Belfast
When visiting Northern Ireland, a visit to its capital Belfast may not be missed. The city is less than a half hour drive from our cottage. We parked our car at a parking lot just outside the centre of the city and we walked via Royal Avenue to Donegall Place where the city hall is located. First we went to the Belfast Welcome Centre to get some more information about the city. In from of the city hall there is a memorial for the victims of the Titanic disaster. The Titanic was build on the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Near the city hall we also saw a bus for a sight seeing tour. The driver of the empty bus was so kind to take us to the starting point of the hop-on hop-off bus tour. There we bought tickets of £9,= pp, Ciska could go for free. The weather today was great so we decided to take a seat on the upper floor. So apart from enjoying the city we could also enjoy the sun. During the tour, which takes about 70 minutes, we drove along a number of the Belfast sights. But there are not very many interesting sights in Belfast. First we came along Albert Clock, a large clock tower leaning to one side as it is build above an underground river on soft soil. The route continued to Queen's Road, the longest road in Belfast without pubs, The first thing we saw there is the Odyssey Complex, a large sports and entertainment centre with a sports arena, cinema, restaurants and cafés. Next thing is the Harland & Wolff shipyard with the building where the Titanic was designed. At present day it is a run-down building, but they are thinking of converting it into a Titanic museum. Outside there are still three old cranes that were used for building the Titanic. On the other side of the road is the present day shipyard. The shipyard doesn't build new ships anymore, they only repair and finish ships. On the shipyard you can still see two enormous cranes, known as Samson and Goliath, dominating the Belfast skyline. The larger of the two is more than 100 metre high and 140 metre long. The Titanic, by the way, is referred on many places in the city. The first Thai restaurant in Belfast, for example, was called 'Thai Tanic'. When in Belfast one cannot avoid the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics. This is best visible in the western part of the city. Here one can see the murals in Shankill Road (Protestants) and Falls Road. The tour bus also goes through the interface areas, where Protestants and Catholics live side by side. There one can also find the Peace Wall, a 6 metre high steel and concrete wall that separates the Catholic and Protestant quarters.
The wall has gates that are open during the day, but in the evening and night they are closed. We also came along the Solidarity Wall, a collection of murals depicting the republican sympathy with the Palestines, Kurds and Basques. All in all a special and impressive part of Belfast to visit. Via the university and the botanic gardens we returned to the starting point of the tour. Although it was a hop-on hop-off tour, we never got off the bus. After having a lunch we walked to the Crown Liquor Saloon, the best-known bar in Belfast with profuse Victorian decorations. After visiting this bar we walked to the river Lagan that divides the city in two. We made a short walk along the banks and at a certain moment we saw the head of a seal appearing from the water. As we heard later it is very normal that a seal appears, they are following the salmons up the river and so they can be seen at quite a distance from the sea. When walking along the river we also saw a sign for a boat trip on the river and as we had seen most of the city it seemed a good idea to take such a boat trip. The trip lasted for about an hour and we mainly saw residential and industrial areas, not very interesting I must admit. When we returned from the boat trip we slowly walked back to our car past the Albert Clock. Near the Albert Clock there are some fountains in the street that spout at irregular intervals. They are a challenge for the local youth to walk through and to get out as dry as possible. We walked on pas St. Anne's Cathedral to the parking place and returned to Randalstown.
Marble Arch Caves
Thursday, July 28. For a change we got up early this day. The weather forecast for this day was rain, and then it is better to visit something inside. In this case a cave, the Marble Arch Caves. These are in the west of Northern Ireland, near the border with the Irish Republic, near Enniskillen which is about 150 km from Randalstown. Maybe it would have been better if we had visited them from Kilmacrennan or even Boyle. We left at 8:15 AM and about 2.5 hours later, around a quarter to eleven we arrived at the caves. On the radio we had heard that a part of Omagh city was closed because of a bomb scare, so we took another, a bit longer, route.
We could join the 11 o'clock tour to the caves. Once we were inside the caves we first went into a small boat on the subterranean Cladagh river. After the short boat trip we continued on foot for about an hour through the caves. These caves are not especially beautiful; we've seen ones that were much nicer than these. But they have some very pretty stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), but there are very little stalagmites (standing on the ground) in these caves. One a very nice things here is the reflection in the very clear water of the subterranean river of small stalactites hanging just above the river. It looked a bit like a drowned city. Unfortunately it was impossible to take photos of this. The tour ended with a climb up a stair of 153 steps, according our guide. But to us it seems much less than 153 steps. Once we were out again we had something to eat and drink in the tearoom before continuing to Derry (Londonderry), another drive of about 2 hours. On the way we went into Ireland for a short time to post some cards that already had an Irish stamp on them and that we forgot to post them when we were still in the Irish Republic.
