The Road to Belfast

---

"It was a cold and blustery Day" Sounds like the start to a Robert Frost Poem or perhaps Winny the Pooh but that was exactly what the day brought me as I finished my tour of the Republic of Ireland and entered Northern Ireland in route from Ballyliffin to Belfast. My luck of waking and finding better weather ran out today. I donned my full rain gear and full helmet. The temperature was in the 50's so I had to make sure I had enough layers to keep from getting cold. It was basically rain the entire way so not many pictures to show along the way. I went through Derry (London Derry) to the English, which made think of Bill and Jim Derry (friends in the fastener industry) and wondered if they had visited the city of their name sake? I pulled into the Hilton-Belfast and got unloaded the weather started to clear up just as I was pulling into town.

The Days seem to run together at times - particularly when it is a one night stop. I underestimated how much I would enjoy some of the bigger cities and really should have made most of my stops two night stopovers in general. One of the benefits to doing these trips myself is that I can change my itinerary along the way. To date I have stayed exactly to my schedule where all my hotel nights have been made months ago. However, I decided awhile back to leave my schedule open after I reached the East coast of Scotland at St. Andrews.

I've decided to reduce the number of cities/towns I hit in favor of a deeper dive into where I do stop. In other words quality over quantity! My arrival in Belfast cemented this idea. I arrived around 4:00 exhausted from the rain and wind. Once I got checked in and took a hot shower it was too late to go to the Titanic experience (this is where the fabled ship was built). I went down to Dublin road which is where a number of pubs are located. I ran into a very nice couple Brendan and Ursula at the 5 points pub (see pic). After sharing a pint of Guinness they invited me to join them at a couple other pubs before they headed off to dinner. They are both from Belfast and were a great source of information about the "Troubled times" as they call it. These are the days of IRA bombing and violence. It is amazing how many people I've met from Ireland who have never been to Belfast because of this. The Protestant/Catholic divisions are still there but it keeps to the shadows. Depending on what part of Belfast you are in some pubs are Catholic and some are Protestant. I told Brendan that I figured I would be ok at any bar since I'm Catholic but am married to a Protestant 😊 In the city center I saw no evidence the troubled times but the second bar we went to "the Crown" was across from the Europa Hotel (famed for the most bombed hotel in the world). During the Troubled times the English royalty and the English press would stay at the Europa so it was a constant target of the IRA. The Crown pub was very ornate and on the threshold as you walked in on the floor was a mosaic of the royal English Crown. One of the owners had that put in so that as you entered the pub - you had the opportunity to walk on the crown. With out getting to political I pondered on how lucky we are in the US that this didn't happen between the Patriots and the Tory's during the revolutionary war. Imagine if the New England States remained part of England and the rest of the US was independent. The last bar we hit was Kelly's which was a short cab ride from the Crown. Brendan and Ursula were heading over to Brendan's sisters for dinner but said they would be going back to Crown later for music if I was up to it. I got some suggestions for dinner from Ursula but couldn't in to the first two I stopped at until 9:00 it was 7:30 so I kept looking. I finally it one that had a nice bar and figured I'd try there even though they said it would also be an hour and15 minute wait. (Figuring that they would find me something before then). Had a couple drinks at the bar and met a mother and son celebrating the mothers birthday. She had been to Wisconsin once to Elroy Wisconsin-small world! I didn't get seated until 9:15 and then the service was slow. I didn't get out of the restaurant until 9:55, I walked over to the Crown but didn't see Brendan and Ursula so I headed back to the Hilton. I wish I had left more time on my schedule for Belfast but because I had confirmed hotels in Edinburgh and St. Andrews, as well as, ferry reservations. I couldn't change my schedule.

Checked the weather for my ride in the morning to the Ferry that will take me to Scotland and the weather in Scotland, both looked good with the exception of Rain around 3:00 but it looked like it would be brief. I was looking forward to not having to don the rain gear again.

My next report will be Edinburgh and St. Andrews.

---