Travel Diaries: Carrick Rope Bridge

Hello and welcome to Friday! For being a short week I sure was able to pack a ton in – both personally and professionally  And while sure earlier this week I wrote about pom pom hats but to be honest, I am really not ready to give up the gorgeous warm weather of Florida and as my tan starts to fade it is starting to set in – back to reality.  But Sparkles & Shoes is my little escape from that so instead of showing you pictures I took last week of the Gulf of Mexico like this one or this one let’s take it back a little bit further to some other crystal blue water about 4,194 miles away from Naples, Florida – the Carrick Rope Bridge located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Formally called the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge this off-the beaten path landmark on my full day journey to Northern Ireland where I also visited on the day I went to Belfast and the Giants Causeway. However, this unexpected hour long detour on our day was so pretty and so out of the blue it really deserved it’s own post.  And in case the description of where it is did not make sense, here it is on a map.    (And for the loyal S&S readers, you have not missed those posts in my Ireland travel recaps, they are still to come!)   Taking the fact that I have been on some pretty long rope bridges paired with my love affair with Pinterest and my favorite bloggers, like Taza’s trip to the Bellwald Bride in Switzerland, had me picturing something half the length of a football field when I heard we were going to a rope bridge but the Carrick Rope Bridge is only 20 meters (65 feet) long and 30 meters above the rocky, sandy bottom of the Northern Atlantic Ocean.  Still can’t picture it?  Take a look at our visit on a very cold and overcast October afternoon: