Retreat to Ballycastle

As part of the Dublin Writers Program there is a Writer’s Retreat to an unknown destination. The location is kept a complete secret until we arrive. No joke, we got on the bus with only speculations of where we’d end up. All that we knew as the bus drove out of Dublin was that we were heading north. After roughly two hours, I got a sense of deja vu. The bus was slowing down in Belfast, Northern Ireland and things began to look very familiar. We stopped outside the Ulster Museum which was to be a two hour stop before we continued on our way. 

I was excited to be back in Belfast and to go to the Museum which we hadn’t had a chance to visit when in Belfast during Midterm Break. The Ulster Museum is about five stories and you work your way down from the top in a spiral. One of the first things on display is the blackboard titled “Differences” from Season 2 of Derry Girls! The Ulster Museum covers a large range of art, including the works of Lavery and Yeats as well as installations by artists from a nearby art school. Then, there are galleries that cover the history of Ireland. I also stumbled across an Egyptian exhibit and got jumpscared by a mummy. The gallery on the Troubles is very moving. I would definitely recommend a visit to the Ulster Museum if you find yourself in Belfast.

From Belfast, we continued north until we reached Ballycastle on the coast, our retreat destination. Ballycastle is a beautiful beach front town. The view is one you will never tire of. I don’t think I can properly describe how gorgeous and peaceful and inviting it was. We had an hour before dinner to explore the area. The moment we were cut loose the boys were swimming in the sea. I did put my feet in and, wow, was it freezing! From the beach of Ballycastle you can see Rathlin Island with its blinking lighthouse, and even farther in the distance you can see Scotland! Again, I could have looked at that view for a very long time.

The next morning we got up around 7:00 A.M. to go out on the beach to watch the sunrise. We walked down along the beach as the tide was coming in and then up on the grassy cliffs that overlook the harbor. As we walked back we saw a pod of dolphins, playing and leaping in the water! Incredible! 

Most of the group went to the Giant’s Causeway on the second day. Since my friends and I had been there the week before, we decided to hang back and explore Ballycastle some more. We had lunch at the Shorebird Coffee Hut which is right on the beach—the perfect place to be cozy and enjoy the amazing sights. From there we continued to the ruins of the Bonamargy Friary. Online the ruins may not seem like much but we spent two hours easily wandering around. The Friary ruins are bizarrely in the middle of the golf course but they are open to the public. The Friary is from the 15th century and the ghost of the Black Nun is said to still reside there. The Friary was incredibly atmospheric. The ground was covered in long, lush, green grass, damp and uneven, littered with broken and sinking headstones. Sometimes when we put a foot forward and it sank farther than anticipated, there was the delightful spooky feeling that something or someone might just reach up and grab hold of us. We had great fun going back and forth between deciphering old headstones, surmising why family members may be on opposite sides of the graveyard, and psyching ourselves out, sending chills up our spines. Most of the other grave markers we discovered were from between 1811 and 1972. One of us liked to touch the headstones and we wondered if we’d wake up in our hotel room to find 15th and 19th century ghosts watching over us. As we were heading to the exit, we spotted some tucked away graves and found that they were the resting places of servicemen from the First and Second World Wars. After tracing out the inscription on the monument, we found out that the bodies of the First World War sailors had washed up on the Ballycastle shore during the war and were only later identified. We headed back toward the hotel as clouds started to roll in. Up until then, the weather had been so idyllic.

After dinner, we decided to watch Titanic. There is sooo much Titanic history in Ireland, and there had now been enough time to let the Titanic Experience in Belfast settle in, that we thought it was time to watch the iconic film. Wi-fi and streaming services were a challenge but after an hour, yes, we were that determined, we started the three hour film. I personally love the film, especially for the historical research and production design that went into it, and, of course, because of Leonardo Di Caprio, I won’t deny it. After having been to the museums in Belfast and Cobh, there were so many more details included in the film that I had never picked up on before! Wow! Very worth watching it, even if we stayed up till 2:30 A.M.!

On our final day in Ballycastle, we rose a bit later, but still had time to sit out overlooking the beach with our coffees and discuss our favorite books. Does it get better than that? Our visit also coincided with the Ballycastle Remembrance Day ceremony for the servicemen and women who participated in the World Wars. The community gathers to lay red poppy wreaths on the memorial. 

I think we all agreed that we could easily spend a week in Ballycastle but it was time to head home. We detoured West to Amargh to see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and then continued on to Dublin, arriving home around 6pm. A wonderful retreat and I would love in the future to return to Ballycastle!