Dawn Xiana Moon: Intelligent folk pop with influences from jazz and traditional Chinese music. From Chicago.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Of Giants and Heroes

I booked the tour through Northern Ireland for two reasons: Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. One is a series of natural formations that almost look like they were built by man, and the other brought all my Indiana Jones fantasies to life.

The story is that the Irish giant Finn McCool built a bridge so that he could reach his rival, the Scottish giant Benandonner, and challenge him to a battle. However, when Finn crossed the bridge and saw the other giant, he discovered that Benandonner was much larger than he'd thought and ran home, afraid, without giving the challenge. Benandonner saw the bridge and decided on his own to challenge his Irish rival, but Finn saw him coming and panicked. Finn's wife disguised him as a baby and told him to hide in a cradle and pretend to be their son. When Benandonner knocked on the door, Finn's wife told him that Finn was not home - the only other person in their house was their son. Benandonner took one look at Finn-as-son and said, "If this huge child is Finn's son, Finn must be huge!" He was afraid and ran home, destroying the bridge in the process.

The reality is less exciting, involving lava and volcanic eruptions, but there is a similar rock formation in Scotland. The day we visited, it had rained for hours in the morning so that the rocks were slippery and the wind was so strong it was sometimes an effort to remain upright, but it made for an adventure. I would have loved to spend the entire afternoon there instead of the hour and a half we got on the tour.

With the weather, we were lucky that Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge was open - the National Trust closes the bridge when the weather is uncooperative (it's generally a good policy to keep the tourists alive). The bridge was built by fishermen so that they could reach an area that would allow them to catch more salmon, but to see it from a distance you can picture Indiana Jones running across in order to escape Nazis or tribal natives who want to kill him. Up close, it's actually quite sturdy, even though it does sway and bounce with strong wind - given that thousands of visitors cross the bridge each year, the fact that you walk across on wide, wood planks (instead of whatever I was imagining) makes sense. That said, it's still narrow - you have to cross the bridge in single file - and only eight people are allowed on it at once.

Labels: Ireland, travel

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