The stones that built their own legend

I love it when geology accidentally invents a myth, and the Giant's Causeway might be the best example of that anywhere. Around 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, all cooled into shape by the same volcanic activity 60 million years ago, long before there was anyone around to watch it happen.

The story that grew up around it is that the giant Finn McCool built the causeway to reach Scotland and fight his rival Benandonner, and that when he saw how enormous Benandonner actually was, his wife disguised him as a baby in a cradle to frighten the other giant into running home. Here's the part I love. There's an identical set of columns waiting on the Scottish island of Staffa, part of the exact same ancient lava flow. Whoever first noticed that probably didn't need much more than that to start telling stories. And yet the causeway's own Irish name doesn't mention a giant at all. It just means stepping stones.

I painted it in watercolour and ink, all those dark hexagons against the sea. There's a poster with a letter home and a postcard if you'd like one.

Shop the poster here: Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland · Travel Poster