Before the 2022 foodie season kicks in, I have been off for a Buswoman’s Holiday. After a 30 minute flight over the sea, within an hour I was immersed in the magnificent Northern Ireland food scene. Belfast Baps, Ulster Fry Ups & Irish black butter ice cream, plus plenty of Guinness. Much as I love food, by day three I needed to escape the deliciousness and seek a new travel experience. We headed to the north coast.
My mission was to meet tour guide Flip Robinson of Ballycastle, owner of Giant Tours Ireland. Previously Flip was a stand in cast member, for the Game Of Thrones HBO series. If anyone can bring to life all things GoT on the Causeway Coast, he was the chap.
GoT has been a boon for Northern Ireland tourism, attracting visitors from all over the world, to see the landscape and hear the legends. Only last month the Game of Thrones Studio Tour opened in Belfast. To stand alongside the excellent Titanic Museum. Though for a truly unique and bespoke outdoor experience, head to Flip to #hangoutwithhodor.
“Are you Flip?” shouted the lady from Kentucky from across a windswept cove.
Her
delight was uncontainable as she bounded down the beach, with a bemused friend and daughter in her wake. Flip beamed and confirmed her instincts were correct. He would be hard to lose in a crowd. I am 5 foot 10″ in my boots and felt tiny by his side.
Flip is cinemascope, you can see why other tour guides make him part of their tour, when they see his 8 seater van. Hence the Dublin based tour’s excitement at meeting the man himself. We stood back and grinned as he continued to be the welcoming face of Westeros.
Travelling with Flip is fascinating, he finds the very rocks Tyrion Lannister hid at Slavers Bay, to the cave in which Euron & Jamie fought, beneath King’s Landing.
Having visited the Giant’s Causeway before I thought this was the only place to see on the northern coast. A massive mistake. With Flip not only were we getting the inside track on filming GoT but also millions of years of geological wonders. We visited hidden caves, historic harbours, cliffs and coves, all set against a rage of sea surf. If you want to know the history of these northerly glens from fighting fairies to Iron Island battle scenes. Giant Tours Ireland will delight you with legends of the old gods and the new.
Westeros in gloriously wild 5D. www.gianttoursireland.com.
Thank you Flip for a fantastic travel/GoT experience and for your generous advice for my fledgling foodie adventures. Great to connect at last. Hope to lure you over to Lancashire for Butter Pies and Sticky Toffee Pudding soon.
