Stop the car I want a 'wee' wee?

And this is the most savoury of our juvenile japes as we left Northern Ireland with a bit of new lingo, one that also works in Scotland.  So we completed our Home Nations tour today with the ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan in Scotland.

Early start to leave the Air Bnb, lots of cleaning, packing and shouting at 6 in the morning - bet our neighbours glad to see the back of us.

Oil light went on as we hit the ferry terminal so that gave us something to sort out as we waited to board.  The 2.5 hour trip flew by, I slept for half of it - needed that!  Ate everything that we had left in the Air BnB which made for an interesting breakfast of cheese and biscuits, custard slice and prawn cocktail crisps.  

Read a bit, took a stroll on deck and watched us cruise into the deep port on the west side of Scotland. First built in World War 2 as a reserve for Liverpool should it be needed, but it wasn't used for full action, but did see a lot of logistical unloading of troops etc  

Straight off and on the road down the east coast via Stranraer and lots of little holiday type villages that would have been worth a stay if we had time. If Covid continues, maybe this is somewhere to return to. My focus was Castle Douglas, and for one reason only. The Bob Mortimor story on would I lie to you about being run out of town for wearing masks. A true legend of the show, we have also been reflecting on the Chris Rea egg in the bath story too on this trip. Good times. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

South we went, our focus being Gretna Green, for a bit of romance, and ideally a pasty. Couldn't find the latter, and love on an empty stomach not the best, but we did learn about the hordes who have tied the knot up that way by the blacksmith clergy that used to do the job.

My last box to tick on this trip was a sighting of Hadrian's Wall as we drove over Northumberland.  Not entirely sure if I saw it, there were a lot of walls, but a stop near a Roman fort seemed to be a good shot, and the crag at Walltown looked the business. Again, something to return to methinks.

Pretty shattered by the time we reached journeys end in Newcastle. That will be the official end of this trip as we are now in family visit territory which is something more reserved for facebook than travel blogs.

A good trip had by all, I think we achieved what we set out to, learned a stack about socio political history of these Isles, enjoyed good scenery, and great family time.  I think we have made our usual travel experiential approach work even in these strange times, and have our heads up for the next one, whether home or abroad.

-Carys-

Our last blog post from this holiday. Though we don't get home till tomorrow, we're pretty much just having breakfast tomorrow together and then driving all day, so today was our final proper day. This holiday as I've already mentioned frequently had just flown by. I'm glad we're going to be home as I've missed it, and am pretty shattered, but will miss the fun of being away and doing something new. It's been a blast.

So today was a very early start, as we needed to be in Belfast for 8.30 for the ferry to leave an hour later. That meant getting up at jus after 6 to clean up and finish packing up in our air bnb. It went by pretty smoothly with no complications but a bit of rushing around at the end, fearful we'd leave something behind. Nonetheless, it's now 10 minutes past 10 and we're yet to discover anything missing - touch wood that when home we'll still have everything with us.

We said our goodbyes to the house, locked up and drove into Belfast. We didn't get to see much of it, and were soon in the queue for the ferry. This one not taking as long as the one in Liverpool, we were soon on the ferry and found a table in the open area. Not exactly the lounge like before, but the journey was a short 2 hours so the open area made do just fine.

Bought some expensive chocolate on the boat. Let the time pass and we were in Scotland. A flying visit, but still counting it as my first time ever in Scotland. We've covered the whole of the UK over this past week, and interesting achievement. I'd definitely like to return to Scotland at some point to have a proper look around. (Edinburgh at Christmas would be ideal). 

Most of the next few hours was made up of driving along the West coast of Scotland with a few stops. Castle Douglas where we found some nice treats in a little sweet shop - it was actually one of the biggest displays I've ever seen, with a whole wall full of jars of sweets.  We didn't get anything to eat at our next stop, Gretna Green but it was a pretty place to look around and had some intriguing history. 

Before we knew it, we were driving over the border into England. Stopped at Hadrian's Wall and then on to Newcastle. Lovely family visit in the evening, and then it was time to go to our Premier Inn. The first hotel I've stayed in since lockdown. We like a good Premier Inn. Hopefully it'll serve us another good night's sleep.

Thanks for tuning in with our blog again. We appreciate you. It's been a different one, that's for sure, but still felt like a Williams' family holiday. Bye for now! :)

Say what you see ...the walk of seamus

 

It's good but it's not right

Having being non stop on the trip so far, we just dropped down a gear today.  That also was the case with my running, hip pain back in all its horrible glory, so plans of an extended run shelved, and did Couch25K around a graveyard with Chrissi and Carys.  News of the London Marathon cancellation has added to the lack of interest in returning to form or fitness, and just need to transfer my Vale Ultra place now for October to remove any last idiotic plans to do that instead.  Can then focus on finding some fun in running again, a bit like yesterdays brief moment in Portrush.

