The river walk on the Lagan passes by some old smokestacks. Beyond are the giant ship-building cranes of Belfast harbor Seagulls always and everywhere on the Lagan

I took the train up to Larne Harbour and explored the coastal town. Left is a picture of me at Olderfleet Castle, this set of ruins gated off and plopped down right by the shore. I was almost the only person wandering around the town. I don’t think it’s usually a tourist destination.
The castle is pretty much ruined but some of the rooms are still outlined with foundation stones

There’s a row of memorials along the coastal road. The most impressive is Chaine Memorial Tower (right), which was built in the 1800s to commemorate a local MP who died in his forties. The design is based on the Irish Round Towers from medieval times, like the one at Glendalough that I saw last time I visited. The tower itself is closed–I couldn’t go inside–but the walk up to it with the ocean on either side was neat.
The Chaine Memorial Tower as seen from farther down the coast A memorial in Larne Harbour to people who died in a ferry shipwreck
Another coast-side memorial, this one to a ship delivering arms to the Ulster Volunteer Force, presumably to help quell Catholic nationalists
There are a lot of old industrial plants abandoned along the coastal route to Larne Harbour Islandmagee, a peninsula visible from Larne Harbour The old industrial buildings in Larne Harbour The train in and out of Larne Harbour The houses here are almost Norwegian, in a strange way