The Road of the Giants is the construction of the ancient giants. Northern Ireland. Giants trail in ireland

Mysterious Northern Ireland holds many wonders. One of them is the amazing Path of the Giants. It seems as if an unknown sculptor worked for thousands of years, erecting a road from stone columns. This unique natural landmark was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it is impossible to argue with this decision.

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In our article.

Tens of thousands of skillfully carved basalt columns create a unique landscape. Most of them have six corners, but an attentive traveler can find those with four, five, seven or eight corners. All together, they really resemble a giant road. It goes around the cliffs and goes into the sea, and the differences in the height of the columns from 6 to 12 meters evoke the feeling of a staircase carelessly hewn by giants.

When looking at the Path of the Giants, it is impossible to believe that its origin can be explained by the most ordinary natural processes, therefore, for romantics and lovers of myths, there is a legend about this place.

In ancient times inhabited these harsh lands giants. The gigantic warrior Finn Mac Kumalo had a difficult temper, and strong rivals did not frighten him. On the contrary, they evoked a desire to measure strength. It was such a rival one-eyed giant who lived overseas. The distance did not stop Finn and he decided to build a bridge, but not a simple one, but a stone one. With his sword, the indefatigable giant carved giant columns out of basalt and drove them into the ground.

Further folklore disagrees. Some say that Finn got tired and fell asleep, and the one-eyed warrior himself came to him. Others believe that when they saw a powerful opponent, fear seized the main character, and he fled. But in the final of both options, Finn's wife becomes the savior.

As usual in legends, she defeated the one-eyed warrior not by force, but by cunning and ingenuity. A smart woman swaddled her husband like a child, and met her rival with open arms and treats - cakes with pans baked in them. She herself sat down to lull her baby and feed him the same delicacy, only without filling. The uninvited guest, without suspecting anything, saw a giant baby that tirelessly chewed iron, asking for more, and realized that it was definitely not worth messing with the father of this child. The frightened opponent ran away headlong. Taking off his legs, he destroyed the bridge, and since then the stone columns have been submerged.

Origin

In fact, the origin of the Path of the Giants has a scientific explanation. This area gained fame only at the end of the 17th century, and tourists in in large numbers began to appear here more than a hundred years later. In addition to the unique landscape, visitors like this place for the fact that their movement here is completely unlimited. Despite the fact that the Path of the Giants is nature reserve There are no closed areas here.

Curious tourists can find similar formations in other parts of the world, but it is here that their most massive accumulation is located. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Path of Giants is of interest not only to amateurs, but also to scientists. For several centuries they tried to agree on a common opinion, putting forward various hypotheses. Some believed that the pillars were crystals that had been growing under the waters of ancient oceans for thousands of years. Others believed that the columns were nothing but petrified bamboo forest.

Most modern scientists have settled on a different point of view. According to them, millions of years ago, an eruption ancient volcano formed here a vast lava plain, the basis of which was basalt. Gradually hardening, it cracked, forming an amazing pattern. When the magma solidified, the cracks gradually deepened and subsequently formed regular hexagonal columns. This is how scientists explained the origin of the Giant's Path. But, who knows, maybe on an island in the middle of the cold sea, a frightened one-eyed giant is still sitting alone...

Attractions

The columns of the Path of the Giants form three platforms. The first of them is called the Great Path and originates from rocky mountains. This platform is a monumental staircase, the steps of which reach a height of six meters. Going down to the sea, the path becomes more gentle and looks like a road for giants. The second platform is the Middle and Small trails.

The columns from this group are located near the main path, but they no longer resemble a path, but separate mounds. Observing precautionary measures, they can be examined by moving from one pillar to another. The third site is the most mysterious and least visited. This desert island Staffa, which is located 130 km from the coast. Its name translates as "Island of Pillars". Between the columns, the island hides its main attraction - Fingal's Cave, the length of which is about 80 meters.

The giants laid the beginning of their path along the cliffs. Later, people appreciated their bizarre shape and gave them original names. There are also musical instruments - Harp and Organ, and stone accessories forgotten by the giants - the Loom, Cannons and even the Giant's Coffin. forgot here unknown giant and your shoe. This is what one of the cobblestones looks like. Curious visitors figured out that the owner of this shoe was at least 16 meters tall.

