About 40 thousand huge stone columns adjoin each other so closely that it seems that some giant, the hero of Irish myths and legends, installed them here. The diameter of these pillars is from 30 to 50 centimeters, they have even tops and several faces (a quarter has five, the rest has four, seven and even nine corners). The Path of the Giants (or, as it is also called, the Road of the Giants) is located in Northern Ireland, not far from the small town of Bushmills. It encircles the cliffs that are located on the coast of the Causeway Coast, and then gradually goes under water towards Scotland.

The scale of this amazing place is amazing. If you look at the Road of the Giants from above, then it really is extremely similar to a stone-paved road that stretches along the coast for 275 meters and goes into the Atlantic for another one and a half hundred meters.

The average height of the pillars is about six meters, although it is not uncommon to see columns twelve high. If you look at them from above, they are somewhat reminiscent of a honeycomb, since they organize hexagons among themselves, so closely spaced in relation to each other that it is quite difficult to insert even a thin knife between them.

Absolutely all the pillars are dark in color and incredibly hard - scientists explain this natural phenomenon by the fact that they consist mainly of basalt rich in magnesium and iron, which at the same time has a small amount of quartz. Thanks to this composition, the columns are able to successfully withstand the destructive effects of the winds and rough waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

The columns of the Giants' Causeway in Ireland form three groups of sites:

1. Big trail. The columns of this group are the largest and begin near the rocky mountains. At first they look like a cluster of huge stone steps, some of which reach up to six meters in height. Closer to the water, the steps gradually level off until they begin to form a stone-covered road, which is 20 to 30 meters wide.
2. Middle and Small trails. The pillars of these groups are located near the Great Path and, in shape, are more likely not like a road, but like barrows. Since each such column has a flat top, it is possible to move carefully (especially near water, because there they are extremely wet and slippery) from one column to another.
3. Staffa Island. 130 km from the coast there is a small desert island Staffa (in translation - "island of pillars"), on which there is, as it were, a continuation of these columns. Between these pillars is the main attraction of the island - a huge Fingal cave, which is about 80 meters long.

cliffs

The columns themselves on the Causeway Coast are located around the cliffs, which people later gave rather original names. for example, two of them were named after the Harp (the columns from this cliff descend to the coast in a curved line) and the Organ (the straight and high pillars that are located near it are very reminiscent of this musical instrument).

There are cliffs with such interesting names as the Giant's Loom, the Giant's Coffin, the Giant's Cannons, the Giant's Eyes. Here you can also look at the Giant's Shoe - a two-meter cobblestone that resembles these shoes (it was even calculated that the giant who wore such a product must be at least 16 meters tall).

Chimneys of Giant's Path

There is one more interesting place on the Giant's Road - Chimneys, which several centuries ago frightened the already defeated "Invincible Armada".

It happened for a simple reason. Some pillars of the Giant's Road in Ireland not only rise on the coast, but also look like the chimneys of a huge castle from the sea. The Spaniards confused him with him, and fired cannons at “enemy territory” - that is, an absolutely deserted territory.

This story ended badly for the Spaniards: their ship crashed against the rocks, and many people died. The treasures found from the ship, after they were raised from the bottom of the sea, can now be seen in the Ulster Museum, which is located in Belfast.

Legend

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Giant's Road has its own legends and myths that explain its appearance and formation.

The ancient Irish believed that the Giant's Road was built by the Irish giant Finn McCool in order to get to his sworn enemy, the Scot, who lived in the Hebrides, and fight him in order to decide who was stronger.

Further versions are slightly different from each other. According to one of them, seeing that his opponent is bigger and more powerful than him, Finn ran away. And when he saw that the Scot was chasing him, he persuaded his wife to swaddle him like a child and leave him to sleep on the shore. According to another version, while the Irishman was building the road, he was so tired that he fell asleep on the coast, and his wife, seeing that the rival was approaching, swaddled him and passed him off as a child.

In any case, seeing a huge "baby", the Scottish giant decided that it was better not to mess with his father and gave up, and so that the Irishman would not catch up with him, he destroyed the path.

Study of

Interestingly, the Road of the Giants became widely known only at the end of the 17th century, when the Bishop of Derry began to heavily advertise it. amazing place. And at the beginning of the 19th century, tourists began to appear en masse here.

