A Causeway Coastal Road trip November 2022 Day 3
As we began our final day of this trip we were filled with excitement heading to photograph the icons of icons The Dark Hedges. Now it may not have been a seascape location, however it was certainly a location that was on my personal list to photograph having first seen an image of this many years ago by photographer Peter Cox as featured in his calendar. I wanted to visit here right from that moment, firstly to experience it and secondly to get my own shot of it.
The Dark Hedges is an avenue of beech trees along Bregagh Road between Armoy and Stranocum in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The trees form an atmospheric tunnel that has been used as a location in HBO's popular television series Game of Thrones, which has resulted in the avenue becoming a popular tourist attraction. In about 1775, James Stuart built a new house, named Gracehill House, after his wife Grace Lynd. Over 150 beech trees were planted along the entrance road to the estate, to create an imposing approach. According to legend, the hedges are visited by a ghost called the Grey Lady, who travels the road and flits across from tree to tree. She is claimed to be either the spirit of James Stuart's daughter (named "Cross Peggy"), one of the housemaids who died mysteriously, or a spirit from an abandoned graveyard beneath the fields, who on Halloween is joined on her visitation by other spirits from the graveyard. (WIKI )
Due to it’s new found popularity it was going to be important that we arrived early to avoid the inevitable impending crowds, and as we rocked up around an hour before dawn we could see that we weren’t the only ones with this idea. There was a jeep parked up at the side of the road - was it the grumpy farmer from last night again, hungry for his fifty pounds, or was it someone parked there to stop others from driving up? At this stage we weren’t sure, and as we approached we discovered it was a guy just sitting there looking at his phone. Nonetheless we pressed ahead and placed our tripods in the middle of the road, composed our shots, and waited. It seemed that arriving early was going to pay off as we were the only photographers on location and with zero chance of someone getting in the way, or so we thought, we waited patiently for the light to arrive.
Within 20 minutes however we discovered the phone jeep guy was about to ruin our parade. Another car rocked up, out popped a newlywed couple, and the phone jeep man greeted them with his camera in his hand. He was indeed a photographer and was gong to take some shots of the happy couple. As they walked towards us the thought occurred that perhaps we were in HIS way, so we said good morning, only to be totally blanked as he dropped his head and ushered his subject on past us. It was clear now that HE was going to be in our way. Now its a public road and none of us has any right or ownership of it, but that being said I would have expected him to acknowledge us and perhaps say, guys I am just going to head up there to get some shots of this beautiful couple, but alas he didn’t, he walked right into our scene and continued to do so for the next 40 minutes. Was our shoot now going to be spoiled by this inconsiderate so and so?
Up and down the road he went, right in the middle of the road, it was impossible for him NOT to be in our frames, so we decided to ask the Legend “Paddy” Murtagh to break out his skateboard and skate up and down for some shots so he would hide the other subjects that were constantly in our frames. When he eventually came back down the road towards us, he finally twigged that perhaps he had been in our way the whole time. When he saw the exact composition that we were shooting, the undulating rise and fall of the road as it is shrouded by these haunting trees, and finally said, “sorry guys I am just going to grab a couple of shots here”, we of course didn’t object. Instead, we decided to take some shots of the couple for ourselves, after all, never miss an opportunity!
The joke however was on him in the end, for just as he was driving away the light finally arrived and it lit up the avenue with some glorious illumination. The light also brought the birds out from their sleep and they began to flutter around in between the branches, all lending themselves to a more dynamic shot and adding some depth to the scene. Ideally we would have loved to have some fog/mist for the shoot, but it was good to take the opportunity when it arrived, and the images that we captured were better than expectations. Now it started to get busy, the expected coaches were arriving and so were the people and crowds.
It was time for breakfast now, so we headed over to the carpark to cook off a fine fry. It was time to say goodbye to Richard, as he went home for his breakfast and wouldn’t join us for the remainder of the day. We continued up the coast to the north east to briefly visit the famous Carrick-a-reed rope bridge before finally arriving for our last location, the out of this world Murlough Bay.
Arriving at the top of the cliffs we could see a road that led right down to the water’s edge. The gradient of this was quite extreme, and by the time we reached the bottom we could have fried eggs from the van’s brake calipers. One thing was clear; this place was absolutely stunning. The views on the way down were spectacular and my excitement grew as we rounded each bend; this was going to be EPIC, and even better, the clouds were finally parting and with persistent showers it meant we had the chance of rainbows.
Murlough Bay (from Irish: Murlach, meaning 'Sea Inlet') in County Antrim, Northern Ireland is a bay on the north coast of Northern Ireland between Fair Head and Torr Head. It is known for its outstanding beauty and remote location, with close views of Rathlin Island and across the sea to the Mull of Kintyre, Islay, Jura and various other Scottish islands. The local geology is typical of the Antrim topography with basalt overlaying sandstone and limestone. The area has many kilns used in the production of lime. (WIKI )
Even though there was so much to see here I was immediately drawn towards a tree that stood proud on the hillside, and with the impending chance of light and rainbows myself, Diarmuid & Patrick made the quick hike up. Not long into this the light appeared and graced us with a rainbow off in the distance, and visible in this distance was the headland of Scotland, yes Scotland! We were right at the tip of the eastern point of Northern Ireland; Diarmuid even recommended that we head over on his jet ski, so perhaps that will be an adventure for another day.
As we sat there at the top of this hillside for a couple of hours, we got some great mixed light conditions and I managed to rattle off a few shots before finally deciding to send up my own drone for some aerial footage. Boy was I glad I did. The shapes of the rocks here, combined with the mountains in the distance, all worked out a treat and I managed to capture some fantastic footage for my vlog as well as some great images.
Sadly however our time was up and even though there was still plenty to explore and photograph, we had to hit the road. It will most definitely be a location I will return to. I would like to spend a couple of days there, to see how the light plays with the undulating hill tops and to grab some seascape shots from the great rocks that lined the bay. If you ever get the chance yourself, visit this location, it’s family friendly too so I will no doubt try to bring my own family someday.
As we hit the road we said goodbye to Patrick; another highly successful photography trip was over. Great memories were made and friendships formed and solidified even more. I was really looking forward to getting home, to see my family, put my feet up, and to review what I had captured from this truly stunning part of Ireland.
You can watch both parts of this adventure here or click the link at the end to watch the entire Causeway Coast series.
