Goodbye Ireland and its back to Blighty

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We were booked on the first ferry crossing of the day on the Stena Adventurer from Dublin to Holyhead and we needed to be at the ferry terminal at 7.15am.
It was silly really to worry whether we would wake in time to shower,breakfast and drive the short distance to the ferry terminal considering that my usual hour to wake has been 5am for the past few weeks since the days have lengthened so much.So setting the alarms on the weather clock and cellphone for 5.15am turned out to be a waste of time because we were already finished showering by the time the alarms went off.
We tried to be as quiet as we could because we were aware that one of the other rooms in the quartet of bedrooms became occupied during the early hours of the morning when the guest came home.We did get to meet her briefly as she came out for some water as we had breakfast.We had probably woken her!!
The road to the ferry terminal was simple to find and we drove past Croke Park,the home of Irish rugby,to get there.Its odd how these imprtant sporting grounds and their environments never look quite the same as you see on TV and expect them to when you actually see them for yourself.
The ship we were to travel on back to England was much larger than the one we had come over on and it was clear there was a lot more traffic to board.In the bus queue alone were about 8 or 9 buses all of which seemed to be tour buses heading to England with their loads of elderly Irish tourists.
Despite all the cars,trucks and buses queued up waiting to board they still didnt fill the one deck that was to be used for this crossing.The ship actually had 3 vehicle decks.The passenger lounges were not as well appointed and the front lounge with the best view was set aside for permium passengers who had paid a few quid more for the benefit of being able to see where we going although the seating did not appear to be any different to where the vast majority of the passengers were.
The sea again was almost dead calm although this time as we cleared Ireland a sea fog rolled in and stayed with us for all the way until we reached the breakwater at Holyhead.Several times on the journey the captain had to use the fog horn to alert other ships of our presence and remembering the freighter that had appeared out of knowhere on the trip over we were pleased he was employing the fog horn!!
We had been starved of wifi for internet on a consistant basis since we had been in Ireland and in fact since we left the Stena Nordica on the way over where there had been free wifi.So once we got settled in the lounge I walked down to the Pursers office to get the login card only to find that the wifi was out of order!! Foiled again!!
So the trip on the dead calm sea in the sea fog was all rather boring and we were pleased when the captain came on to announce we were 20 minutes away from berthing.
We joined the queue of people down to the vehicle deck.Most of the people in the queue were the elderly people off the buses and at our estimate they numbered some 300 odd.We hadn't noticed them coming on as the buses went on well before the cars and the bus passengers were well ensconced in the lounges by the time we boarded.
The trip down the 3 flights of stairs to the car deck was very slow and we were concerned that our driverless car would be holding up those behind us if we didnt make it down to the deck by the time the ship berthed.
It wasn't a problem in the end and we drove off to end up in another queue as all the traffic from the ship merged into one lane to leave the port area which was controlled by traffic lights.
We had considered going to ride the Snowden Mountain train a short distance from Holyhead.This would have filled in a bit of time until Arthur,whose home we were staying at in Settle arrived back from Scotland in the late afternoon.
But the cloud although lifting a bit from what we had experienced at sea,was still low and the top of Snowden was obscured so we decided to leave until another time.
We took the A55 which although not a highway as such was still 4 lanes of swift moving traffic and headed around the coast of North Wales.
The coastal scenery here is very pleasant as are the green and fertile hills that rise up sharply from the road leaving only a narrow strip of land for the towns that occupy this part of the coast.
Lunchtime came up at Colwyn Bay and we took the road to the Promenade thinking that there might be a McD's.However this wasn't to be ,at least at the end of the long curved bay we started at.So it was back to the main road and onto the township itself where we found a KFC.So you may say....the colonel is not our favourite fast food but we hadn't tried it in Britain as yet and it turned out to be not too bad and less fatty than the last time we had it in NZ.
We took a stroll through the town and then down again to the promenade by the railway station and joined dozens of people making the most of the warm sunshine and lack of wind.The bay at this point anyway had no beach to speak of although a family had occupied a small patch of sand against the seawall and were building sandcastles.The sea didn't look inviting neither because it looked cold but also there seemed to be a fair amount of rubbish floating in it.
The once proud pier with amusement halls was now locked off to the public and the building looked in a rather sorry state of repair.A good storm and they would all be gone.
It was interesting to see that way out in what was probably a rather shallow bay were several power generating windmills making the most of what would usually be a fairly windy location open to the northwest prevailing wind.
We hadn't used up much time so we decided to slow the drive down even further by following what appeared to be coastal road and take in the seascapes before planning to rejoin the A55 in about another 20 miles.
We found the road OK and started on the way but soon became a little concerned at the lack of seascapes in our vision.Oh well perhaps the road did take a little detour inland it was always difficult to make exactly the route from a paper map.
I was driving and tour director Gretchen was the navigator with Stans big Britain book of maps on her knee in the passengers seat.She kept on telling me that soon we would see an amusement part that was marked on the map.
All we saw was more lush fertile land and a narrow inding road that still had the road number we were supposed to be on.
After half an hour and no more seasiode the road arrived in a town whose name rang a bell from our drive a week ago when we travelled to Holyhead for the trip to Ireland.
Then it became clear we had joined the road near the coast but the rest of it ran inland and we had taken the wrong direction.!!!
We were annoyed with ourselves as there was more to see than the roads we had already travelled over and so made our way back to the junction of the A55 at the turn off to Holyhead and started the process all over again!!!
This time we stayed on the A55 all the way and followed the direction s Arthur had given us passing well clear of Liverpool,Manchester and Leeds as we headed for the A65 which would take us to Settle.
Nearer our destination we stopped in at the town of Clitheroe.
It wasn't just to see if we could get our supplies at a Tescos or Sainburys but we were interested to see the town because we seem to remember that the Jack and Vera from the TV series Coronation Street went there once on a bus trip for the weekend.
We didnt get to see much of the town in the end as time was marching on after our wrong turing into the countryside earlier in the afternoon but we did find Sainsburys and as we didnt know what to expect in Settle by way of a supermarket we stocked up on all the basics for the fortnight we would be in Settle.
The countryside we were now travelling through was all what we had expected it would be.Old stone farm houses,green fertile fields with rolling countryside.The little towns with their pubs,locally owned shops and rows of houses along the main road that became the High Street through the town.As we neared Settle a canal came into view and we resolved that one day during our stay we will head back to sit beside the canal and wait for a canalboat to chug past and if we could find one then we would make our stop at a lock to catch the action of the boat making its slow progress through this lush and green countryside.
As directed we turned off the A65 at Long Preston and soon after we arrived in Settle and easily found our home for the next 2 weeks.
Arthur and his partner Dorothy were there to greet us and show us around the house that originally been the Golden Lion Pub built 230 years or so ago.The original stone beam is still in the now modernised entrance way with the year it was put in place carved into the stone.The Golden Lion still exists but its location was now on the main street on the other side of Arthurs home.
The house has two bedrooms and is very well equipped(except that there is currently no wifi internet as Arthur is changing his provider)with Flat screen Sony TV and all the mod cons.
We are sure we shall be very happy here for our stay.

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Photos

Another look at Colwyn Bay
This was taken just before we took the wrong turning and headed inland instead of along the coast!!!

Comments

[Rin]

Photo of The Golden Lion please!! :-)