloping from the foot of cliffs into the sea. In legend it was created by the hero Fionn McCumhaill as a land bridge to Scotland, allegedly to allow him to romance a Scottish giantess on Isle of Staffa. More prosaically the 37,000 polygonal columns were the result of volcanic activity 60 million years ago and have since been eroded by the sea.
Bushmills – visit
You will have a pre-booked time for your tour. On arrival set down and make a rendezvous for departure. Lead the group into the distillery where the tour will start with an audio-visual presentation. A guided tour (25 min) follows and the visit finishes in the bar for a free tasting of the whiskey. The tours have a capacity of 18 people and are scheduled to run every 10 minutes so larger groups may have 2 different tour start times. Allow at least 1 ½ hours for the visit.
There is a bar and coffee shop but booking is essential for lunch.
Bushmills is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, producing a malt and two blends. It was granted its license in 1608 but distilling on the site by the River Bush is recorded as far back as 1276. St. Columb’s Rill rises in peaty ground and provides a pure supply of water.