Derry
While we were on the way to Derry all news bulletins on the radio were extra long due to the truce that the IRA had announced to hand in all their weapons and from now on they want to solve the Northern Ireland conflicts by peace talks. There were also interviews with the relative of IRA bombing victims. They all agreed that the IRA can't be trusted in this and that they should apologize to all surviving relatives of the people that died because of the acts of the IRA. A visit to the city of Derry is therefore rather special at this day because on January 30 1972 14 people died because British soldiers opened fire on a group of demonstrators.
That Sunday about 20,000 people demonstrated against the confinement of people without any form of legal procedures. From then on this day went into history as 'Bloody Sunday'. Once we arrived in the city we parked the car in a parking garage close to the Tourist office near the centre of the city. At the Tourist Office we picked up some information about a walk on the old city walls. This wall is still completely present surrounding the old city and it is about 8 metres in height and on some places up to 9 metres width. From the walls you have a good view over the city outside the walls. This includes 'The Bogside' district with its murals that were made between 1997 and 2001 by Tom Kelly, William Kelly and Kevin Hasson. These murals depict important events of conflicts like the 'Battle of the Bogside', 'Bloody Sunday' and the hunger strike of 1981. In this district one can also find the monument for the victims of Bloody Sunday. During the walk through the old city we also went into the 'Craft Village', a number of small craft shops, mostly souvenir shops, combined together in one small district. When we had finished the walk on the city walls we walked into the Bogside district to see the Bloody Sunday monument. After that we walked back to find a restaurant. We had a great dinner in Fitzroy's restaurant before returning back to Randalstown.
Carrickfergus Castle
Our last full day in Ireland has come. This day we again slept late as tomorrow we have to get up very early to catch the ferry to England. And because the weather forecast was the same as for the past days, rain, the weather didn't invite to get up early. Initially we had made no plans for today, but we decided to only visit Carrickfergus Castle, north-east of Belfast. After a short drive we arrived around 11 AM at the castle. On the way there we had a lot of rain, but when we arrived at the castle it was dry. The castle was build in 1180 by John de Courcy to guard the entrance to Belfast Lough.
It is one of the best-preserved castles in Ireland and until 1928 it was still occupied. In the course of time, the castle has had several alterations like broaden the ramparts to place cannons. In July 1690 William III stayed in the castle to prepare for the Battle at the Boyne. In the castle there are several life size dolls resembling soldiers like for instance archers, a group of gunners and a knight on a horse. These kind of details makes the castle much more interesting for little children and Ciska liked them all. After the tour through the castle we walked to the Tourist Info to inform about an internetcafé. There is no internetcafé in Carrickfergus but for internet access we can go to the library. Before we went there we had lunch in the same building that houses the Tourist Info. In the library we handled our email and after that we returned to our cottage to pack our things for the long trip tomorrow to Horseheath near Cambridge in Engeland.
Towards Cambridge in England
Saturday July 30. The alarm waked us up at the inhuman time of 5 AM. The ferry leaves from Belfast harbour at 7:40 AM and we have to be there around 7 AM, minus half an hour drive means that we should leave our cottage at about 6:15 AM.
We didn't have breakfast in our cottage but we decided to have breakfast on the ferry. After packing the last things in the car we left the cottage for the last time. When driving down the 800 metre long drive way we suddenly saw three deer in a pasture. This was the first time we saw deer around the cottage. The cottage is close to Randalstown Forest where one can see many deer and the cottage used to be the house of the deer keeper. One of the outhouses of the cottage is called the Venison Store. On other days we had seen some other wildlife like rabbits and a squirrel. Once we were on the highway we soon reached Belfast harbour, it was very quiet on the road at this early hour on a Saturday morning. Once we were on the ferry we first had something to drink before we explored the ship and visited the shop. When we returned it was difficult to find an empty table so we could eat breakfast, it was very crowded. Also in Ireland the holiday season had begun.