My suggestion for the day was to visit the key attraction of this part of Northern Ireland, Margherafelt, which was the birthplace of Seamus Heaney, Bellaghey.  I'd noted one of those brown tourist signs marking out an exhibition/arts centre by way of tribute to the fella, and it meant we didn't need to extend ourselves too far in time or distance.

What a little gem we uncovered, one of the few things not recommended to us on this trip, that we can now recommend to others.  A fabulous little arts centre, warm and welcoming with a 15 minute introduction to the background of the Nobel Prize winning poet.  From there we were able to trace his history, and had some headphones where we could listen to him reading out his poetry as aligned with various influences or milestones in his life of his family's life.  Very much poetry that provided a commentary to the world he knew, much of it referencing this very specific part of Northern Ireland.  He went to Grammar school in Derry with John Hume, so the synergy at the end of this trip to where we all started both physically and politically was pleasing (to me at least)

What was equally pleasing was the cracking Belfast Tea and Pear/Caramel/Blackcurrant scone I had in the cafe afterwards.  A very rich menu it has to be said and I'd suggest perhaps a bigger meal worthwhile if you had the time. Check this place out is really good. http://www.seamusheaneyhome.com/

Took a drive back to Lough Neagh, this time the Antrim lakeside, which was perhaps a bit more set up for a nice walk along the edge.  In doing so we hit a few more of the themes that have underpinned our travels out here, stumbling across more parkrun routes, and Game of Thrones film sets. The swarms of midges and flies (as we were warned) perhaps the reason this beautiful scenery perhaps not taken off in quite the manner it should.

A little bit of time back at the Air BNB packing up for the next leg of our journey, investigating some different restaurants. The one downside of the Air BNB is the lack of pub/restaurant within easy walk, but with many still shut, options would be limited. Also with the Eat to Help Out deal in full swing everything in the area pretty booked out, but I did get us in to the first restaurant I spotted on our drive east to west on our first morning. The Elk in Toomebridge was an interesting way to see things out, nice surrounds, variable food, I went high risk with a pub curry and it didn't work out.  The others seemed to come off better, and my starter of spicy chicken worked well.  The odd miss on this trip, but it has been mainly hits. albeit hits from the 80's....

-Carys-

A bit more of a quiet one today - which was strange since we've had a blur of busy mornings over the past few days. I haven't run in a while, so went out to do a Couch to 5km session from my phone with mum and dad which was nice enough. The park we went to was a lot smaller than expected but made do for our little jog around and back. 

No need to rush out, so we took our time getting ready, but when we eventually did leave the house, we drove to visit the Seamus Heaney museum, a poet I hadn't heard of, but turns out when we went into the building, his poem 'Digging' was one we'd studied in school before, which i recognised straight away as it felt very familiar.

I found the museum really interesting, it was quite short and snappy but the information was spread out well and each poem gave a great analysis alongside it. You could also listen to Seamus himself reading the poems which was a lovely touch, because as our guide mentioned, listening to poetry is a lot different to reading it.

We made use of the nice cafe they had at the end of the exhibit, dad and I both opting for a scone - my original choice of raspberry and white chocolate was unavailable so I went with the pear, blackberry and salted caramel instead. Enjoyed it thoroughly, washed down with  strawberry milkshake, and it was all great, until I felt extremely full 20 minutes later. maybe I ate a little too quickly.

With not many other plans, we headed round to a different side of the lake Loch Neagh, hoping there might be a little bit more to do there. They had a long walk along the lake, though we just gave ourselves a little taster and walked out for 10 minutes or so and back. I didn't fancy anything in their cafe hut - still felt very filled up from my previous snack and drink, so just sat while mum and dad had an ice cream and Bryn had a coke.

Drove back home, and had a chill for a while, with food not booked till later on.  We left around 7:10 to get for our half past booking at 'The Elk'. Mum had mentioned how the menu seemed to lack any vegetarian options but it was all fine when we got there.

Had a lovely garlic bread starter cause when do I pass up the chance for garlic bread. Main was vegetable fajitas, my only option but I'm glad it was because it was lovely. I couldn't finish it, but I had delicious steaming vegetables in wraps with sour cream, salsa and guac, and chips on the side. It was ideal, and I wouldn't have picked it over macaroni cheese - another favourite - so i was happy to try something new.

Home now and need a good nights sleep for our early start tomorrow to leave Northern Ireland. Sad to be going but glad we've got the great memories from this trip to have forever. 

A day of many halves (not just from the offy)

 -Carys-

It feels weird to say we only have one full day after today in Northern Ireland. This trip had flown by, and we're only about halfway. Holidays usually do move past super quickly, since time really does fly when you're having fun, but when you want it to speed up, it drags. It's rubbish really.

Well, we may as well enjoy our time as much as possible until we return to our usual daily setting of our home in South Wales. Another early-ish start, these morning seem to be merging into one as we're all out the door before 10 or 11 most of the time. 

