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We had a bit of a lie in before checking out today. The Titanic Hotel has nearby parking which is handy both for this and the neighbouring Titanic Museum. The ticket can be validated when checking out of the hotel and the parking charge is discounted by 50% when you pay at the pay station.
We didn’t opt for breakfast as it is pricey and only fancied something lighter than a full breakfast. Instead of picking up the motorway when leaving Belfast, we headed along the more picturesque Causeway Coastal Route and spotted a Spar at Whiteabbey, which is a few miles out of Belfast. It was handy as it had a hot deli so sausage sandwiches were ordered and demolished pretty quickly.
Further up the coast at Carrickfergus, the streets were decorated with Union Jacks and England flags as we drove through. This is a usual sight around this part of Northern Ireland as well as forming part of the celebrations of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee.
We also stopped briefly to take shots of a few murals in Tullygarley on the fringes of Larne. I have been unable to find any information about the mural that I photographed but could see that part of it was a roll of honour to men lost in WW1.
There are many beautiful places to see including many areas of natural beauty on the Causeway Costal Route, which we will hopefully visit on Friday. This included Black Arch at Drains Bay, Whitebay and a lovely town called Glenarm. Unfortunately time was not on our side today as we had already pre-booked the Bushmills Distillery tour at 2pm. The satnav was telling us that it would take a lot longer time wise by continuing on this route, so we headed inland towards Ballymena on the A42 Glencloy Scenic Route. This is quite a windy road that takes you up close to beautiful forests, and through villages of the Carnatroan Townland, with names such as The Sheddings, Aughafatten and Buckna. There are great views there of Mount Slemish. This hill is also known as Slieve Mish and is situated a few miles east of Ballymena. Tradition tells us that Saint Patrick had been enslaved as a youth, was brought to this area and tended sheep herds on Slemish, and this is where he found God.
We finally got back on to the M2 and A26 and arrived at Bushmills time to spare. This gave us chance to book into the Bushmills Inn Hotel http://www.bushmillsinn.com.
Once booked in, we headed to Bushmills Distillery, which is about 15 minutes’ walk from the Bushmills Inn. This is somewhere we had wanted to go the last time we came to Bushmills in 2021. However, Covid 19 restrictions meant that the oldest distillery in the world wasn’t open to the public then. Booking is recommended as people were getting turned away as booking slots were full all day /https://www.bushmills.eu/distillery/.
The tour started at 2pm, hosted by a man called Alan, who was very knowledgeable about whiskey and the distilling process. Mobile phones had to be switched off because we were entering areas that had an explosive atmosphere when going through the distillery. The whole tour took about 45 minutes and ended with Alan giving us all a generous measure from a choice of Bushmills whiskey. There was obviously a sales element to his talk, offering “exclusives” and whiskey that can only be bought from the distillery. Once this was over we were given the opportunity to try a whiskey flight for £25. It was expensive but then it’s all part of the experience and finished off the tour nicely. The exit to the bar is through the shop and meant that those of us who were feeling a little merry from the whiskey flight were now prime candidates to purchase the whiskey (which we did).
On leaving the distillery it was raining so used this as an excuse to go to another hostelry called the Bush House. It did feel a little bit like going into someone’s front room and we were warmly welcomed by staff and other customers.
Back to the hotel next, for a bit of a rest after our overindulgences. We were booked in for an evening meal at the hotel restaurant which offered plenty of choices on the menu. One fillet steak later, it was back to our room to settle in for the night.
jctraveller 
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