Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [592]
Turn left here and climb steeply up Vennel St, then left again immediately after the last house along the Layde Path to the viewpoint, which has a grand view of the village and the coast.
Riverside House B&B ( 2884 1474; faith.pa@btopenworld.com; 13 Toberwine St; s/d £35/50; ) is a nicely restored Georgian house in the heart of the old village. The two double rooms have chunky pine furniture and views over the river to Glenarm Castle. The B&B doubles as a cafe, and there’s another good tearoom in Glenarm Castle’s walled garden.
See Carnlough section (left) for details of bus services.
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LARNE
pop 17,600
As a major port for ferries from Scotland, Larne (Lutharna) is one of Northern Ireland’s main points of arrival. However, with its concrete overpasses and the huge chimneys of Ballylumford power station opposite the harbour, poor old Larne is a little lacking in the charm department. After a visit to the excellent tourist information centre, there’s no real reason to linger.
Larne Harbour train station is in the ferry terminal. It’s a short bus ride or a 15-minute walk from here to the town centre – turn right on Fleet St and right again on Curran Rd, then left on Circular Rd. At the big roundabout, Larne Town train station is to your left, the tourist information centre ( 2826 0088; larnetourism@btconnect.com; Narrow Gauge Rd; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri & 10am-4pm Sat Easter-Sep, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Oct-Easter) is to the right, and the bus station is ahead (beneath the road bridge).
Getting There & Away
BOAT
For information on ferries from Larne to Scotland and England, Click here.
BUS
Bus 256 provides a direct service between the town centre and Belfast (£4, one hour, hourly Monday to Friday, six Saturday, plus two on Sunday July to September only).
Heading north to the Glens of Antrim, take bus 162 (see left) or the Antrim Coaster (Click here).
TRAIN
Larne has two train stations, Larne Town and Larne Harbour. Trains from Larne Town to Belfast Central (£6, one hour) depart at least hourly; those from the harbour are timed to connect with ferries. From Belfast Central you can continue to Botanic, City Hospital and Great Victoria St stations.
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ISLANDMAGEE
Islandmagee (Oileán Mhic Aodha) is the finger of land that encloses Larne Lough to the east. There’s a popular sandy beach at Brown’s Bay at the northern end of the peninsula. Nearby is the picturesque little harbour of Portmuck and, just 300m offshore, the North’s second-largest seabird nesting colony on Muck Island.
On the east coast lie the rugged basalt sea cliffs known as the Gobbins. The cliffs were developed as a tourist attraction in 1902, when a railway company engineer built a spectacular footpath along the coast from Whitehead, complete with steps, iron bridges and tunnels cut from the rock. By WWII the path had fallen into disrepair, and was closed for safety reasons. You can see photographs of the walkway in its heyday at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
There’s a good coastal walk from the car park at the north end of the promenade in Whitehead. It follows a walkway around the sea cliffs beneath Black Head lighthouse, past several deep caves, then climbs a steep flight of stairs to the lighthouse itself. From here you can descend a zigzag path to rejoin the shoreline trail back to the car park (3.5km in total).
From May to December the high-speed launch North Irish Diver offers two-hour boat trips ( 9338 2246; www.northirishlodge.com) from Whitehead harbour to the Gobbins and Muck Island (adult/child £20/15, minimum six people, arrange in advance).
There are also boat trips to the Gobbins from Bangor. Blue Aquarius ( 07779 600607; www.bangorboat.com) offers trips from Bangor Harbour to the Gobbins on Fridays in late May and June only (adult/child £16/10).
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CARRICKFERGUS
pop 28,000
Northern Ireland’s most impressive medieval fortress commands