Despite the fact that this area is the Department environment Northern Ireland announced national reserve, there are absolutely no areas closed to the public, and tourists can walk wherever they want and where they can go. This fact is quite liked by tourists in this country.

The Road of the Giants is unique in that, despite the fact that something similar exists in other parts of the globe, it is here that the largest accumulation of such pillars is located. There is nothing surprising in the fact that for many centuries scientists have debated how exactly the Path arose.

Some of them assured that the giant pillars are actually huge crystals that arose a long time ago at the bottom. ancient sea. Others said that the columns are actually petrified bamboo forest.

In our time, most scientists agreed that the largest lava plain in Europe once existed here. It was formed thanks to a huge layer of limestone, which is located under the territory of Northern Ireland. In ancient times, molten lava flowed out through its faults during volcanic eruptions, which covered the earth with a layer of 180 meters, after which it began to cool and harden. And it didn’t become a shapeless mass because it was based on basalt.

After some time, during cooling, the lava began to slowly decrease in volume, and thanks to the basalt, hexagonal cracks formed on its surface. When the inner layers of magma began to cool, these cracks began to deepen and formed hexagonal columns.

This theory was confirmed by a group of scientists from Toronto, who, after experiments, were able to prove that the slower the magma cools, the larger the columns are. Thus, the secret of the appearance of such an amazing natural phenomenon how Ireland's Giant's Trail was uncovered... or not?

At the exhibition, where you can see in the photo the most Beautiful places Europe or even the most beautiful places in the world, a photo of the Giants' Trail in Ireland will be a must.

Any collection of photos of beautiful places on the planet cannot do without the sight of this mystical, stretching into the sea, an unknown road made of basalt polygons.

Road of the Giants Giant's Causeway- this is also called this natural phenomenon, located near the city of Bushmills on. The UK's Causeway Coast, where Giant's Causeway is located, has been declared a UNESCO site (along with the Causeway, of course) world heritage at the end of the last century, in 1986.

One of the most beautiful places in Europe is a set (about forty thousand) of mostly hexagonal basalt pillars up to twelve meters high standing close to each other. However, some of these natural columns have fewer - from four or more - up to eight corners, and the columns can also be made of andesite.

Scientists believe that this form of education arose during a volcanic eruption fifty to sixty million years ago. Hot basalt then broke through to the surface through the waters of the river, so the outer layers of lava instantly solidified as if multifaceted majestic columns were driven into the ground.

But the ancient Celtic legend explains this natural phenomenon, of course, differently. coastline of huge stone slabs and the stone pavement leading into the sea - the most unusual and most beautiful places in Europe, according to many - this is the work of the ancient giants. Or rather, one of them, the warrior Finn McKumal, who lived on the Irish coast. Across the strait from him, on the Scottish coast, the one-eyed giant Goll Mac Morna settled, constantly insulting the Irish hero. The Irishman decided to take revenge on the giant and began to build a bridge across the strait, driving into the seabed tightly to each other stone pillars. He spent seven days and nights building this bridge. Tired after hard work, Finn McKumal decided to rest and gain strength for the decisive battle with the giant.

The giant, finding this bridge at his side, ran to the Irish coast and began to break into Finn's house. The warrior's wife, frightened by the giant, conceived a trick: she swaddled her husband like a baby and gave him a soft, freshly baked cake. And she also treated the one-eyed giant Goll with fresh cakes, but only baked flat iron pans inside. The giant, who had broken his teeth on iron, looked with amazement at the “baby” Finn, who was eating such a “delicacy” and with horror imagined the father of this child. Realizing that he could not cope with such a giant, the giant Goll fled back to his home, destroying part of the stone bridge along the way.

Therefore, only the beginning of the Road of the Giants has survived to this day ...

Once again, nature is showing us one of its phenomenal tricks. On the coast of the northern part of Northern Ireland (forgive the tautology, but that's the way it is) is the Giant's Causeway. This unique phenomenon of nature looks like unusual pillars, the section of which is very similar to a honeycomb.

The pillars (or columns) are so tightly pressed against each other that even a knife cannot be stuck between them. Approximately the same fit large stones in the walls ancient city Sacsayhuaman, with the only difference being that people did it there, and nature here.