Around 9:20 AM we were called to return to the car and shortly after the ferry moored and the doors opened. We were one of the first to leave the boat. From Stranrear in Scotland we drove via Dumfries to Carlisle where we entered the M6 motorway and we could make some progress. We stopped at a service station near Tebay to buy something to eat for lunch and we had a outdoor lunch. At that moment it didn't rain. Until now the weather was the same as the past days, rain, dry, rain, some sun, etc. Just past exit 19 near Knutsford we ended in a traffic jam that was due to an accident. It took us three quarters of an hour to get past it. From then on all went seamless over the M6 and A14 via Cambridge and via local roads to Horseheath. Around 6:15 PM we arrived at The Old Red Lion Hotel, our hotel/B&B for the coming two nights. In total it took us 12 hours and 700 kilometres, the longest stretch on one day this vacation. After a rest in our room we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner.
Cambridge
The next day after breakfast we went to Cambridge by car. We wanted to use the Park&Ride to go into the city but it doesn't operate on Sundays so we drive to the centre of Cambridge and parked in a parking garage. Then we walked to the Tourist Info to inform about a city tour. Here they also have hop-on hop-off bus, same as the one in Belfast. We walked to the starting point of the tour and we could immediately get on the bus. The price for the three of us was £19.50 but we got 10% off as we could show the driver the tickets of our Belfast tour (so keep your tour tickets, don't throw them away, they may save you money on the next tour!). But we only had £13.71 so we had to get money first. But the driver said that £13 would do, very kind of him. The tour went along many sights, and in this university city you will see a lot of colleges. We didn't get off the bus, but on the way we saw some things that we wanted to see and take pictures of when the tour was finished.
When the tour was done we first went for lunch and after lunch we went to the old city centre to stroll along the colleges and churches. Cambridge is called after the small river Cam and on several places in the city one can rent a punt to see the the city from the river. When walking through the city people constantly ask you, most of the times students, if you want to go on a punting tour with them. We didn't do it as we thought it was too expensive. During the walk Hilleke and Ciska went into the Disney Store while Arjan walked alone through the city as he didn't want to visit the shop. On a postcard he noticed The Backs, the backsides of the colleges, all with beautiful bridges across the Cam river. At St. Johns College there is the covered 'Bridge of the Sighs' across the river, but you can only see it when you are on the college premises and you have to pay an entrance fee to get in. But as only Hilleke had English pounds with her and Arjan had not he had to find some way to see the bridge. Behind Trinity College there was a dry ditch and by crossing it he could reach the premises of St. Johns College for free to make pictures of the bridge. In the mean time Hilleke and Ciska were at the Disney Store to buy a pair of princess mules for Ciska. When they were done in the Disney Store, which took quite some time with a six-year old girl, they went to the Guildhall and sat on a bench to wait for Arjan. When he arrived we walked to the 'Great St. Mary's' church. There we saw a leaflet that there would be a bell-ringing demonstration in the tower of the church. That seemed like fun to us so we joined. A man explained how bell-ringing works and how you can make them ring faster or slower. Then, with three other people, he first gave a demonstration with small bells what the order would be in which they would sound. After that they also did it with four of the twelve real bells in the tower. When the interesting demonstration was over we climbed further up the tower while in the mean time all twelve bells were ringing. When we were on top of the tower we could feel how the tower swung back and forth because of the weight of the twelve ringing bells within the tower. From the tower we had a great view over the city. After the visit to the church we went to a restaurant for dinner to celebrate the last evening of our holiday before returning to our hotel in Horseheath.
Arjan's birthday and return trip to Strijen
Monday, August 1st, Arjan's 41st birthday. At 6:45 AM the alarm went off, so we had enough time to wake up before having breakfast and packing the car. Hilleke and Ciska had bought Arjan a present on the ferry from Belfast to Stranraer and also in Cambridge they have bought him something. Around 7:20 there was a knock on the door, breakfast at bed and the congratulations of the hotel staff. Hilleke had organised this on Sunday and it was possible as we were the only guests in the hotel and they had time to do it.
A nice surprise, for the three of us there was a Full English breakfast. After this delicious breakfast we got dressed and packed our stuff in the car. After saying goodbye to the hotel staff we left around 8:30 AM for Harwich where we arrived at the ferry terminal at 9:50 AM. We have to wait for about half an hour before we could go aboard the Stena Discovery. Once we were aboard we found a table for 3 persons. On board there was also an entertainer for the children doing magic tricks and blowing up balloons. Ciska enjoyed herself there the larger part of the crossing. She couldn't understand him as the man mainly spoke English with only a few Dutch words. We arrived in Hook of Holland right on time at 15:20 PM and we were able to set wheels ashore on Dutch soil. After passport control, that we only had in The Netherlands, never in England or Ireland, we went for home and we arrived at 16:15 PM in Strijen. The end of our four-week holiday in Ireland.
