Wish You Were Here: Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland
by Owen James Burke
Photo credit: Chris Hill/National Geographic Creative. (Click to expand).
The Carrik-a-Rede Rope Bridge, which Irish fishermen have crossed in order to tend to their salmon nets for more than three centuries, adjoins mainland Ireland with the island of Carrik (Rocky Island).
Photo credit: Chris Hill/National Geographic Creative. (Click to expand).
Until the 1970s, the bridge was shaky–at best, on a calm day–and those who crossed it had nothing more than a single, swaying wire rope keeping them from the chilly, swell-laden emerald waters 100 feet below.
Today’s bridge. Photo credit: Discover Northern Ireland.
Today, for the sake of tourists, the suspension bridge is reinforced with Douglas fir planks and two handrails–it’s hard to say whether the fishermen would appreciate, let alone take note of the modern modifications.
Read more about the Carrik-a-Rede Rope Bridge at Discover Northern Ireland.
–OJB