Road of the Giants on the map

• Geographic coordinates 55.240684, -6.511417
• The distance from the capital of Northern Ireland, the city of Belfast, is approximately 80 km.
• Distance to the nearest airport Derry about 50 km

It should be taken into account that Northern Ireland it is an administrative part of the UK, not a separate state.

The Giant's Road is located 3 kilometers north of the town of Bushmills.

This attraction has about 40,000 basalt columns interconnected. Most of the pillars are hexagonal, but there are also four, five, seven and octagonal specimens. Their height reaches 12 meters. The diameter of the pillars is from 30 to 50 cm.

Considering this unusual natural structure, it is hard to believe that it appeared by chance. According to the official version of scientists, such extraordinary columns arose after a volcanic eruption in antiquity. Active volcanic phenomena took place here 50-60 million years ago. Molten basalt flows formed huge lava fields. With rapid cooling, the volume of the substance was reduced, and horizontal compression contributed to the appearance of such geometrically regular structures.

There is another hypothesis according to which the Road of the Giants was formed as a result of convection of a viscous substance under conditions of cooling of the upper layers.

Local residents, of course, associate the appearance of this structure with an ancient legend.
It says that the hero of the Celtic myths, warrior, sage and seer Finn McKumal decided to measure his strength with a huge one-eyed monster named Goll, who lived in Scotland. But by some absurd accident or random absurdity, the heroic hero… was afraid to get his feet wet. Finn had to drive a whole lot of columns into the bottom of the sea - it turned out to be a kind of bridge on neighboring island. He was very tired and decided to sleep before the battle. While our hero was peacefully dreaming, Goll, without waiting for his opponent, himself came to visit him along the already built bridge. He was met by Uma, Finn's wife. Judging by the name, the lady was not stupid. She cheated a little: pointing to her sleeping husband, she said that he was her child. As you understand, this comrade did not at all resemble a child in size. Uma sat the giant at the table and began to treat him with cakes, in which she had previously baked iron pans. Other cakes (already without pans inside) she set aside for her husband. When Goll began to break his teeth, eating his treat, the awakened Finn calmly ate his cakes "on both cheeks." Realizing that if the baby is like that !!!, then his dad will be completely invincible, Goll runs away in a panic and destroys the bridge along the way, cutting off the path for persecution.

Whether the Road of the Giants appeared as it is said in myth or as scientists suggest is no longer so important. The main thing is that now we have one more unsolved and therefore very attractive natural attraction.

The Road of the Giants runs for more than 270 meters along the coast and about 150 meters along the bottom of the sea. All columns are very hard and have a dark color. This is due to the high content of magnesium and iron in their composition. Such a mixture of substances is practically not subject to destructive action. sea ​​waves and wind.

Close to the Giant's Road are cliffs with original titles. Harp Rock - its columns are curved and descend to the shore. The cliff of the Organ, whose pillars are straight and very similar to this huge musical instrument.
There are also cliffs Giant's Loom, Coffin and Giant's Eyes. Here you can still see the Giant's Shoe. This is a huge cobblestone in the form of shoes and 2 meters high.

• in 1986, UNESCO declared Giant's Causeway and the Causeway Coast, where it is located, a World Heritage Site, and only a year later, the Department of Environmental Protection awarded this place the status of a National Wildlife Refuge
• despite the fact that the Giant's Road has been here for thousands, and possibly millions of years, it was widely known only in the 17th century from the stories of the Bishop of Derry. And only at the beginning of the 19th century the first tourists came here.
• access for tourists here is nowhere and is not limited in any way
• in Scotland, on the island of Staffa, there is a unique one, the walls of which (like the coast of the island itself) consist of the same hexagonal basalt columns. Perhaps this is also part of the Road of the Giants

Road of the Giants photo

Giants Causeway- the most famous landmark of Northern Ireland.

I have long wanted to see her, and for me the Giant's Trail has become the strongest impression of the whole.

Imagine a rocky shore, breaking off towards the sea, which consists of individual faceted basalt columns, closely pressed against each other. The columns are predominantly hexagonal. Sometimes at the base of the column there is an almost regular hexagon, sometimes it is skewed - and not a six-, but an eight- or pentagon.