Separate pillars of the Giants' Path do not just rise, but look from the sea like chimneys of a harsh northern castle. A curious case in the history of the country is connected with this. The “invincible armada” of the Spaniards, approaching the coast, decided to fire on the territory that posed a threat and attacked. Only the basalt columns suffered the loss, because there was no castle on the shore. The ship of the Spaniards crashed on the rocks, and the army suffered considerable losses in cold waters. The sunken treasures were raised from the bottom and are still kept in one of their museums in Ireland.

Once again, nature is showing us one of its phenomenal tricks. On the coast of the northern part of Northern Ireland (forgive the tautology, but that's the way it is) is the Giant's Causeway. This unique phenomenon nature looks like unusual pillars, the cross section of which is very similar to a honeycomb.

The pillars (or columns) are so tightly pressed against each other that even a knife cannot be stuck between them. Pretty much the same fit big stones in the walls ancient city Sacsayhuaman, with the only difference being that people did it there, and nature here.

Road of the Giants on the map

• Geographic coordinates 55.240684, -6.511417
• The distance from the capital of Northern Ireland, the city of Belfast, is approximately 80 km.
• Distance to the nearest airport Derry about 50 km

Please note that Northern Ireland is administrative part Great Britain, not a separate state.

The Giant's Road is located 3 kilometers north of the town of Bushmills.

This attraction has about 40,000 basalt columns interconnected. Most of the pillars are hexagonal, but there are also four, five, seven and octagonal specimens. Their height reaches 12 meters. The diameter of the pillars is from 30 to 50 cm.

Considering this unusual natural structure, it is hard to believe that it appeared by chance. By official version scientists, such extraordinary columns arose after a volcanic eruption in antiquity. Active volcanic phenomena took place here 50-60 million years ago. Molten basalt flows formed huge lava fields. With rapid cooling, the volume of the substance was reduced, and horizontal compression contributed to the appearance of such geometrically regular structures.

There is another hypothesis according to which the Road of the Giants was formed as a result of convection of a viscous substance under conditions of cooling of the upper layers.

Local residents, of course, associate the appearance of this structure with an ancient legend.
It says that the hero of the Celtic myths, warrior, sage and seer Finn McKumal decided to measure his strength with a huge one-eyed monster named Goll, who lived in Scotland. But by some absurd accident or random absurdity, the heroic hero… was afraid to get his feet wet. Finn had to drive a whole lot of columns into the bottom of the sea - it turned out to be a kind of bridge on neighboring island. He was very tired and decided to sleep before the battle. While our hero was peacefully dreaming, Goll, without waiting for his opponent, himself came to visit him along the already built bridge. He was met by Uma, Finn's wife. Judging by the name, the lady was not stupid. She cheated a little: pointing to her sleeping husband, she said that he was her child. As you understand, this comrade did not at all resemble a child in size. Uma sat the giant at the table and began to treat him with cakes, in which she had previously baked iron pans. Other cakes (already without pans inside) she set aside for her husband. When Goll began to break his teeth, eating his treat, the awakened Finn calmly ate his cakes "on both cheeks." Realizing that if the baby is like that !!!, then his dad will be completely invincible, Goll runs away in a panic and destroys the bridge along the way, cutting off the path for persecution.

Whether the Road of the Giants appeared as it is said in myth or as scientists suggest is no longer so important. The main thing is that now we have one more unsolved and therefore very attractive natural attraction.

The Road of the Giants runs for more than 270 meters along the coast and about 150 meters along the bottom of the sea. All columns are very hard and have a dark color. This is due to the high content of magnesium and iron in their composition. Such a mixture of substances is practically not subject to destructive action. sea ​​waves and wind.

Near the Giant's Road there are cliffs with original names. Harp Rock - its columns are curved and descend to the shore. The cliff of the Organ, whose pillars are straight and very similar to this huge musical instrument.
There are also cliffs Giant's Loom, Coffin and Giant's Eyes. Here you can still see the Giant's Shoe. This is a huge cobblestone in the form of shoes and 2 meters high.

