Coleraine - the Giant's Causeway and Bushmill's distillery

My second-last destination here in Ireland before I head off to Scotland is Coleraine. Another, in itself, unremarkable town that just makes for a good base to see other things. The "other things" that interested me were the Giant's Causeway and the Bushmill's distillery. They both lie on the same tourist bus-route, so I was able to knock them both over not long after I arrived in the town.
First I headed off to the Giant's Causeway, and it seemed my miraculous luck with the weather finally ran out. I've gone out a number of times without my jumper or any kind of rain protection, and even when the weather's looked threatening I've managed to get away without getting wet. This time is bucketed down. Yet I was determined to see the causeway, it being one of the must-see destinations in Ireland, so I bravely stepped out of the bus and ran for shelter in the visitor's centre. And I have to tell you, though I'm not proud if it, I spent one pound and fifty pence on one of those ridiculous plastic rain ponchos. And I walked about a hundred metres with it and the damn rain stopped. Of course.
But the Causeway was good. Despite the large amount of tourists the causeway itself wasn't too built up and commercial and touristy, which I naturally appreciated. The causeway is accessed just by a muddy path (which after traversing I finally decided it should be time to buy a second pair of trousers).
The Giant's Causeway itself is an expanse of basalt stone formations on the coast leading into the sea. What's remarkable it is that the basalt is made up of thousands of (mostly) perfectly hexagonal columns, about half a metre wide. The cliffs surrounding the causeway are also made largely of these columns, and it makes for some truly remarkable landscapes. The basalt would have been laid down around 50 to 60 million years ago in a volcanic eruption. As molten rock cools it naturally shrinks, and cracks form throughout resulting in the unusually man-made-looking shapes. The reason why it typically forms neat hexagons and other polygons I don't really know, but I'm sure the answer is a quite esoteric and complicated one, so just enjoy the pretty pictures.

Bushmill's Distillery

On the way back I stopped at the Bushmill's distillery. I did it second because I thought it would be a good idea to do the indoors tourist attraction after the rain had stopped, so I could get soaking wet outdoors beforehand. Bushmill's distillery is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, having been opened in 1608. As such I expected the tour to be much more historic than the Jameson's one. I found that it was quite the opposite. Whereas the original Jameson's distillery, where the tours operate, is no longer used for distilling, the Bushmill's distillery is still actively used. The whole tour was dominated by huge stainless steel containers and industrial looking equipment in concrete buildings. Still fascinating, and for 7 pounds with a free glass of 12 year old single malt at the end I wasn't complaining.