The columns were formed as a result of a series of volcanic movements, cooling and horizontal compression of lava, which included basalt.

The columns have different heights. Their accumulations form figures, for example, in the form of an organ, a palisade, a pedestal, a staircase. And the most remarkable site is a paved road that goes into the sea and disappears under water.

Actually, this section is called the Bridge of the Giants, or the Path of the Giants.

Path of the Giants(Giants Causeway) and the coast Causeway Coast were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986 UNESCO.

The Legend of the Origin of the Bridge of the Giants

Exist local legend about the emergence of this bridge. It tells about two giants who wanted to measure their strength.

One of them is the Irishman Finn McCool, the other is the Scot Goll. To meet his rival, Finn McCool paved a road through the Irish Sea from pillars driven into the seabed. The laying of the road so tired the giant that he fell asleep soundly.

Meanwhile, Goll crossed the bridge across the sea to Ireland to fight by force with an opponent. The cunning wife of Finn passed off her sleeping husband as their baby son, and Goll, afraid of meeting with the father of such a giant, ran away, destroying the road behind him. Only a small piece of pavement remained.

Trail of the Giants - how to get there

The Path of the Giants is located in the north of the island of Ireland, a hundred km from, 3 km from the town Bushmills.

How to get there:

By car– along the B147 Causeway road.

On the public transport - from Belfast by train to Coleraine, then by bus 172.

In Belfast, local travel agencies can book an excursion (there are even excursions from Dublin).

Visit the Giant's Trail

The trail is open from 9 am, and closes depending on the season:

• January, February, November, December - at 17
• March, April, May, June, September, October - at 18
• July, August - at 19. Last entry - one hour before closing.

The entrance to the National Park is through Tourist centre. It houses a museum, a toilet, a cafe, a gift shop and ticket offices.

Admission to Giants Causeway National Park costs £10.50 for adults (half price for children).

Along with the ticket, a route map and an audio guide are issued.

The audio guide doesn't make much sense. In the scheme, to be honest, too. Everything is intuitive. When I was preparing for the trip, I read that there are several routes along the rocks, which are divided according to the level of difficulty. In fact, the difficulty is about the same everywhere, and in a couple of hours you will pass all the routes marked on this map.

The logic is this: first everyone goes along the lower path along the sea. There is also a bus that takes you directly to the Giant's Trail. It is about 800 meters from the office. You should definitely go on foot (if you can), because the road is beautiful, and the bus goes fast - you won’t have time to take a picture or admire it ..

After the Path of the Giants, the road goes along the sea for some time, and then the serpentine begins, which leads to the upper path. Further, those who wish go along the rocks along the upper path: first to the east, then return to the office. Behind the office there is also a section of the trail that leads to the cape. From the cape, you can look at the Giants' Trail from a different angle.

Walk in the National Park

In the morning we left Belfast and in a couple of hours we were already approaching National park Giant's Causeway.

The weather was overcast. I read that it often rains here, and I usually came across photos from the Giant's Trail with rain.

The tourist center is inscribed in the rock and surrounded by dark columns imitating basalt columns on the Giants' Trail.

The first section is along the sea

After passing through the Tourist Center, we descend along the rocks along the road.

So far, everything looks ordinary, but strange, as if ordered stones are already appearing.

Pavement of the Giants

And here she is Pavement of the Giants. The tops of the columns form a kind of paving stones. In most cases columns different levels, but in some places they are aligned and merge into a single surface.

The coast consists of numerous faceted columns. The booklet says that there are over 40,000 basalt columns here.

Leg - for the scale of the columns

Here is a paved road

Side pavement looks like this

The trail takes you higher

steep Shepherds stairs climb to the edge of the cliff

and find ourselves on a green meadow with grazing calves.

View of the Bridge leading to the sea

You can clearly see the trail that we climbed. The path in the middle of the slope goes into the distance and leads to the so-called Organ - a rocky area with a number of tall columns. But in our time, the passage to the Organ was closed, we saw it only from above.

Upper trail

then among the heather fields,

it approaches the edge of the cliff.

From here, the Bridge of the Giants looks like a sharp cape. Behind her, a green “dinosaur head” peeks out of the water.

