(gentle music) - Part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland is only 5,400 square miles in size, which represents one sixth of the island of Ireland.

But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in many other ways.

Within a couple of hours of the capital city of Belfast, there are countless things to do and places to explore.

In the northwest, you'll find the historic city of Derry, the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland.

Derry also happens to be an ideal launching point for the Causeway Coast, a magical coastline where the Atlantic Ocean, Irish sea, and a rich history collide.

While northern Ireland's coast is a huge draw, the rolling hills, small towns and sheltered loughs offer a very different and intimate Irish experience.

I came here to explore the waterways by kayak, but I quickly discovered that there's much more to northern Ireland than epic shorelines.

And I found myself falling deep into a wonderful culture, with a vibrant history and an adventurous spirit.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) My name's Ken Whiting.

And for over 30 years, my life has been guided by the paddle in my hand.

This is my search for the world's most spectacular paddling destinations.

This is "Facing Waves."

(upbeat music) Facing Waves is made possible by the following Vivid-Pix memory station and software allows users to scan personal history items like photos and documents, record voice narrative, and share what has been conserved.

More online at Vivid-pix.com.

Collette offers small group exploration tours, destinations and local experiences.

Explorations by Collette.

Guided travel since 1918.

♪ upbeat music In4adventure.com Inspiring, educating and encouraging outdoor adventure Host- And by these additional sponsors ♪ upbeat music (upbeat music) Having arrived in Derry, I've hooked up with Lorcan from Far and Wild Adventures and I'm heading out on their foodie tour to get my first real taste of northern Ireland.

So what is the plan for today?

- Ooh, the plan is to look at food, Ken.

- Like the sounds of that.

- The fuel that keeps us going.

And look at, I suppose, progeny, like where that food comes from, in this particular location in Derry.

And we're gonna visit some lovely places to eat.

- All right, twist my arm.

(gentle music) - So the Walled City is one of the terms used to refer to the settlement here.

And that's because the plantation of Ulster that took place in the 17th century, the early 1600s, built an intact walled city, which still remains.

It's one of the few remaining walled cities in Europe, and it's one of those icons that most tourists will come across on a day visit to Derry.

(gentle music) - There are two types of people in this world.

There's people who start the day with savory, and then there's people who start the day with sweet.

Oh, yeah.

The food experience is really much more than just the quality of the food.

It's kinda like when you go camping and you have a dehydrated meal, but it tastes like the best thing ever.

And that's because of the environment you're in, and the state you're in.

And the same thing applies in the city.

You do need great food, but when that's accompanied by a unique environment and a state, then it really enhances the whole food experience.

(gentle music) How cool is this?

- Yeah.

Big bus.

- Well.

- Yeah.

- What's the ticket here?

- [Lorcan] Well, this is genuine Derry street food, and I recommend the tacos.

- [Ken] Squid?

- [Lorcan] Yeah.

- [Ken] Squid tacos.

I'm in.

- [Lorcan] Squid tacos, yeah.

- [Ken] Yeah.

(gentle music) What have we got here?

I think a key metric for food is whether you need to shower afterwards.

(Lorcan laughing) If you do, then, - It's been good.

- Oh yeah.

I think I'm gonna need to shower after.

Mmm.

(gentle music) Well, I just had the best taco of my life.

I could do this foodie tour all day long.

But the water is calling.

The Causeway Coast is not far downstream.

And so it's time to get my first taste of paddling.

To get my first taste of Irish paddling, I find myself launching to explore an iconic section of Ireland's coast called the Causeway Coast.

To show me the way, I've hooked up with Lorcan McBride from Far and Wild Adventures, who regularly guides trips in the area and who knows these waters as well as anyone.

Well, getting my feet wet for the first time in Ireland.

This is the North Antrim Coast, not too far from the Giant's Causeway.

And it's already spectacular.

This is going to be good.

I don't get to paddle on the ocean very often.

I live about 1,500 kilometers or 1,000 miles from the ocean.

And so every time I do paddle on the ocean, there's a sense of excitement.

You're entering this whole new world, this whole new environment.

And it's a very big, big world.

When I picture the dramatic Irish coastline, this is what I pictured.

- So it really is quite a spectacular coastline.

It's a feisty one as well, as you can feel today.

We've got it in a fairly quiet day.

Yesterday and tomorrow wouldn't be as pleasant for us.

So you really have to choose your moments and respect, I suppose, the conditions.

- [Ken] Yeah.

- Lots of forces at work.

So Far and Wild run a Causeway sea kayaking tour right along the Causeway Coast.

So it takes in a lot of different features, a lot of different places, in quite a wild environment.

It is accessible to absolute beginners.

Perhaps from May through to September, it's forgiving.

Outside of that, it gets a wee bit difficult to paddle, unless you've got a lot of kayaking experience.

But for the beginner, it's the kind of place that you can look at from the top of a cliff line or from a car park and think, "Wouldn't it be amazing to be in that water kayaking along?"

