Hiker guy at Magheracross

The lay-by at Magheracross, just outside Portrush, has been given a make-over.  They've built two circular viewing platforms which are right on the cliff edge, one to the West, looking towards the ruins of Dunluce Castle and beyond to Benbane Head.  The other looks East, over the White Rocks towards Portrush.  This shot is of the one to the West and was taken early Saturday morning:

Magheracross viewing platform, 2021.  HP5+ in HC-110, on Foma 133 paper.  The sky got a bit of a burn in, as did the sea just under the horizon; more-so on the left of the figure in order to balance out the cliffs on the right a little.  

The centre circle looks like it might get a compass addition in the middle at some time in the future - the sort of thing that points to Jura, Kintyre (or Iceland) and tells you how far away you are from those places.  If the light is good you can see the Western Isles of Scotland quite clearly from most places along the Antrim Coast but they weren't visible on Saturday morning.  I quite like the viewing platforms - before, you got to stand in the corner of a patch of boggy ground and point your photo-apparat over a wooden fence. But I'm not too good with heights and standing near the edge made me feel quite uneasy, in spite of the metal railings.

I snapped up Hiker Guy as quick as I could, as he wasn't hanging around.  I noticed him walking along the road as I drove in - there weren't many folk carrying full backpacks at 7.30 in the morning.  He was an older man - looked like he'd been camping overnight and was getting an early start.   He only stayed a minute or so on the platform and took a couple of phone snaps before getting on with wherever he was walking to.  Ordinarily I might have spoken to him but my poor hearing precludes pretty much all small talk, so I didn't try.  Besides, he looked like he was quite content with his own company.  He might have been walking the Causeway Coast Way, or part of it, which stretches from Portstewart to Ballycastle.  As the Walk NI website states, "This route...passes through the Causeway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a World Heritage Site and several Areas of Special Scientific Interest.  It includes views of wide bays, sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and off-shore rocks".  Whatever he was doing, he was getting a fine day for it...not too cold, not too warm and what showers we had were light and short.