The views are breathtaking, and you want to go further and further, following the curves, descents and ascents coastline. I experienced similar enthusiasm in Normandy, on. By the way, the weather has cleared up.

"Organ Pipes"

Heather and bluebells among the grass

Unfortunately, at some point I had to turn back. Returning to the Giants' Trail, we looked at it from above. The population has increased significantly.

Bus to Bridge Giants. Top right is the Causeway Hotel. In the distance (left) is a large sand beach- the rocks have disappeared.

In conclusion, we also walked to this plateau

There are picnic benches. So, if you have saved sandwiches, then you can have a bite here.

This is how our walk ended. There was no time left for the museum, cafes and souvenirs. I wanted to make the most of my time for a walk along the rocks. And at 2 pm we had a ferry to Scotland.

So, if fate brings you to Northern Ireland, try to get to this unique coast. And maybe even overnight.

Attractions near Giant's Trail

Near the Giant's Trail, next to the information center, there is a Causeway Hotel.

If you came with an overnight stay, you can go through the entire Causeway Coast Way(33 miles) - the most beautiful route along the coast. Also nearby (15 km east of the Giants' Trail) is another attraction - a rope bridge Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, stretched between two rocks above the strait. The bridge serves as a good addition to the Giants' Trail: as a rule, these two attractions are viewed together.

You can also visit the ruins Dunluce castle built on a rock. It is located 8 km west of Giant's Trail. The castle inspired Cair Paravel in The Chronicles of Narnia and Pyke in Game of Thrones.

And finally, take a look at Old Bushmills- the oldest distillery in the world (whisky was produced there in 1608), where you can see the whiskey production process, taste and buy a local drink. The image of this distillery is on the 10-pound note, which is printed in Northern Ireland.

Useful websites to prepare for your trip

Railway and bus tickets in Europe - and

Bicycle, scooter, quad and motorcycle rental -

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As soon as they call this place in Northern Ireland! The path of the giants, the bridge of the giants, the road of the giants ... It looks as if someone's powerful hands have driven many hexagonal piles into the Causeway Coast to build a huge bridge across the sea. Looking at this miracle of nature, one involuntarily asks the question: But didn’t aliens mark at the tip of the Emerald Isle? STONE FORTRESS

The scale of this mysterious building is amazing. If you look at it from above, it really looks like a stone-paved road that stretches along the coast for 275 meters and goes into the Atlantic for another one and a half hundred meters. The columns sometimes rush up, reaching a height of 12 meters, and sometimes go down to 6 meters. Their total number is about 40 thousand. Most of them are hexagonal in section, but four-, five-, seven- and nine-angled columns can also be found. The diameter of the pillars ranges from 30 to 60 centimeters, they all have even tops. From above, the stone pillars are somewhat reminiscent of a honeycomb, they are so tightly pressed against each other. It is impossible to even slip a thin knife between them. Absolutely all the pillars are dark in color, and they are all incredibly hard. According to scientists, they consist mainly of basalt rich in magnesium and iron, which at the same time has a small amount of quartz. Thanks to this composition, the columns are able to successfully withstand the destructive effects of winds and stormy waves of the Atlantic Ocean. THREE BOGATYRS

The columns form three groups of platforms. One group - the so-called Great Path - is the largest pillars starting near the rocky mountains. At first they look like a cluster of huge stone steps, some of which reach 6 meters in height. Closer to the water, the steps gradually level off until they begin to form a stone-covered road, the width of which is from 20 to 30 meters. The second group of stones is the Middle and Small paths. These paths are located near the Great Path and in shape they are more like mounds rather than a road. Since each column has a flat top, it is possible to carefully (especially near the water, because there they are extremely wet and slippery) move from one column to another. This is what tourists use, who travel here to distant lands for the sake of such an attraction. Finally, the third group stone giants lives on the island of Staffa (in translation - "island of pillars"). The island is located at a distance of 130 meters from the coast and, as it were, continues the main theme of the Causeway Coast. In the same place, on the island, the main attraction is located - the huge Fingal's cave. This is a real lost World. Firstly, you still need to get to the island, and the sea there is northern, restless, unpredictable. Secondly, the island is uninhabited, there are no benefits of civilization there. Thirdly, climbing the island is also not easy, because it consists of high basalt columns, similar to Viking houses. Altitude above sea level at the high point reaches 42 meters. The entire coast is heavily indented and consists of numerous caves. Only in one place, in the south, the coast is more or less gentle. Fingal's cave is just there. The height of the cave reaches 30 meters, its length is 75 meters. The acoustics of the cave is unique, the sounds of the surf echo throughout the cave, creating live music, as if in concert hall, so Fingal's Cave is also called the Singing Cave. By the way, the island of Staffa is considered the territory of Scotland. For visitors, a wooden flooring has been built here, along which you can go around the cave. There is no other way to visit it. Despite the fact that water is splashing at the bottom of the cave, the entrance to the cave is so narrow that boats cannot penetrate there. architectural ensemble. It seems that some intelligent being wanted to build a huge stone bridge from Staffa Island to the Causeway Coast, but is it own forces did not calculate whether the weather failed. In general, the mystery of nature. SHAME OF SPAIN

