Simon Calder: The Scary Rope Bridge
Video Playing Now: On the Road with Simon Calder: Scary Rope Bridge
Simon Calder faces his fears by walking across the Altantic on the scary Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in Northern Ireland
by Simon Calder
A Rope Bridge: you wouldn't be surprised to see such a thing crossing an Amazonian tributary or a Himalayan gorge.
But to find one with a UK post code, BT54 6LS to be precise, is frankly amazing.
This is Carrick-a-Rede, which translates as "Rock in the Road".
It's just off the beautiful Antrim coast road, but that's not the Road in the title: it refers to a sea lane that is rich with salmon.
Long ago, fishermen figured that if they could get to the island, crossing the void from the mainland over the seething Atlantic, they would prosper from the fish they would catch.
So they created a rudimentary rope bridge. When tourism arrived perhaps two centuries ago, with many people lured by the nearby Giant's Causeway, someone realised this was a natural-born theme park.
So the bridge has been strengthened gradually over the years, and now you can pay a very reaonable £4 to the National Trust to be scared witless.
Best of all, this winter, for the first time, the bridge is not going to be taken out of service for the colder, darker months - make it worth their while, and give the Rope Bridge a try.
And don't worry if you get stuck - my new friend Billy will help you off the bridge.
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