Spanning a chasm some eighty feet deep is the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, it's construction once consisted of a single rope hand rail and widely spaced slats which the fishermen would traverse across with salmon caught off the island.
For more than 300 years a rope bridge has provided the only form of access to Carrick-a-rede island for local fishermen. Although still used by the fishermen, the bridge is now much more heavily used by the many thousands of visitors who come to the site each year. Suspended over a 30m chasm, the bridge sways and wobbles underfoot and crossing it requires a strong nerve and a head for heights.
Although no-one has ever been injured falling off the old bridge, there have been many instances of visitors being unable to face the return walk back across the bridge, resulting in them being taken off the island by boat.
One of Northern Ireland's best-loved attractions, Carrick-a-Rede boasts unrivalled coastal scenery with stunning views of Rathlin and Scottish islands and an exhilarating rope bridge experience. Traditionally fishermen erected the bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island over a 30m-deep and 20m-wide chasm to check their salmon nets. Today visitors are drawn here simply to take the rope bridge challenge!
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