![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEC_256004193-4fa2.jpg\")
\n\t\tA weekend of adventuring in the wilds of County Antrim (Picture: Josh Milton; Lore Thouvenin)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tA weekend of adventuring in the wilds of County Antrim (Picture: Josh Milton; Lore Thouvenin)<\/p>\n
Ricky Martin told me to trust him as he shoved me onto a surfboard and told me I wasn\u2019t going to drown.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t swim. I\u2019m pushing 30 and I don\u2019t even know how to float, something not helped by watching Titanic<\/a> when I was four.<\/p>\n But as Ricky, my 45-year-old surf instructor for the day reminded me, the ocean we are standing in on the coast of Northern Ireland<\/a><\/strong> was barely above my knees. He spotted a promising wave and told me to get ready to pop up, moving from a push-up into a crouched stance, on my foam board.<\/p>\n I paddled and up I went, fighting every instinct to look down at the sea below.<\/p>\n My first ride lasted only a few seconds, but for a moment, I didn\u2019t have time to second-guess myself or overthink. You do it, or you don\u2019t. And I did it. <\/p>\n \t\t \t\t\t\tSign up to The Getaway newsletter\t\t\t<\/p>\n Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlike me, Ricky always pictured himself as a surfer.<\/p>\n \u2018When I was younger, there was no such thing as surf schools, let alone lifeguards on the beach,\u2019 he tells me at his school on the West Strand. \u2018My parents said I had to be a good swimmer and I could start when I was 14.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I got a surfboard for Christmas. I turned 14 in January, it was the most stoked I\u2019ve ever been, and that was it. I\u2019ve lived in the sea ever since.\u2019<\/p>\n That\u2019s why he created the surf school Alive Adventures<\/a>, to help people experience the freeing thrill of riding a wave<\/a>. As an urban beach, the Portrush waves are smaller and more manageable to learn on.<\/p>\n \u2018Getting in the water is good for your mental and physical health,\u2019 Martin says. \u2018I think everyone should do it.\u2019<\/p>\n There are many people like Ricky in Northern Ireland, keen to show that the country isn\u2019t just Game of Thrones shoot locations<\/a>, pints and rain.<\/p>\n Rather, it\u2019s a place away from mounting emails and procrastination where you can finally say, you know what, why not?<\/p>\n This was my mantra when I boarded a flight to Belfast<\/a> from London Gatwick<\/a> on a Wednesday in May: give it a shot, no matter how anxious I was, something my therapist has long begged me to do.<\/p>\n That, and tell every Irish person I meet that I\u2019m a \u2018quarter Irish\u2019. After delivering said line to a taxi driver, I stepped out in front of Room2 Belfast<\/a>, my home for the night ahead of my tour of the country\u2019s northeast coast.<\/p>\n \u2018You\u2019re just waiting for a mermaid to pop out\u2019<\/p>\n The next morning, I checked out to hike around Glenariff Forest Park<\/a>, in the North Antrim Hills, about an hour\u2019s drive from the capital.<\/p>\n Woods, rivers and walking trails fringed with garlic and strawberries make up the 1,200-hectare area, seven times the size of Hyde Park.<\/p>\n \u2018It looks like something out of a movie,\u2019 \u202fVictoria Canavan, our guide from Tourism NI<\/a>, tells us in front of Ess-Na-Crub Waterfall. \u2018You\u2019re just waiting for a mermaid to pop out.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t Victoria says leaving the office behind to feel the grass beneath her feet is common in Northern Ireland<\/a>, easy to do in a country where greenery is as common as existential crises are these days.<\/p>\n Horses <\/a>are another way to get around. But my steed, Ranger, wasn\u2019t going anywhere. Not when there was food next to him.<\/p>\n Ranger, one of 150 horses at Shean\u2019s Horse Farm<\/a> in Ballymoney, was holding back our group by constantly nibbling on the grass. To be fair, if food were around me all the time, I\u2019d do the same.<\/p>\n Melissa McCollan, 43, who\u2019s worked at Shean\u2019s for six years, says people come from all over the world to see Northern Ireland on horseback.<\/p>\n \u2019You won\u2019t get any experience in the world, like look at it,\u2019 she says, gesturing at the hillside as Ranger, of course, was eating. \u2018Even in the rain, it looks beautiful.