Twiddley-dee-potato!

27^th September, 2011 – 8pm

After 3 bags of rubbish (mostly costa coffee cups!) we returned old faithful rental car Sunday morning and headed to central station in Glasgow. The first time in a week or so it was just us and the packs and we were feeling good about it. A couple of tickets (and a bridal mag purchase) later and we were on our way. A train trip for about 2 hours SW through country Scotland brought us to Stranraer.  Here we had to catch the ferry to Belfast. This ferry was nothing like we expected, it is biiig. Cinema, shopping mall, games arcade, eateries, pokies area and more all on board this baby! It was a pretty cruisey (:-p)trip and we were in Belfast port in about 2 hrs.

Our first Irishman experience was great. A champion taxi driver managed to cram us and our packs into an already seemingly full taxi, and was helpful with pointing us in the right direction. We dumped our crap off at the hotel and went for searching for a feed down town. Found our way to a cool pub called the Crown Bar for a pint of Guinness and a Guinness and steak pie. For some reason there were more Americans in here than anyone else.

Monday morning we went for a walk down town again, a bit more lively this time. I got right into some Northern Irish history the night before so we checked out some murals around town, pretty famous in Belfast. I won’t get bogged in history but basically the murals are reminders of ‘the troubles’, delineation of whose turf was whose in the city and memorials etc.

SANDY ROW STREET IN BELFAST

OLD MURAL IN THE BACKSTREETS

Hired our next little car, we were told at the counter it was going to be a Kia Rio so was pleasantly surprised when a Mercedes pulled up out the front! We then drove up to the Belfast castle which basically overlooks most of Belfast. We were just trying to be tight and sneak some photos of it in at the security gate (as we’ve already had our fair share of castles) when the security guard wandered over and kindly let us know that it’s free to enter, hah! It wasn’t too bad, surrounded by some nice gardens and stuff.

BELFAST CASTLE

CASTLE GARDENS

Anyways, bit cross-eyed gunna chuck the pc over to Amy to catch us up.

Matt.       

 27^th September 2011 – 9pm

Belfast.. We didn’t spend too much time there really as we were both keen to get out of the city and see some of the countryside. In my opinion, apart from the murals (which were a sobering reminder of what this city has been through) there was not much to see. We tried to walk around for a little bit in the town centre and along the water front but our hearts weren’t in it, so we jumped in the car and headed north, not entirely sure where we were going!

The coastal drive, the Antrim Coast Road, had been recommended by a friend of mine and it was really special. It was really amazing coastline, with spectacular cliffs most of the way, narrow winding roads and lots and lots of sheep! Matt chased a few sheep down in a hillside paddock while we were pulled over for a break. It was a bit funny for us but those poor sheep weren’t terribly thrilled by the company! 

ANTRIM COAST ROAD

ANTRIM COAST ROAD

VIEW BACK TO THE EAST COAST

NORTH COAST

The most memorable spot of the day though was the Giant’s Causeway. My Aunty had told us that it was well worth a visit. We stopped in at 2 different parts, the first being the Giant’s Steps (or something like that) and the second being the Rope Bridge.

The steps were truly unbelievable. It has me beat how nature managed to get the rocks so square and straight. The steps kind of look like hexagonal pavers, with tufts of grass poking out here and there, and a few metres away, the waves are crashing into the rocks. It can be quite dangerous if you get close to the edge.

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

A few minutes’ drive away was the Rope Bridge which was, as the name suggested, a bridge. Made of rope! It was strung across in the 1960s which compared to everything else we’ve seen, seems so young. But to me, 40 year old rope does not make a safe bridge. Matt crossed the bridge like everyone else, including small children, the elderly and insane, while I kept the gatekeeper company. 

The gatekeeper was a nice old chap who tried unsuccessfully to get me over that bridge. You needed a ticket to cross, but he bargained with me… If I could make it to the bottom of the stairs, he would escort me across the bridge, for free. But jagged rocks, ferocious waves, whippy wind and that pathetic piece of rope for a bridge? It’s just not my bag!

On the other side of the bridge, there is a small island that you can walk around. Matt said it was okay but nothing really new to see, just the same view as the mainland. 

ON THE WAY DOWN

We drove on to Coleraine last night which is a town full of sheep and smells of sheep’s poo. Overnight, the stench really got stuck in the air con vents and first thing this morning we were blasted with poopicles. GOOD MORNING COLERAINE!

Our first stop about an hour down the road was Derry. The people of Derry… the things they must have seen. The troubles that Northern Ireland has been through are still evident today, with the armed city walls painted with slogans like “stop human torture now” and “free our POWs.” I don’t know too much about the history, but I plan to learn as much as I can. It was really confronting walking along walls, looking out over the city, with its many murals depicting the violence and unrest. The scariest part of all is how recent all of this shit has been going on. Today it felt safe for sure, but still not an overly cheery place to be.

PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS MURAL

TAKEN FROM THE CITY WALLS

CITY WALL

We crossed the border, without fanfare. No signs, no nothing! But we definitely knew we’d crossed when the speed signs were again in km/hour and the state of the roads took a turn for the worse! 

We checked out a waterfall which was nice but nothing to write home about, despite it rating a mention, and drove onto Sligo and then to Knocknarea. We thought we’d do the walk to a cairn tomb of a Queen which is thought to be from around 2500BC. I was expecting a path, no more than 200 metres, with maybe a bit of a slope. What I got was a goat track with real goats (they were actually rams, but they baa so it’s close enough) and a huge mo-fo of a mountain that took us the best part of an hour to climb. At one or two points along the way, we thought we were at the top but as we got to the top of that incline, another bloody summit appeared. On the top of the hill is a pile of rocks which you’re not really supposed to climb but we got up there regardless, and besides that, there was an obvious path to follow. Then that’s where the tomb is… Another pile of rocks! The view was pretty impressive even though it was misty all around.

ON THE WAY UP

OUR CAR PARKED IN THE DISTANCE

CAIRN

BEGINNING OUR DESCENT

There was an old chap who got to the top a few minutes after we arrived and he was up for a chat. Problem was, we had no fricken idea what he was saying! Seriously he was like a cross between the old copper from Hot Fuzz and Brad Pitt’s character from Snatch, if that helps to illustrate our troubles comprehending. He seemed nice enough anyway and after some discussion, Matt and I have agreed that he mentioned walking up hills in Australia and the word marathon.

We pretty much hot footed it to Galway this afternoon and plan to check out the area in the morning before heading further south.

Amy.