• in 1986, UNESCO declared Giant's Causeway and the Causeway Coast where it is located world heritage, and only a year later, the Department of Protection environment awarded this place the status of a National Reserve
• despite the fact that the Road of the Giants has been here for thousands, and possibly millions of years, it was widely known only in the 17th century from the stories of the Bishop of Derry. And only at the beginning of the 19th century the first tourists came here.
• access for tourists here is nowhere and is not limited in any way
• in Scotland, on the island of Staffa, there is a unique one, the walls of which (like the coast of the island itself) consist of the same hexagonal basalt columns. Perhaps this is also part of the Road of the Giants

Road of the Giants photo

As soon as they call this place in Northern Ireland! The path of the giants, the bridge of the giants, the road of the giants... It looks as if someone's powerful hands have driven many hexagonal piles into the Causeway Coast to build a huge bridge across the sea. Looking at this miracle of nature, one involuntarily asks the question: But didn’t aliens mark at the tip of the Emerald Isle? STONE FORTRESS

The scale of this mysterious building strike the imagination. If you look at it from above, it really looks like a stone-paved road that stretches along the coast for 275 meters and goes into the Atlantic for another one and a half hundred meters. The columns sometimes rush up, reaching a height of 12 meters, and sometimes go down to 6 meters. Their total number is about 40 thousand. Most of them are hexagonal in section, but four-, five-, seven- and nine-angled columns can also be found. The diameter of the pillars ranges from 30 to 60 centimeters, they all have even tops. From above stone pillars somewhat reminiscent of a honeycomb, they are so tightly pressed against each other. It is impossible to even slip a thin knife between them. Absolutely all the pillars are dark in color, and they are all incredibly hard. According to scientists, they consist mainly of basalt rich in magnesium and iron, which at the same time has a small amount of quartz. Thanks to this composition, the columns are able to successfully withstand the destructive effects of winds and stormy waves of the Atlantic Ocean. THREE BOGATYRS

The columns form three groups of platforms. One group, the so-called big trail- These are the largest pillars starting near the rocky mountains. At first they look like a cluster of huge stone steps, some of which reach 6 meters in height. Closer to the water, the steps gradually level out until they begin to form a stone-covered road, the width of which is from 20 to 30 meters. The second group of stones is the Middle and Small paths. These paths are located near the Great Path and in shape they are more like mounds rather than a road. Since each column has a flat top, it is possible to carefully (especially near the water, because there they are extremely wet and slippery) move from one column to another. This is what tourists use, who travel here to distant lands for the sake of such an attraction. Finally, the third group stone giants lives on the island of Staffa (in translation - "island of pillars"). The island is located at a distance of 130 meters from the coast and, as it were, continues the main theme of the Causeway Coast. In the same place, on the island, the main attraction is located - the huge Fingal's cave. This is a real lost World. Firstly, you still need to get to the island, and the sea there is northern, restless, unpredictable. Secondly, the island is uninhabited, there are no benefits of civilization there. Thirdly, climbing the island is also not easy, because it consists of high basalt columns, similar to Viking houses. Altitude above sea level at the high point reaches 42 meters. The entire coast is heavily indented and consists of numerous caves. Only in one place, in the south, the coast is more or less gentle. Fingal's cave is just there. The height of the cave reaches 30 meters, its length is 75 meters. The acoustics of the cave is unique, the sounds of the surf echo throughout the cave, creating live music, as if in concert hall, so Fingal's Cave is also called the Singing Cave. By the way, the island of Staffa is considered the territory of Scotland. For visitors, a wooden flooring has been built here, along which you can go around the cave. There is no other way to visit it. Despite the fact that water is splashing at the bottom of the cave, the entrance to the cave is so narrow that boats cannot penetrate there. architectural ensemble. It seems that some intelligent being wanted to build a huge a stone bridge, but whether own forces did not calculate whether the weather failed. In general, the mystery of nature. SHAME OF SPAIN

