The Nine Glens of Antrim - Antrim - TravBuddy

One of my favourite trips, especially with foreign visitors and friends on-board is to visit the Bushmills Distillery, then the Giant's Causeway and then wend our way down the county Antrim coast through the spectacular Nine Glens heading, eventually for Belfast. See reviews for the distillery and the Causeway elsewhere in TravBuddy.
Each of these nine green valleys has a character of its own. Together they form a beautiful realm of rivers, waterfalls, wild flowers and birds.
But 150 years ago, the remoteness of the Glens was daunting. Rushing rivers bisected the land from west to east and the inland track from Cushendun to Ballycastle crossed Loughareerma, 'the vanishing lake'. One day it was empty, the next day it was full of water! It was not unknown for coach horses to gallop into this watery grave, taking the passengers with them.
Physical isolation and intimacy with elemental beauty have left the Glens with a great store of Irish myth and legend.
For the most part, the people are the descendants of both the ancient Irish and their cousins the Hebridean Scots across the narrow Sea of Moyle, and the Glens were one of the last places in Northern Ireland where Gaelic was spoken. The names of the glens, from south to north, are: Glenarm, Glencloy, Glenariff, Glenballyeamon, Glenaan, Glencorp, Glendun, Glenshesk and Glentaisie.