Happy Belfast Day

One footnote from yesterday worthy of mention.  We often joke about being a bit National Lampoons when we are away.  So when visiting Kelly I had a house number in my head, pulled up confidently on their driveway, waved and gave a thumbs up to the fella in the window, started to unload the car, when he came out confused as I warmly marched up to introduce myself.  Turns out we should have been at number 13 not number 8....

Covid travelling (even in the UK) has many pros and cons we are finding.  Getting places is easy, traffic is quite light, people are not out in numbers, so attractions are great to navigate even in the height of Summer. I gather this is not the case in Cornwall, but there are real advantages to finding the right place.  The downside, or at least the thing to be aware of, is not everything is able or choosing to open.  With footfall down, opening hours for tours may be limited and certain activities cancelled perhaps due to the workarounds needed to make safe.  Wet bars currently not open in Northern Ireland, and some cafes have clearly decided the numbers aren't there to make business sense.  So its a balancing act; on the basis I tend to choose our adventures to get off the beaten track I'm willing to make the sacrifice and suck up the odd disappointment... after all it is sometimes enough to see the world, not always having to mark it with an event or activity ....

Having said all that pre booked the Titanic Museum in Belfast today so we knew we had a few hours taken care of. Prior to that Chrissi celebrated the first part of her birthday with yours truly on a 5k run, she's still got it at forty something or other ...

30 minute drive from our abode to Belfast.  We had left our boot open all night, I mean like properly open, raised up and everything. Clearly our neighbourhood is OK so far, although they probably think we are a bunch of **** Along with that fella from Carrickfergus, our reputation precedes us.

The museum was interesting, Chrissi really wanted to do it, and it had come highly recommended.  The early parts providing an insight into the history of Belfast, learnt a lot about linen, shipyards and the people who did well out of it, and less well. Not all that different to other parts of the working class in the industrial revolution, with a slight twist.

The Titanic stuff was great, a 3D 'ride' through the ship was pretty mind blowing, and obviously many of the tragic tales and aftermath pulled at the heart strings, even without De Caprio and Winslett.

Onto the 'city bus tour' into the City Centre, a good way for a whistle stop intro to the City.  Chrissi had booked (on advice) a booth in the famous Crown Bar, very old, very traditional, and ideal in these socially distant times.  Great tucker, and a mandatory Guiness to mark the gels birthday.  Perhaps not the most budget of our experiences which on the whole, Northern Ireland has been pretty reasonable (perhaps a tad cheaper) than the rest of the UK.

Took a stroll to the town square finding a George Best reference, then hopped on the hop on/hop off bus.  With the day coming to a close we didn't hop off until we were kicked off, which allowed us to see the Falls Road, and Shankshill Road.  That along with Bogside in Derry mean we have certainly 'travelled' through a fair few places that may have been off limits a few years back.

Glorious weather accompanied our stroll back to the Titanic Quarter, an opportunity to walk along the River Lagan, and observe how, like many places the quayside has clearly been transformed, with a several very modern nods to the less than modern Game of Thrones.  Cup of coffee and on our way back west, with one final stop, alongside the shores of Loch Neagh, the largest lake in the UK.  Ballyronan a small marina was where we took a look today, investing a few pounds in the local economy.  Some of these small villages don't half feel like the villages I grew up in the 1970s in Wales, both in look and feel.

Back to Chrissi's birthday in our own humble abode, lots of cards and presents for her to open to ensure she had a happy Belfast Day.

-Carys-

Busy day in beautiful Belfast for mum's birthday. Hope she's had a lovely day. 

Another early start to get out into the city this morning for our booked tour of the Titanic Museum. From first sights of the city we could already tell it was similar to ones back home, Cardiff, London etc, but of course every city has its own personal twist. The harbour was probably it for Belfast in my opinion, or its intriguing backstory, making for lots of incredible murals decorating the walls of the city buildings.

Our tour was booked for 11am, so we started pretty much as soon as we arrived - via some pictures of the lovely museum design. The exhibition was really great, I did some studying of the Titanic in history last year, but very little on the building aspects of the ship. What a nightmare it sounded like. I was super excited to try the 'ride' they had as a part of the exhibition. It was no thorpe park, but just fine for me. It gave us a little tour of what the shipyard would have been like when building the titanic, and a snippet of what life was like for the workers. The same repetitive action for 12 hour working days. Poor guys.

My favourite part was reading and seeing about the interior design of the ship. They had a fantastic 3D experience video where they took you through a walkthrough of the ship's rooms. It was amazing. I'd love to have seen the ship firsthand, obviously not being a passenger though. 

Well worth the visit I'd say, and I enjoyed myself a lot more than expected. After a little confusion where to go, we hopped on the hop on hop off bus which took us to just outside where our lunch was booked for.

Possibly the most interesting restaurant I've ever eaten at, The Crown Bar was a great place to go. The decoration felt very royal/regal, as the name would suggest with lots of gilded decorations and an old fashioned but fancy look. We had to sit in booths, which had doors, like a saloon. The system they used was when you're ready to order, open the door and the waiters will be able to tell when to come over. 

This system sort of died out nearer the end of the meal where they'd leave the door open occasionally and such, but we loved the idea. It felt very cosy in our little booth. and worked amazingly for the covid situation, with walls between you and other customers to help social distancing.

The remainder of our day in Belfast consisted of us wandering around for a while taking some lovely photos. We had some more time on the bus without any hopping on and off and just enjoyed using the voiceover telling us about the city ads we moved about. It wasn't long before it was time to head home, via the Titanic museum cafe for a fanta - in a glass bottle which always feels so nice and special.