And once you get in it, you become connected in a much different way with the landscape, what it's saying, what it's about.

And you learn more, effectively, the closer you are to it, the more you're learning.

- [Ken] As we travel further west along the Causeway Coast, the swell grows in size, and the shoreline becomes a rock garden.

The ultimate playground for expert paddlers.

These aren't conditions that Lorcan can take many clients into, but today it's our turn to play.

- [Lorcan] So when we're guiding trips, we don't take people out in conditions where we feel they won't be able to be in control and to have an enjoyable experience.

And today was a bit more exciting than normal in that the sea was, had a good bit of swell in it, and we were trying to make our way through areas that were fairly chopped up.

- Lorcan and I are, we're cut from the same cloth, in that when we see narrows or pinch points between rocks or channels, we're like moths drawn to the flame.

You just have to go explore and see, can we get in there?

(gentle music) Well, one thing that you remember very quickly, paddling in the ocean with swell like this, is how small you are and how big Mother Nature is.

- When you're open water sea kayaking, you're kind of, everything around you is fairly straightforward.

You got no obstacles.

When you decide to rock hop, you're kinda putting yourself into a little bit of danger to kind of explore more.

So you can have like lots of water pouring over the top of some of the rocks.

You can have these kind of push throughs where the wave gets compressed and kind of jacks up away high.

And as long as you can handle it, it's a really enjoyable experience.

Every day is different on the Causeway, for sure.

(Ken laughing) - Well, I can't think of a better way to get my feet wet in Ireland.

What a day.

Got a little sporty too.

But we got more adventures to come.

So it's time for me to get off the water.

So it begins.

I've always said that kayaks provide the best way to explore a coast.

But here, just outside of Belfast, there's another really cool way to explore the coast.

This is The Gobbins.

(jaunty music) The Gobbins Cliff Path is a one-of-a-kind hiking trail that wraps itself along the Antrim Coast just outside Belfast.

Built and open to the public in 1902, it became an overnight success, attracting visitors from across Ireland and Britain.

Shut down during the Second World War, time took its toll, and despite a number of attempts to reopen the path, it largely remained closed until 2016, when it reopened after years of hard work.

Pretty wild to think that this path was actually built in 1902.

What a feat that would've been.

It's been knocked outta commission a few times by landslides, even for decades.

But it's back in full force and it is a cool, cool experience.

(jaunty music) The trail is about a mile long.

And right now, it's a there and back trail.

But that's gonna change really soon.

They're just finishing up another section, so it becomes a complete, basically a loop.

A mile winding along this shore front, chiseled into the cliffs.

Super cool.

(jaunty music) Well, we got ourselves a beautiful, calm day for this.

But I can only imagine what it's like when the wind's up and there's swell crashing against the rocks.

Be a little sportier.

(jaunty music) (jaunty music continues) I've always felt that kayaking provides this really unique way to see a place, to experience an environment.

And it's true, but I've now found a new way to experience a place.

Cliff walking.

I like it.

(jaunty music) (gentle music) I'm on Strangford Lough.

I'm just south of Belfast.

And it is a beautiful but crisp morning.

I've hooked up with John from Mobile Team Adventures and we're going for a paddle.

We're gonna be cruising around the lough, hopefully see some wildlife, and hopefully pick up some mussels along the way to have a shore lunch.

So what's the plan for today?

We're here.

- So we're here, just at Whiterock.

So the plan is what we do, we go over and explore an island, see if there's any seals at Aran Island.

- Okay.

- We then go towards Sketrick Castle, which you'll see across there.

- Okay.

- But then we paddle around Sketrick Island and we go around towards Reagh Island and we then go out to the mussel beds, round towards Nendrum, the monastic site.

And then we'll probably come back out around Trasnagh and then go and explore down towards Darragh, and then back up.

Lovely, eh?

- All right.

- Go and explore.

- Yep.

And if the plan changes, well that's the plan.

- That's the plan.

(both laughing) (jaunty music) Welcome to Strangford Lough!

- Well, thank you!

- This is on my doorstep.

- This is a pretty nice backyard you have.

- That's lovely.

Sometimes it's the same in the office, Strangford Lough is a fantastic area because not a lot of tourists know about it.

Most people would actually go up to the North Coast and this is actually a secret or a hidden gem, just 20 minutes from Belfast.

And people are actually starting to realize, actually even the locals, this is on our doorstep, and it's a spectacular area.

You've got the wildlife, you've got the birds, the seals.

Recently we've had dolphins.

It's absolutely beautiful.

- Strangford Lough almost has the feel of a freshwater lake, but it's definitely not a freshwater lake.

There's a little bit more complexity to it.

It's in a nice sheltered area, at least the side of the lake that this bay that we're paddling in has islands.

So even if the wind picks up, we can hide behind some islands and avoid big choppy water.

But there's four-meter tides here.

That means you're gonna get tidal currents.