Let's go back to the Causeway Coast. The columns are located around the cliffs, the names of which are more bizarre than one another. For example, two of them were named after musical instruments: Harp (columns from this cliff descend to the coast in a curved line) and Organ (straight and high pillars that are located near it, very reminiscent of this musical instrument). There are cliffs with such interesting names, like the giant's loom, the giant's coffin, the giant's guns, the giant's eyes. Here you can also look at the Giant's Shoe - a two-meter cobblestone that really resembles a shoe. It was even calculated that a giant who wore such shoes should be at least 16 meters tall. And another interesting place on the Giant's Road is Chimneys, which frightened the already defeated Invincible Armada several centuries ago. This happened for a banal reason. Some pillars of the Giant's Road in Ireland do not just rise on the coast, but from the sea they look like the chimneys of a huge castle. The Spaniards confused him with him and fired cannons at enemy territory, that is, an absolutely deserted land. In a word, they completely screwed up. This battle for the Spaniards ended in failure: their ship crashed on the rocks, many people died. Artifacts in the Ulster Museum, which is located in Belfast, speak of that unfortunate episode in Spanish history. They got there after being raised from the bottom of the sea. STONE BABY

The Irish have noteworthy legends regarding the origin of the Giant's Path. One of them was composed by the Celts. In their opinion, the Irish giant Finn McCool built the giant stone road. On it, he wanted to cross the sea and fight with his old rival, the Scottish giant Ben Benandonner. When he reached the enemy, he saw that Ben was bigger and stronger, and gave a tear. But it was too late. The Scot had already noticed him, got angry and set off in pursuit. Apparently, out of fear, Finn figured out how to take a powerful opponent by cunning. He asked his wife to swaddle him like a child and leave him to sleep on the shore. Seeing such a huge child, the Scot thought: what then is the father? And he ran away in fear. And out of impotence, he decided to destroy the path behind him in order to somehow harm the overseas giant. It is noteworthy that until the 17th century this legend was considered completely fictional, until the Bishop of Derry rediscovered the Giant's Causeway, which thereafter immediately became an Irish landmark.

The road of giants is a one-of-a-kind structure. There are no analogues in the world. There is nothing surprising in the fact that scientists have long discussed how exactly the trail arose. Some experts assured that the giant pillars are actually huge crystals that arose a long time ago at the bottom of the ancient sea. The sea receded and the pillars came to the surface. Others said that the pillars were actually a petrified bamboo forest. Allegedly in ancient times it was so warm here that exotic plants grew. Then the climate changed, it became cold, and the trees turned to stone. An alien version was also considered, but only by esotericists, scientists rejected it. In the end, everyone agreed that the volcano was to blame for everything. About 60 million years ago, it happened here powerful eruption. Lava broke out through a thick layer of limestone and covered the ground with a layer of 180 meters. After some time, cooling, the lava began to slowly decrease in volume, and thanks to the basalt, hexagonal cracks formed on its surface. When the inner layers of magma began to cool, these cracks began to deepen and form hexagonal columns. This theory was confirmed by a group of scientists from Toronto, who, after experiments, were able to prove that the slower the magma cools, the larger the columns are. The secret of the emergence of such an amazing natural phenomenon, like the Giant's Trail in Ireland, has been revealed... Or not?