The spectacular Giant's Causeway on the northern coast of County Antrim has mixed associations for Ian Paisley Junior, son and political heir of "the big man" who has dominated the fundamentalist wing of Unionist politics in Northern Ireland for decades. It's the place his father took him and his twin brother when they were children for long walks and picnics on the clifftops, and it's the place where he now goes with his wife and two daughters on summer weekends to relax and get away from the tensions of politics.
But it's also the place where, two years ago, a wave swept two children into the sea and Paisley Jr was involved in a desperate effort to save them which brought him a Royal Humane Society award for bravery.
"That incident tinged those happy childhood memories for me," he says. "It demonstrated that you have to have your wits about you - the sea and the coastline round here are very beautiful, but they can be dangerous."
Most of his favourite walks are along the 11-mile North Antrim Cliff Path, which runs from Portballintrae in the west to Ballycastle in the east, past the Causeway and Benbane Head, the clifftop ruins of Dunseverick Castle and the swaying rope bridge over to Carrickarade Island, which excited and frightened him as a child.
"I wouldn't describe myself as an enthusiastic walker, so I wouldn't do the whole thing at one go," he says. "But it's great for days out with the kids. Otherwise most of my walking tends to be round the constituencies, handing out leaflets - walking's very important for a politician in that sense."
The Cliff Path is one of Ireland's most beautiful landscapes, and its special attraction for Unionists is that, on a clear day, you can see the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Myth also has it that the Giant's Causeway, with its strangely symmetrical volcanic basalt columns, was the attempt of the great warrior Fionn MacCumhail (anglicised as Finn MacCool) to create a link between the countries.
"There's a propinquity between Northern Ireland and Scotland and that sense of neighbourliness is emphasised when you can actually see it on the horizon as you walk along," says Paisley Jr. "Unfortunately the story of the Red Hand is too vague about geography, but I would very much like to think it happened in County Antrim."
The Red Hand, symbol of die-hard Ulster protestantism, refers to the race for Ulster between the Gaelic MacDonnells and the Norman de Burghs in the 12th century. De Burgh was leading as they struggled through the shallows, but MacDonnell won by cutting off his own hand and hurling it forward on to the beach.
Paisley Jr is anxious to protect the Causeway coast, much of it well looked after by the National Trust, from the kind of random development he feels has happened in Donegal. He's not against second homes, but what you need after a long walk, he says, is a visit to a local hotel for a Finn MacCool steak: "It's about as big as an armchair, and done any way you like."
The Ulster Way
If you want more than a leisurely day out at the Giant's Causeway, you can go to the opposite extreme and spend a month on the Ulster Way, which claims to be the longest waymarked path in the UK - 40 miles longer than the 600-mile South West Coast Path.
The route goes north from Belfast through the beautiful nine Glens of Antrim, along the Causeway Coast, and then south through the Sperrin Mountains to the loughs of Fermanagh, crossing two mountains called Big Dog and Little Dog. There's an optional - and strenuous - foray into the rugged part of Donegal.
Then it strikes eastwards again to Lough Neagh, in the centre of the province, down the Newry Canal to the Mountains of Mourne and up the coast of County Down to finish in Belfast again. In County Armagh, it follows the controversial Orangemen's parade route past Drumcree Church and down the Garvaghy Road.
Walkers tend to pick out the highlights, especially the Mourne Moutains, the Glens of Antrim and the coast near the Giant's Causeway, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Only a handful a year do the full circuit, which follows rather too many roads in the lowlands. The walking-man signs are mostly yellow, but some remain a politically-sensitive orange.
The idea of the circuit came in 1946 from the late Wilf Capper, Ulster's answer to Alfred Wainwright, but the project wasn't complete until the 1970s.
There's now a suggestion that the Ulster Way can help to pass the time between the stops and starts of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. General John de Chastelain, in charge of the arms decommissioning body, recently told the Irish Times it was "a wonderful walk through magnificent countryside".
• British Airways (0345 222111) has seven flights a day from Heathrow to Belfast with return prices from £68.90pp, incl tax. British Midland (0870 6070555) has eight flights a day from Heathrow to Belfast with return prices from £91.90pp incl tax. Stena Line (08705 707070) has five ferry crossings daily from Stranraer to Belfast with prices for one foot passenger from £42 and prices for a family of four in a car starting at £210. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is on 0541 555250. The Complete Ulster Way, by Paddy Dillon, is published by O'Brien Press, Dublin, £6.99.
