Fair Head

Fair Head, as seen from Ballycastle:

Not sure what the line is going across this snap - could be a power cable, could be a scanning thing.  Dunno.  I didn't notice it when snapping the snapper-thing...probably too worried about getting something interesting on the shot.  D'ya like the arty-sculpture thing?  Pretty good, I reckon.  Sympathetic to the surroundings.  

So, in the distance there is Fair Head, aka Benmore, or An Bhinn Mhór, if you prefer your placenames in Gaelic.  Which means, I am led to believe, The Big Peak, or Big Tip.  Sounds about right to me.

The other name, Fair Head, has a typically Irish bit of folklore attached to it.  The story goes something like this.  Once upon a time, on Rathlin Island (just across the water from Ballycastle) there lived a young girl of great beauty, with long blond hair.  As is usual, she caught the eye of two young men, who both wanted her hand in marriage.  Naturally enough, there wasn't much love lost between them and at a feast on the island their hatred turned to rage. A fight ensued.  Some time later, one was mortally wounded and as he lay dying, he made his supporters promise to extract revenge.  The victor called for music and dancing, to celebrate his forthcoming betrothal.  One of the dead man's friends swept the young lady up in his arms, twirling her around to the music.  Faster and faster they danced, closer and closer to a cliff edge until he flung her over the cliff into the sea.  Her body, so the legend goes, was washed up at the foot of the cliff now known as Fair Head.

Whatever it's called, there it lies.  You might recall seeing it before, from Rathlin - albeit some time ago and from a different perspective.