PFF: Carrick-a-Rede, Ireland

Postmarked Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, dated 8 August 1958.
Rope Bridge, Carrick-a-Rede, Co. Antrim.
28217

I found this when looking through some old photos from my husband's family, ones I had never seen before.  It was sent to my mother-in-law by my father-in-law to say they had been walking out there that afternoon.  I asked my husband about it and he said that was only half the story.

He was 11 years old at the time and thought it was the greatest adventure.  The bridge had a single hand rail and widely spaced slats.  There was no better fun than to run half way across and make it sway!  In the meantime his father, grandfather and grandmother were having palpitations.  By common consent, my mother-in-law was never told the full story.

Even without that story, when I first saw the postcard, I assumed the bridge would no longer be in existence, but in fact it is, though in a much altered state.  Not far from the Giant's Causeway, it is now owned by the National Trust and is quite a tourist attraction.  It was originally put there so that salmon fishermen could cross to Carrick-a-Rede island to check their nets.  The views and the wildlife are stunning.

In the past there have been visitors who can't face the return journey and have had to be taken from the island by boat.  I suspect I would be one of them.

Find more players at Marie Reed's Vintage Postcards.