For a long time (ever since I read the book at 11 or 12 in fact) I’ve wondered if C. S. Lewis, a native of Ireland, ever visited The Giant’s Causeway and received inspiration from it to create the titanic stone bridge over the River Shribble. As you remember, Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace crossed it to reach the Northern Moors. In all my research I’ve never heard it said that he did, though fans speculate. The two formations, bridge and causeway, later became mixed up in my own mind so that in between Chronicle readings I wasn’t sure if the bridge was an arched one or a low-lying tidal one.
The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland is formed of lava squeezed out from the earth like toothpaste from a tube, forming distinct hexagonal columns that cooled and solidified. (Why hexagons? I don’t know.) Similar extrusions formed The Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and the valley walls of Glacier Basin in Mt. Rainier National Park, which, in certain light conditions, I’ve found look very similar to a ruined city.
However, it turns out the Irish formations are not so epic after all, judging by this pic.
I would still like to visit though.
