White Park Bay Beach – Northern Ireland

White Park Bay beach is a very interesting beach having white waves. I am not certain about why the waves are so white here. It can happen due to the presence of the Calcium carbonate in beach which makes the water foamy (read wikipedia). The beach itself is approximately three miles long with a shape of arc. And behind the beach is well backed with typical Irish highlands. From the main road one needs to walk for a while to go to the beach.

We have reached to this White Bay Park after a challenging walk from Ballintoy. We were at the other side of the beach and our only option was to walk through the beach to reach at the other side where the bus stoppage would be. The beach was having plenty of cows resting on sands. This beach is famous for the sheep and grazing cattle in the beach. There were no one there who were taking care of the cows. They were all their own. Initially I was very nervous in case they make any risky move. But later I’ve found that the cows were very polite, gentle, and all other compliments.

The sun was opposite of us while we were walking. Also it was under the clouds. And the movement of the cows on sand produced plenty of dust. All together the environment was very mysterious. There were another 3/4 people who were also enjoying the presence of the cows. Presence of other people made me slightly comfortable as we were not lost (as our phones were almost ready to die).

White park bay beach doesn’t have too many visitors at a time. That’s why it is very quiet beach. The foamy white waves rolling over the sands was a nice scene to watch. Compare to other beaches, this one is having plenty of rocks in sands as well. Waking over the sand is never easy, and the rocks were making that more difficult. That’s why we’ve decided to walk beside the water (wet sands).

There should be a narrow path from the beach which meets the road. But we were not able to see that. In fact at one point we’ve picked a wrong one. So we have decided to follow a family (having three kids). With the hints from them we’ve found a narrow path. It was slightly long uphill walking. After a tiring long walking for a whole day this small task was a massive one for us. Luckily the bus stoppage wasn’t too far once we’ve reached to the top. From the top you can see the arc shape of the White bay park beach.

We had to come through narrow passage from Ballintoy.

Our cell phone’s battery died, no clue about when was the next bus. And also no one were at the bus stoppage. It was only us. Looks like most of the people prefer to take the own car, or people who liked to walk are already gone! We’ve probably waited for 15 minutes there before getting the bus. The bus usually runs once in an hour. So we were very very lucky. We’ve asked the bus driver to call us when it would reach to the Bushmills town.

This rock near the path was nice. We came from behind the rock.

How to go to White Bay Park:

The exact location of the White Park Bay is the middle of Bushmills and Ballycastle. No matter from there you take the bus or drive your car, it would be at the middle from either side. Gps coordinate of the location is (55°13’55.6″N, 6°24’19.0″W). If you use the bus then 402 is your bus. Should cost around 4 pound per person. The bus runs once in every hour (at least the schedule during autumn when I’ve visited).

The White park bay beach is approximately thee miles long.

Where to stay:

White Park Bay Youth Hostel is situated just beside the beach. If you want to live slightly far from the beach then you can look for hotels in either Ballycastle or Bushmills. After visiting the beach we’ve stayed at a very comfy B&B named Rest A While.

There is a rock poking out from the ocean.
Didn’t see too many birds there. Lucky to see this Oystercatcher there.
The wave from White park bay beach is very white in color.
Very often the grazing domestic animals come to the beach. These are one example.
The dust from the beach, bad light, cloud all together made the environment mysterious.
Look at the white waves, not the bovine animals.
Not sure, probably this couple were also confused. They were probably looking at the map for the escape route.
Back of the beach is this covered by the highland.
We’ve only passed a little, still plenty of way to go.
The wave gets white due to presence of Calcium carbonate, I think.
Another mysterious view from the White park bay beach.
In between the sands the beach is having small rocks like these.
It was a nice place to sit during a lazy afternoon and count the fresh white waves. Pretty relaxing scene.
More white waves are coming.
Very soon this place will go under water.
These foams reminds me a poem, guess what it is!
I was slightly careless here. The wave got my shoes wet.
After two days of visit, it looks like the shape of the rock near the beach is same.
Village house over the waves. Must be a pretty village, but didn’t have time to go there.
Does the shape of the hill look like a crocodile with an eye?
Closer look towards the eye.
This slightly uphill climb would take us to the bus stoppage.
View towards the beach from the road.
View of the White park bay beach on other side (at where the village is situated).
A zoom in photo to the path through which we’ve come. Looks like the high tide has already taken that path.
This is slightly a zoom out photo.
And this is the place from where I’ve zoomed in to those rocks. The beach also looks marvelous from here.
We’ve almost reached to the bus stoppage. Everything was green around.
Bus stoppage says White Park Bay. But not sure when would be the next bus as our phones were already dead. Only option was sitting and waiting.

This traveling is the continuation after Ballintoy Harbour. And the next destination was the Millennium park – Bushmills.

White Park Bay,
Ballintoy,
Ballycastle,
Northern Ireland,
GPS Coordinate (55°13’55.6″N, 6°24’19.0″W),
List of hotels near White Park Bay.

This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://alonelytraveler.com/

Sunday, 29 October 2017

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