Let's go back to the Causeway Coast. The columns are located around the cliffs, the names of which are more bizarre than one another. For example, two of them are named after musical instruments: Harps (columns from this cliff descend in a curved line to the coast) and Organ (straight and tall pillars that are located near it are very reminiscent of this musical instrument). There are cliffs with such interesting names as the Giant's Loom, the Giant's Coffin, the Giant's Cannons, the Giant's Eyes. Here you can also look at the Giant's Shoe - a two-meter cobblestone that really resembles a shoe. It has even been calculated that a giant who wears such shoes must be at least 16 meters tall. And one more interesting place on the Giant's Road - Chimneys, which several centuries ago frightened the already defeated Invincible Armada. This happened for a banal reason. Some pillars of the Giant's Road in Ireland do not just rise on the coast, but from the sea they look like the chimneys of a huge castle. The Spaniards confused him with him and fired cannons at enemy territory, that is, an absolutely deserted land. In a word, they completely screwed up. This battle for the Spaniards ended in failure: their ship crashed on the rocks, many people died. Artifacts in the Ulster Museum, which is located in Belfast, speak of that unfortunate episode in Spanish history. They got there after being raised from the bottom of the sea. STONE BABY

The Irish have noteworthy legends regarding the origin of the Giant's Path. One of them was composed by the Celts. According to them, he built a gigantic stone road Irish giant- Finn McCool. On it, he wanted to cross the sea and fight with his old rival, the Scottish giant Ben Benandonner. When he reached the enemy, he saw that Ben was bigger and stronger, and gave a tear. But it was too late. The Scot had already noticed him, got angry and set off in pursuit. Apparently, out of fear, Finn figured out how to take a powerful opponent by cunning. He asked his wife to swaddle him like a child and leave him to sleep on the shore. Seeing such a huge child, the Scot thought: what then is the father? And he ran away in fear. And out of impotence, he decided to destroy the path behind him in order to somehow harm the overseas giant. It is noteworthy that until the 17th century this legend was considered completely fictional, until the Bishop of Derry rediscovered the Giant's Causeway, which thereafter immediately became an Irish landmark.

The road of giants is a one-of-a-kind structure. There are no analogues in the world. There is nothing surprising in the fact that scientists have long discussed how exactly the trail arose. Some experts assured that the giant pillars are actually huge crystals that arose a long time ago at the bottom ancient sea. The sea receded and the pillars came to the surface. Others said that the pillars were actually a petrified bamboo forest. Allegedly in ancient times it was so warm here that exotic plants grew. Then the climate changed, it became cold, and the trees turned to stone. An alien version was also considered, but only by esotericists, scientists rejected it. In the end, everyone agreed that the volcano was to blame for everything. About 60 million years ago, it happened here powerful eruption. Lava broke out through a thick layer of limestone and covered the ground with a layer of 180 meters. After some time, cooling, the lava began to slowly decrease in volume, and thanks to the basalt, hexagonal cracks formed on its surface. When the inner layers of magma began to cool, these cracks began to deepen and form hexagonal columns. This theory was confirmed by a group of scientists from Toronto, who, after experiments, were able to prove that the slower the magma cools, the larger the columns. The secret of the emergence of such an amazing natural phenomenon, like the Giant's Trail in Ireland, has been revealed... Or not?

About 40 thousand huge stone columns are so closely adjacent to each other that it seems that some giant, the hero of Irish myths and legends, installed them here. The diameter of these pillars is from 30 to 50 centimeters, they have even tops and several faces (a quarter has five, the rest has four, seven and even nine corners). The Path of the Giants (or as it is also called - the Giant's Road) is located in Northern Ireland not far from small town Bushmills. It encircles the cliffs that are located on the coast of the Causeway Coast, and then gradually goes under water towards Scotland.

The scale of this amazing place is amazing. If you look at the Road of the Giants from above, then it really is extremely similar to a stone-paved road that stretches along the coast for 275 meters and goes into the Atlantic for another one and a half hundred meters.

The average height of the pillars is about six meters, although it is not uncommon to see columns twelve high. If you look at them from above, they are somewhat reminiscent of a honeycomb, since they organize hexagons among themselves, so tightly located in relation to each other that it is quite difficult to insert even a thin knife between them.