<\/p>\n \u2019Some people come for their background and heritage because everyone\u2019s got a bit of Irish in them. We\u2019re all so amazing that yous\u2019 are all descended from us.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t It turns out that horse riding, which famously consists of sitting, is one hell of a workout. Exhausted, we drove 20 minutes to the Marine Hotel<\/a> in Ballycastle to rest.<\/p>\n Many tourists flock to the port town to see the most mythical of actual creatures: puffins. Seven miles off the shore is Rathlin Island, where puffins, seals and dolphins<\/a> dive in sun-silvered waters while lighthouses keep watch.<\/p>\n Charles Stewart, 55, and Dawn Hines, \u2018under 40\u2019, are taking me for a boat tour of the island on Friday. The Kinatra Boat Tours<\/a> founders are joined by patient bird-watchers hoping to spot the island\u2019s predatory birds.<\/p>\n \u2019The basking sharks always bring a smile to people\u2019s faces,\u2019 says Charles. \u2018We once saw a minke whale, it was amazing.\u2019<\/p>\n Dawn, a marine biologist, adds: \u2018Nature is vital to us and we love it, Rathlin is ever-changing.\u2019<\/p>\n Golf, greenery and rain \u2014 welcome to Northern Ireland<\/p>\n The day then became a lot more Irish. It started bucketing down as we drove to the setting of this year\u2019s Open, Royal Portrush Golf Club<\/a>. Pro Gary McNeil taught me how to swing a golf club without sending the ball into the car park.<\/p>\n The sea was steel-grey the next morning as I left the hotel for the Giant\u2019s Causeway<\/a>, said to have been formed by the trampling of the mythical, 54-foot-tall giant Benandonner.<\/p>\n \t\t Stories are everywhere in Northern Ireland, explains James Neil, 38, a visitor experience officer with the National Trust.<\/p>\n \u2019Generations of people have told these stories for a very long time and it gives us a sense of place,\u2019 he says, adding that his favourite legend is one of a nagging grandmother turned to stone <\/a>by Benandonner. \u2018Myths are important \u2013 they connect us to our past.\u2019<\/p>\n Portrush was the final leg of my coastal tour, where we had a booking that day at the four-star Elephant Rock Hotel<\/a>.<\/p>\n One surf lesson later, we spent the evening eating fish and chips and arancini<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>at the restaurant, Shanty Portrush, looking out at the dragon-back rocks and rain-whipped seas.<\/p>\n A pub rammed with neon Guinness <\/a>signs \u2013 where Victoria had her first date with her partner \u2013 was our final spot of the tour. A true Irish send-off.<\/p>\n Come Sunday morning, I got ready for my flight. Killing time at the airport, I rummage in my suitcase: A puffin hat, a golf ball and swim trunks still smelling of seawater.<\/p>\n \t\t That\u2019s when something Ricky had said came back to me. One of my goals in therapy is, pretty simply, to do karaoke. The thought of being up on a stage, screeching Love Shack by the B-52s, is terrifying.<\/p>\n Ricky knows everyone has fears that stop them from doing small things, which is why he set up an activity provider in a town of only 6,000.<\/p>\n So, if I can surf or go horse riding, why can\u2019t I do other things like sing in front of people?<\/p>\n \u2018We bring people from around the world and help them with their mental health,\u2019 Ricky said, \u2018and when I see them blossom, I just love it.\u2019<\/p>\n If they can blossom, I think to myself as I board, then I can, too.<\/p>\n Josh Milton was a guest of Tourism Ireland.<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEI_256003832-474f.jpg\")
\n\t\tI fought the urge to turn on my heels and run (Picture: Lore Thouvenin)<\/p>\n![\"(Picture:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEI_256003731-4f1d.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Northern Irish coast is often named among the most beautiful in the world (Picture: Josh Milton)<\/p>\n![\"(Picture:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEI_256003834-8626.jpg\")
\n\t\tRanger was a faithful companion (Picture: Josh Milton)<\/p>\n![\"(Picture:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEI_256003754-b813.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Antrim coast is home to a plethora of rare birds (Picture: Josh Milton)<\/p>\n![\"(Picture:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SEI_256003755-3202.jpg\")
\n\t\tTime stands still in this part of the world (Picture: Josh Milton)<\/p>\n
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