We went to visit the lake Lough Neagh which is not far from our house. Named the largest lake in the UK, it did indeed stretch out for a long while. Really stunning, but unfortunately lacked a path for us to walk along by the lake. Not really a bar right on the front either, or open toilets. However we found a nice little bar a few hundred metres up the road- with a small view overlooking the lake. We popped in their village shop a few doors down to pick some bits up for tea and snacks, and then came back to house.

Spent some time now having mum open her presents, eating some things and just relaxing. It's been a really lovely day. 

Began as Game of Groans but ended Wizards of the Coast

Much needed sleep but no rest for the wicked, got out and tested my failing hip on the pretext of exploration.

Spot of breakfast in our home for the next few days.  Chrissi ain't happy with it, but it is a base, no more than that, and does what it said on the tin.  The rest of us all quite content.  Our first port of call of the day was Dark Hedges, apparently Northern Irelands top natural attraction. A few trees planted 200 years ago, a couple of which are reaching out across the road does not meet this criteria in my opinion. Clearly written by a Game of Thrones fan I suggest you jog on off down the Kings Road.

The only way was up and it was very quickly assisted by hitting the coast and the first signs of  .. well now that is a question? Not the Atlantic, possibly the Irish Sea?  Some geographic clarification of the coastal seas would be helpful.  We pondered a little while in the Red Cafe above the small harbour of Ballantoy. The latter looked lovely from the car, get down there early if you want to recreate a Game of Thrones landing I would say.

On we drove from there, noting that some of the main attractions, rope bridges and Gobbins walks all very difficult to book on to or closed in these Covid times. Many attractions and car parks are closed so you make your own fun ... which we did.

Next stop was a definite turning point, the village of Cushenden. Both car park and caves open. And a red phone box too, they are everywhere over here. Red was of course the Game of Thrones colour here, and very evocative in and around the caves and coast.

From there we began to take the coastal road far more seriously, and I can say this has been recommended as one of the great drives of the world (one of a few hundred I grant you) but thoroughly impressive. Miles and miles of meandering alongside the sea, and stopping wherever and however we pleased.  Freedom to enjoy beaches (some very deserted), Glens (pretty deserted) and coastal towns and villages.  We stopped a number of times to breathe in the sea air, drink in the views, eat up the scenery etc etc 

Highlights were curry and chips in Carnlough, and any number of pauses to look upwards at the Glens of Antrim.  Much talk of waterfalls led us to take an inalnd detour near Larne to check out and scramble alongside the Gleno falls.  

We closed the touring part of the day in Carrickfergus, the pre eminent Ulster town before Belfast got in on the act.  Great castle and toilets I thought.  And an avenue of statues and tanks alongside the Belfast Lough.

Chrissi fascinated by the flags in each village, perhaps giving you an indication of the prevailing political thought.  Staying well away from that line of conversation or reflection in the main, but was able to get some first hand insight (accompanied by first class hospitality) from my old Uni friend Kelly (and family) who are longstanding residents of these parts.  Our catch up covered a broad range of subjects around her experience of growing up in 'The Troubles', her son Alex providing some more modern commentary on this matter, integrated schooling and the like.  Also returned to fairly standard topics of getting drunk on cheap alcohol (cuts across the generations) and Dungeons and Dragons (cuts across the generations). 

And so the last point a weak link to the sword and sorcery theme that has hung with us throughout the day, definitely a bit of magic in the air in these parts.

-Carys-

I had a really great sleep, which I was well chuffed about, and as mentioned above, it was definitely needed for another busy day. Quick breakfast of rice krispies, like at home and then we were off and out of the house in our little car door.

Lots of Game of Thrones references as we visited many of the set scenes today, some on purpose and others we stumbled upon on our adventures. First was the windy trees - a slight disappointment in some people's eyes but I quite liked them. If they had cast some shadows on the floor, or the lighting had been better they could have been really beautiful however I think we caught them at the wrong sort of time for great photos - especially with the lots of people around.

Brief-ish stop in a cafe for a drink and snack and unfortunately couldn't get parked in a little harbour called Ballintoy. It looked lovely with lots of rocks - though I suppose there's a lot of that with our drive being along THE COAST.

Anyway, some nice drives with foggy roads and tall mountains brought us to an very interesting attractions. More GoT filming had taken place here in Cushenden , and a good decision too as the caves were amazing. Naturally eroded rocks forming big caverns with the sea coming eight up. The rocks were slippy with moss and seawater which caused for some risky moments when posing for photos but we managed to leave without any new injuries or casualties - a trip to A&E would not have been the best thing to spend our day doing.

Then the long awaited rain came - for the first time properly since we arrived in Northern Ireland. It prevented Bryn and I from getting out on a couple of occasions at some beaches and viewpoints - hope we didn't miss too much. 

We didn't find any food until our next stop - where the rain slowed to a stop and things were just soggy. I still took the umbrella, and was glad since the rain started again momentarily. Carnlough the town was called, another nice dock. Some kids were jumping into the water in the harbour and shouted out that we should join them. absolutely not. It looked freezing. We did however enjoy a nice bit of grub from the chippy - chips and curry sauce, a meal I'd been moaning about for a couple of weeks since I hadn't had a chip shop meal in a long while. Thankful I got to have one today as it was delicious.

Our final official tourist spot of the day, the lovely waterfall Gleno. It was a climb to the top but felt amazing to be in a really green area with lots of nature, and the sound of waterfalls is always beautiful. Didn't go for a dip but if we find another waterfall over the coming week, I might consider it.

We stopped for tea in the lovely Milligan family's house and had a nice time there (thank you for having us). It got late really quick so we headed off back home and it soon became very dark. Another late night so off to be soon to get more rest for tomorrow, another busy day.