Absolutely all the pillars are dark in color and incredibly hard - scientists explain this natural phenomenon by the fact that they consist mainly of basalt rich in magnesium and iron, which at the same time has a small amount of quartz. Thanks to this composition, the columns are able to successfully withstand the destructive effects of the winds and rough waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

The columns of the Giants' Causeway in Ireland form three groups of sites:

1. Big trail. The columns of this group are the largest and begin near the rocky mountains. At first they look like a cluster of huge stone steps, some of which reach up to six meters in height. Closer to the water, the steps gradually level off until they begin to form a stone-covered road, which is 20 to 30 meters wide.
2. Middle and Small trails. The pillars of these groups are located near the Great Path and, in shape, are more likely not like a road, but like barrows. Since each such column has a flat top, it is possible to carefully (especially near the water, because there they are extremely wet and slippery) to move from one column to another.
3. Staffa Island. At 130 km from the coast there is a small uninhabited island of Staffa (in translation - "island of pillars"), on which there is, as it were, a continuation of these columns. Between these pillars is the main attraction of the island - a huge Fingal cave, which is about 80 meters long.

cliffs

The columns themselves on the Causeway Coast are located around the cliffs, which people later gave rather original names. For example, two of them were named after the Harp (the columns from this cliff descend to the coast in a curved line) and the Organ (the straight and high pillars that are located near it are very reminiscent of this musical instrument).

There are cliffs with such interesting names as the Giant's Loom, the Giant's Coffin, the Giant's Cannons, the Giant's Eyes. Here you can also look at the Giant's Shoe - a two-meter cobblestone that resembles these shoes (it was even calculated that the giant who wore such a product must be at least 16 meters tall).

Chimneys of Giant's Path

There is another interesting place on the Road of the Giants - Chimneys, which frightened the already defeated "Invincible Armada" several centuries ago.

It happened for a simple reason. Some pillars of the Giant's Road in Ireland not only rise on the coast, but also look like the chimneys of a huge castle from the sea. The Spaniards confused him with him, and fired cannons at “enemy territory” - that is, an absolutely deserted territory.

This story ended badly for the Spaniards: their ship crashed against the rocks, and many people died. The treasures found from the ship, after they were raised from the bottom of the sea, can now be seen in the Ulster Museum, which is located in Belfast.

Legend

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Giant's Road has its own legends and myths that explain its appearance and formation.

The ancient Irish believed that the Road of the Giants was built Irish giant Finn McCool in order to get to his sworn enemy, the Scot, who lived on Hebrides, and fight him in order to decide who is stronger.

Further versions are slightly different from each other. According to one of them, seeing that his opponent is bigger and more powerful than him, Finn ran away. And when he saw that the Scot was chasing him, he persuaded his wife to swaddle him like a child and leave him to sleep on the shore. According to another version, while the Irishman was building the road, he was so tired that he fell asleep on the coast, and his wife, seeing that the rival was approaching, swaddled him and passed him off as a child.

In any case, seeing a huge "baby", the Scottish giant decided that it was better not to mess with his father and gave up, and so that the Irishman would not catch up with him, he destroyed the path.

Studying

Interestingly, the Road of the Giants became widely known only at the end of the 17th century, when the Bishop of Derry began to heavily advertise it. amazing place. And at the beginning of the 19th century, tourists began to appear en masse here.

Despite the fact that this area is declared by the Department of the Environment of Northern Ireland national reserve, there are absolutely no areas closed to the public, and tourists can walk wherever they want and where they can go. This fact is quite liked by tourists in this country.

The Road of the Giants is unique in that, despite the fact that something similar exists in other parts of the globe, it is here that the largest accumulation of such pillars is located. There is nothing surprising in the fact that for many centuries scientists have debated how exactly the Path arose.

Some of them assured that the giant pillars are actually huge crystals that arose a long time ago at the bottom of the ancient sea. Others said that the pillars are actually a petrified bamboo forest.

In our time, most scientists agreed that the largest lava plain in Europe once existed here. It was formed thanks to a huge layer of limestone, which is located under the territory of Northern Ireland. In ancient times, molten lava flowed out through its faults during volcanic eruptions, which covered the earth with a layer of 180 meters, after which it began to cool and harden. And it didn’t become a shapeless mass because it was based on basalt.

