One week left

Up at the crack of dawn the 35 minute flight to Belfast went by in a snap. We picked up what turned out to be an identical car to what we had in Scotland except for colour. Makes the adjustment a lot easier. Being a Sunday made for easy travel through the city as well as we got a feel for the country.

As it was still far too early to go to our hotel we decided to check out a nearby waterfront town that had a marina (Bangor) - and a fine one it was as well. Footpaths along the waterfront with lovely gardens, and lots of boats to ogle, made it an interesting stop.

Marina entrance at Bangor

We watched some men driving their remote-control model boats on a large pond....some were sailing boats, some warships, some freighters – all quite nicely detailed. We ended up chatting with a fellow with a large model aircraft carrier. He advised us of a nice drive along the coast, with a great place to stop for lunch. Already we were learning that the Irish tend to be less reserved than the Scots or English, and are quite happy to engage in quick conversations with strangers. We took the advice of our new acquaintance, and travelled south along the shore, and stopped for a great lunch at a restaurant a few miles away.

By early afternoon the clouds had dropped in, and were starting to throw out the inevitable rain – so we continued back into downtown Belfast to our hotel for the night. After such an early morning we were soon asleep. A nice afternoon nap, and then a short walk in the rain to a pub dinner.

Next morning Tomasina the GPS had her hands full trying to sort us though morning rush hour in downtown Belfast having innumerable one way streets and pedestrian precincts (streets for pedestrians only) to deal with. I'm sure she (it?) was quite as happy as we were when we finally got to quieter roads along the coast. First stop was Carrick Fergus a delightful little waterfront town with it's own castle right in the middle of town. We soon learned that just about every community along the way has it's own castle....a result, I guess, of having a long history of the towns needing to defend themselves from various invaders.

Another fine castle....this one at Carrick Fergus

After about an hour here we continued north through other scenic towns. The landscape was more rolling green hills of vegetation.. Not the craggy austere beauty of the Highlands of Scotland. So close yet so different. We stopped a couple of times along the way including this tiny harbour where we treated ourselves to ice cream.

Cute little Harbour....the area reminded us of Newfoundland.

As the afternoon was getting on, and we hadn't yet booked accommodation, we headed inland a bit, to the town of Ballymoney, where we booked into a B&B and then walked through town and had an early dinner. Back in time to check our emails and prepare another Blog instalment. We are now in the area where Linda's family from Ireland ties in, so will get to do some more family history in this area, as well as touristy things. But more on that after it happens.