It also means you have to plan your route around low tide and high tide, because some of the areas can go completely dry and turn into mudflats.

It's a more complex paddling environment, but still feels very similar to lake paddling.

- So Mobile Team Adventure is an outdoor pursuits company.

We're literally what it says on the packet.

So we're a mobile business based in Belfast that will cover most of the north.

One of our experiences obviously, which we're doing today, is Glide with the Tide, where me being a trained chef, we've actually, we sort of go foraging for mussels, then cook up the fresh mussels with local produce.

So whiskey coming from Echlinville Distillery and foods coming from Indie Füde, which is all Irish foods.

So be very careful 'cause they're gonna be sharp.

All right, so basically what you're after is probably, I don't know, about an inch, inch and a half in size.

- Okay.

- Not too small.

I literally just pull 'em off.

And what we do, I've got a net bag here.

We pop them in a net bag, and then we'll then clean 'em all up and I'll show you how to clean 'em up in a minute.

So just collect a whole load.

- All right.

- We collect about half a dozen each or whatever.

- This is pretty easy hunting.

- It is easy hunting.

- I love foraging for anything.

For berries.

I mean, for mussels now.

And the trick I've learned to foraging is to go with somebody who knows where what you're looking for is, because you can burn a lot of time trying to find that thing.

And that's the challenge, is knowing where you're gonna find them.

Basically, finding a needle in the haystack.

Nope, nothing there.

Anything there?

No.

Come on, there's gotta be something.

(jaunty music) Nice.

Well, not very fast at this.

But getting it done.

- So the way the forage for mussels, basically you're looking ideally for the tide to be going out.

You're looking under around the rocks or on the seabed, underneath the weed.

And you're actually sort of pick the mussels, ideally, with the least amount of molluscs on them.

Because basically you'll then have to clean the molluscs, pull the beard off, and obviously, what you don't wanna do is put those within your sauce.

So you either use a knife, I mean you've got a knife, I've got a knife if you want one.

But if not, what I tend to do is actually just rub them against each other.

- Okay.

- But obviously it's sharp.

And then just rub them against and then knock off the mollusc.

See the little beard?

The beard's the bit that holds it onto the rock.

- Yep.

- Pinch that and pull it out.

Obviously that's the chewy bit.

And what you don't wanna do, we don't wanna be eating that bit either.

Foraging for mussels, obviously is can be a high-risk thing.

First of all, you need to think about the season when you're actually picking or foraging for mussels.

So ideally you wanna be going in the winter months, where there we're actually foraging is actually not a very accessible place.

So obviously we're going by sea kayak.

So we're actually doing it in a sensible way.

We're only sort of taking a few mussels at a time.

In the season, obviously in the winter months, when there's not spawning going on during the summer and it's literally just a taster.

- Well, I would say we have enough for a nice snack.

- Happy days.

Fantastic.

- [Ken] Happy days indeed.

- Brilliant!

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - Food time?

- Yep.

Food time.

(gentle music) So yeah, I'm a trained chef.

So I did like a three-year apprenticeship years ago and then worked in university colleges to start off with.

But literally went to college and trained.

And I loved it, loved the passion.

I don't necessarily wanna be in the kitchen.

I wanna be in great outdoors and now in the great outdoors and I'm still cooking.

On the odd occasion it's lovely.

But it's a different environment.

It's a much better environment.

It's not hot sticky kitchen, which is great.

Do you wanna stick the mussels in?

- Yep.

- The reason for why I started foraging for mussels was basically because you pass these mussels on the shore, they're fresh, they're delicious.

And with my experience, I believe that obviously I could create a lovely dish using local produce.

Then after speaking sort of to local suppliers, then decided obviously, let's try something different and unique.

Whiskey.

Not very many people use whiskey to cook mussels, and cream and garlic.

So we just suddenly thought, it'd be a fantastic idea and something different.

And they taste delicious.

- [Ken] Thank you!

- Let's tuck in.

So you've got the Young Buck cheese, which is from Newtownards, just down the road.

You've got the Ispini, which obviously we bought all this food from Indie Fude.

So local foods, produce, we've got Abernethy butter, we've got the Guinness Wheaten and the Ballylisk cheese, and there's some chutney, if you want some chutney.

Get stuck in.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - One thing I've learned here, aside from the fact that Strangford Lough is absolutely gorgeous, this has been one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of paddling I've had in a very long time.

But I need more paddling buddies who are chefs.

'Cause man, this is the way to end the day of paddling.

Mmm.

(gentle music) Facing Waves is made possible by the following Vivid-Pix memory station and software allows users to scan personal history items like photos and documents, record voice narrative, and share what has been conserved.

More online at Vivid-pix.com.

Collette offers small group exploration tours, destinations and local experiences.

Explorations by Collette.

Guided travel since 1918.

♪ upbeat music In4adventure.com Inspiring, educating and encouraging outdoor adventure Host- And by these additional sponsors ♪ upbeat music