After some time, during cooling, the lava began to slowly decrease in volume, and thanks to the basalt, hexagonal cracks formed on its surface. When the inner layers of magma began to cool, these cracks began to deepen and formed hexagonal columns.

This theory was confirmed by a group of scientists from Toronto, who, after experiments, were able to prove that the slower the magma cools, the larger the columns are. Thus, the secret of the appearance of such an amazing natural phenomenon how Ireland's Giant's Trail was uncovered... or not?

Giant's Road is considered one of the main attractions of Northern Ireland. An unusual path of 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns starts at the foot of the cliff and ends in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Road of the Giants in Northern Ireland is a stretch of coastline consisting of 40,000 basalt columns interconnected. This unusual natural landmark is located in County Antrim, 4.8 km from Bushmills.

Since 1986, the Giants' Trail has been under the protection of UNESCO, and since 1987 it has been a national reserve in Northern Ireland. Today most of Giant's Road and Coast is managed by the UK National Trust; the remainder is owned by the state and private landowners.

Origins of the Road of the Giants

The trail of the giants appeared as a result of a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. At that time the climate was warmer and tectonic plates were in constant motion. Magma came out through cracks on the surface of the planet. Hot lava cooled when interacting with air and solidified, turning into basalt plateaus.

The earth calmed down for several millennia, but then the lava began to resurface. As the lava cooled, the volume of the lava contracted and cracks appeared on the surface of the lava plateau. The cooling process of lava is very similar to the drying process of clay: it dries and cracks. Due to cooling and compression, the cracks became very deep, forming a kind of underground columns.

Horizontal compression also affected the shape of the columns. Most of the Giants' Road pillars have six sides, although there are columns with four, five, and seven sides. From above, the Giant's Path resembles a huge honeycomb. The road of the giants begins at the foot of the cliff and gradually disappears into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

It took millions of years for the columns of the Giant's Path to rise from the ground. Today, some columns are 12 meters high. Thousand-year exposure to erosion has given the stones certain form. So, on the coast you can see the Giant's Shoe, the Giant's Eyes, the Shepherd's Steps, the Honeycomb, the Giant's Harp, the Camel's Hump and the Giant's Gate.

Legend of the Giant's Path

According to Celtic legend, the basalt columns on the seashore are the ruins of a paved road built by a giant. Legend has it that the Scottish giant Benandonner challenged another giant - the hero of Celtic myths Finn MacCul (Fionn mac Cumhaill). Finn accepted the challenge and built a bridge across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet and fight.

According to one version of the legend, Finn defeated Benandonner. According to another version, Finn hid from his opponent when he realized that Benandonner was much bigger than him. Finn's wife disguised her husband as a child and laid him in the cradle. When Benandonner arrived, he saw the "child" and was frightened. The giant decided that if Finn had such big child, then McCool himself must be really huge - a giant among giants. Benandonner fled in terror to Scotland. On the way, he destroyed the bridge so that Finn could not catch up with him. In Irish mythology, Finn McCool was not a giant, but a hero with superpowers.

Interestingly, if you cross the North Channel, then on the coast of Scotland you can find exactly the same basalt columns as in Northern Ireland. These columns are part of the same lava flow that once formed Giant's Causeway. However local residents it is more pleasant to consider that these are the remains of a bridge built by giants. After all, basalt columns in Scotland are located next to the cave of Fingal (another name for Finn McCool).

The Irish name for the Road of the Giants is Clochán na bhFomhóraigh, which means "Fomorian steps". The Fomorians are a mythical race of supernatural beings sometimes described as giants or cyclops.

Path of the Giants Today

The Road of the Giants in Northern Ireland gained worldwide fame in the early 18th century, when the artist Suzanne Drary presented the public with watercolors depicting an unusual coastline. To date, the Giant's Road is ranked fourth in the list of the best attractions in the UK.

Not far from the Path of the Giants, there is a tourist information center, which is a model modern architecture. The architects were faced with the task of harmoniously fitting the new building into the harsh landscape of the Northern Irish coast.

The information center is open in summer from 9:00 to 18:00, in winter - from 9:00 to 17:00. You can be on the coast from dawn to dusk. Admission fee: adults - 9 pounds, children - 4.5 pounds.