Rounded hills, fringed by trees and brushed with gorse, back a coastline of dark volcanic cliffs. The Atlantic breakers pound over long, golden-sanded, dune-backed beaches. Further round the coast, via storm-tossed headlands, the sea has cut curving bays and secret coves.

For 60 miles the Antrim Coast Road winds between sea and cliff, skirting the nine, gloriously green Glens of Antrim, valleys sweeping inland to heart-stopping effect. The coast road is spectacular, the scenery dramatic, but take narrow roads off it – pale markings on the map – and you are into yet another world, a magical place, a wild, unspoilt countryside more beautiful than you ever imagined.

Lanes of fuchsia hedges, dripping red, contrast with the blue of sea and sky. Hedgerows, pink and white with hawthorn in May and dog roses in June, are twined with summer honeysuckle and speckled with haws in autumn. Mountainsides are patterned with a tracery of walled fields, roadside, verges are bright with broom. Waterfalls drop like white curtains against red-brown rock. Larks sing over meadows, curlews mew on mudflats, shearwaters swoop above the Causeway’s rocky shoreline.

The coast and the Glens of Antrim provide grand walking country. With the play of light on hills and sea, the ever-changing views are unforgettable.

Giant’s Causeway
The result of intense volcanic activity 60 million years ago – or created by legendary giant Finn McCool? – a honecomb of multi-sided, symmetrical basalt column,s 38,000 of them packed tightly together, form stepping stones that lead down, and into, the sea. The tallest columns, in the Giant’s Organ, are about 40 feet high, while the solidified lava in the surrounding cliff is 90 feet thick in places. All around are spectacular rocks, caves and bays, with a scenic coastal path.

Wild flowers bloom here – blue squill and delicate Burnet roses in clifftop grasses, sea pinks carpeting the slopes, splashes of brilliant white sea campion on the cliffs, red campion tucked into niches. Goldfinch and linnet descent on seedheads, thistles tempt butterflies to linger.

A fine circular walk takes you down to the Grand Causeway, past stone columns and strange formations, up The Shepherd’s Steps stone stairway to the cliff top, and back along a high level path to the visitor centre.

Picture: The Giant’s Causeway on the Antrim coast – perhaps the work of the legendary giant Finn McCool