It wasn't a long drive to Giant's Causeway, where we parked and paid our fee, followed the hoards of other tourists along the track to the attraction - though saying 'hoards' it wasn't packed. Reasonable numbers.

As we approached the causeway itself, mum commented on how she felt quite underwhelmed by it, as dad had been the other day with the trees. However it seemed to grow on us, and we got lots of great photos. It's just mad how the earth - or giants - has created such shapes in the rocks. I'm really glad we went.

We were informed of the path/route we'd panned to follow of being closed due to falling rocks, but we must have been feeling a little rebellious, or just decided since lots of other people had ignored the fence and sign, we would too. Not very sensible of us.

It worked out though, as we got a nice scenic view of the Giants Causeway and sea beyond it, and ended up back in the carpark for a Mr Whippy from the visitors centre. It was warm by then, we were glad for the good weather.

Next up was the drive to the beach, though we were unaware of where we were actually going to. Park and took a stroll through Northern Ireland's version of Barry island, with an amusement park, arcades and similar beach. Nice enough. Dad went off for his run and we found a good spot on the sand.

Bryn made me come in the sea, which I'd already decided was freezing rom a quick paddle earlier on. My decisions were correct, and I'm going to claim it as the most cold sea I've ever been in. I could barely put my shoulders in and normally I'm quite good with cold water. Basically a wast  of time - it wasn't warm enough to want to go in to cool off and was too freezing to actually swim or enjoy it. Ah well, at least I can say i went in, and it was the Atlantic ocean - the very tip of it.

A few games of Uno later - Bryn was VERY relutcant to join in, we packed up and walked down to what was later labelled the less commercial beach.. Rightly so it was a lot nicer - we didn't test the waters, literally - again though. Soon after our arrival we had rather a big debacle where when dad went to change his shoes, he only found one in the bag.

Now we were certain we'd packed both, so assumed it must of fallen out on the mile or so walk between the two beaches. Just great. The parents went looking for it, and dad went to bring the car round to this beach too. A sigh of relief was had when mum returned with the shoe, saying it had been found by a wall somewhere further up on the walk we'd taken to this beach. I was just thankful to avoid tension and Dad's annoyance by the fact he now only had one walking shoe. 

Finished off the day with another game of uno, with all of us this time, and some expensive chips on the sand. Then it was time to come home, another day over already. 

(Lloyd)

2 things to see today, each one split nicely in 2.  Was Sunday in Northern Ireland which appears to mean nothing happens before midday.  They don't half seem to make up for it in the evening, have never seen towns and roads so busy on a Sunday evening, the takeaways and off licenses doing a roaring trade, people seemed 'out out' .. everywhere else I've ever been is the one time of the week you can usually be assured of a bit of peace.  Off Licenses operating independently of supermarkets also strange for the UK, although quite common in Oz from memory.  Although they have drive through bottle os there, so take it to the other extreme!

I digress, we did about an hours drive up to the infamous Giants Causeway, a UNESCO heritage site and natural area of beauty.  The National Trust wanted to charge us £40 to park so we took the £8 option at the heritage railway site a few minutes walk further away.  There were a few different ways we could see the Causeway, we managed to split it into 2, doing the 'blue' route out and the 'red' route back.  All downhill out, to see the hexagonal stones, volcanic in origin apparently. Although I preferred the legends of the Irish Giant Finn Mccool fighting a Scotish fella called Bennadonner (kebab?) and this was the start of the bridge across. Perhaps where 'giant' Bunter Boris got his idea for a road bridge?  Welsh giant Bryn Bach thundered across the Causeway today and my money would have been on him to take any of those 3 out.

It was pretty impressive to be fair, and after clambering around a while we took the (moral?) high ground, ignoring warnings, and climbing the Shepherds Steps for a better view.  Satisfied with our views we returned to the train station, bought an ice cream for an undisclosed fee (a lot) and then drove along the coast to Portrush.

Parking up it felt we had hit Barry Island, although a Vegas themed sign reminded us of the places we want to return to when all this is over.  It appeared we had based ourselves on the west side of Portrush, the more traditional seaside resort shall we say.  A quick look at the kiss me quick stuff encouraged me to take a run, and explore the surrounds.  In doing so I weaved around the coast and found the much more aesthetically pleasing east beach.  That is far more picturesque, and sits under the Portrush Golf Course.  It also features as the parkrun up here, so I was able to do a run lapping the sea (Strava says I was in the sea) that pretty much covered most of the parkrun.  Again it served to remind us of the fun parkrun travels we hope to revisit again in the future.

Put a call through to the family on the west side to come and join me out east, and met them half way.  I then went and got the car so we could spend our annual income on 4 portions of chips.  West isn't always best (apart from cheaper chips) it would seem.

Another day has flown by, absolutely shattered, and enjoyed what was left of the evening with a Dominos and a few ciders in the Air BnB, perhaps we will take things a little easier tomorrow.