Page 178 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

That moment propelled Rodgers on a journey to
answer William John’s question. As long as William
John lived, he shaped and formed Rodgers, “getting
old guides to teach me, getting more families to chat
to me and making sure that I understood every detail.
Every day when I would come home, he would ask me
all the details, how many stories I had told, how many
listened, how they reacted. He believed with every beat
of his heart that the Causeway would bring itself back
to life through the power of its people.”
For a short while, Rodgers was a Causeway guide
for the National Trust, a charity who was an overseer
of its care since its designation as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1986. As he continued his conversa-
tions with the people who had lived and worked there,
he discovered a “genuine pain in their voices when they
spoke of their home, and how it was no longer recog-
nizable, as if they had never existed. I knew I had to tell
the story of the people.”
With that, he left the National Trust, and he along
with his wife Rosemary and William John, founded
Dalraida Kingdom Tours. “They [The National Trust]
took the heart and soul out of the Causeway,” believed
Rodgers. “I am there to put it back. I guide with a pride
and passion that leaves me exhausted at the end of
every day. I represent all the family guides that have
been there since the 1830s.”

If you close your eyes, you can hear
the rickety wheels of a wagon journey-
ing along the road, along the Kings
Highway. Made even more popular by
the series Game of Thrones, The Dark
Hedges have been attracting visitors
for centuries. The road, lined by beech
trees planted by the Stuart family in the
eighteenth century, is one of the most
popular tourist destinations in North-
ern Ireland. The hedges are located
between the villages of Armoy and
Stranocum in County Antrim.

178 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018