Storms and hideaways on Ballycastle beach

Shelter from the storm

It's a cloudy and windy day on Ballycastle beach, and the waves are choppy. Nevertheless, it's still clear enough to see the hills of Scotland beyond the prominent Irish cliff of Fair Head. Someone's also been busy on the beach, leaving a wee shelter to hide in, away from the wind and rain. 

Here in the north-east corner of Ireland, you can get clear days and grey days. However, you will find a busy beach with a steady traffic of dogwalkers, hangovers and visitors from near and far. This eclectic bunch needs fresh sea air, to shower their heads, as the popular expression goes. 

Alongside the beach runs the local golf club, which surrounds an ancient church, Bonamargy Friary. Here, the brave and bold local clan chief Sorley Boy MacDonnell rests. It is also the residence of Julia MacQuillen, the Black Nun, a ghostly resident said to be a former inhabitant. 

As you go on out towards Fair Head, you pass Marconi's Cottage, an important landmark in the invention of radio. Ballycastle was a base of operations for Guglielmo Marconi's transmission experiments over a century ago. These experiments culminated in the world's first successful commercial wireless telegraph between Ballycastle and nearby Rathlin Island. 

So the place has a nice smattering of mythology which you can read a wee bit about here, history, scenery and there is also a few nice bars and restaurants in the town. All of this is topped off with a lovely stretch of beach to keep your lungs full of fresh air. Just don't forget the woolly hat. You'll be glad of it with the north wind sweeping down from the Arctic!