An Irish Sunset #DiscoverNI

After a nice supper, Dan and I headed back to meet Brian, our wonderful host, at Kilmail Country Chalet. Brain had offered to take us to an overlook to watch the sunset and we graciously accepted. We would have never experienced the wonder of this place without him. Our first stop was Downhill Beach. We proceeded to drive onto the beach and headed closer towards the Mussenden Temple where one could see the train coming from or going to Coleraine passing through the mountain tunnel.

Downhill Beach is used in the filming of Game of Thrones as Dragonstone, where the Seven Idols of Westeros were burned and Melisandre, as flames dancing into the night sky, proclaimed: “For the night is dark and full of terrors.”

From Downhill Strand, we traveled along a twisting road (The Bishops Road) to higher ground to take in the sunset. This location, Binevenagh Mountain, was very much off the beaten path and not on our itinerary. We were lucky to have Brian there who shared countless facts and history about these places. The mountain also holds another gem, a statue of a Celtic sea god, Manannan Mac Lir. In the tales, he is said to own a boat named Scuabtuinne (“wave sweeper”), a sea-borne chariot drawn by the horse Enbarr (“water foam”), a powerful sword named Fragarach (“the answerer”), and a cloak of invisibility (féth fíada). He is seen as the ruler and guardian of the Otherworld.