Month: November 2018

Today was move day.  The group was headed toward Londonderry.  Debbie had the misguided idea that they were actually going to stay in Londonderry.    Londonderry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland.  As the group got closer to Londonderry, they noticed that the “London” portion of Londonderry was often spray painted over on signs.  Irish Republic supporters call the city Derry.  The group suspected that the spray painters were supporters of the Irish Republic.

As usual the day was rainy.   At one point, the GPS led the group through the narrowest streets in Londonderry.  Debbie tried to crawl over into Joyce’s lap during those narrow moments but Joyce wasn’t having it.  It turns out that a stop had been contemplated in Londonderry but was scratched due to the weather.  The group proceeded to their final destination which was Letterkenny, a city in Ulster county in the Republic of Ireland.

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Today was a tour of the famous prison, Crumlin Road Gaol.  History Moment:  Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a Victorian era prison which opened in 1845 and closed in 1996.  Men, women and children were jailed here.  The prison has multiple wings and the location looked very familiar.   (It looked like many movie sets).   It was a sobering tour especially the execution wing.  The execution room was hidden behind a bookcase next to the prisoner’s room.  IRA and loyalists were both housed in the jail and divided by wings.  The two groups had alternate times for the gym and dining area.  There were bombings in the jail between the two groups.  Hunger strikes by the IRA were also begun in this prison in the 70s.

After the tour, the four went to St. George’s market for lunch.  Cultural Moment:  St George’s Market is the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast. It is full of food which they viewed from the 2nd floor cafe.  It is very hippie like with music from the 70s.

They then went to Victoria Square for the view.
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Debbie did keep humming “I’m in the Jailhouse Now” by the Soggy Bottom Boys.

The day began with rain. (Sound familiar?)  When the rain let up, the group decided to visit Belfast castle which was close to the flat and drivable (no nervous breakdowns over the wrong side of the road and plenty of free parking.  Remember those pesky parking tickets.)

Debbie thought a castle would be historic and interesting.  Maybe the Outlander would be there?  Debbie’s expectations were not quite met.  There was a castle there in the 11th century and then a newer one built in the 12th century.  Then the castle burned down.  Hmmmm.  So, they waited awhile to rebuild (about 600 years since the Belfast castle seems to have bad luck).  The castle was rebuilt in a deer park and finally given to the city.

According to legend, Belfast Castle is safe as long as there is a (preferably white) cat residing there. (Guess the ones that burned down didn’t know about this cat thing).  This myth led to the creation of the “Cat Garden” right next to the stately pile on the slopes of Cave Hill.  The garden is supposed to have 9 cats.  Debbie always up for a challenge ran around counting cats.  She managed to involve Larry in the hunt but they only found 8.

The castle and cats are now a big wedding venue.  Debbie and Joyce pranced down the back stair case. and think that they made a spectacular entrance to the cat garden leading into their hike.  Unfortunately, it began to rain during the hike putting an end to spectacular entrances and the cat hunt.  (It is hard to count cats in the rain).
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After hearing about the Troubles, the group decided that they needed a nature day.   Luckily, the HHR was available for questions.

HHR:  How was the day?

Larry:  It started out cold and very windy.  Debbie went in full 4 layer mode.

Debbie:  We were going on a rope bridge.  I was afraid that it would be blowing in the wind.

Joyce:  I had the day planned out.

HHR:  Where did you go?

Jerry:  We went to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (locally pronounced carrick-a-reedy).  It is a famous rope bridge in Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. It spans 66 ft and is (98 ft) above the rocks below.

Joyce:  It is so crowded that you have to buy a ticket and are assigned a time to cross.  It was hard but I had my group there when it opened so we didn’t really have to wait.

Debbie:  Joyce did make us run to beat a bus.    It is a good thing that Larry and I trained before we went on this trip.  We were able to bypass the bus load of retirees by fast walking.

HHR:  What exactly is the island?

Debbie:  Well, the definition of an island is….

HHR:  Really?

Debbie:  Oh, okay – Salmon fishermen used it for more that 300 years.  Now, the big deal is just to walk across the bridge.  It is a one way bridge and the guard yells at you if you stop on the bridge.

HHR:  What exactly does he yell?

Debbie:  He yells “Get off the bridge”.  Some people wanted to pose for pictures on the bridge.  I tried to help the guard by jumping up and down on the bridge.  I think he liked that.

HHR:  What did you do next?

Larry:  We ate lunch before we left.  We did need to anchor  our food to keep the food from blowing off the table.

Debbie:  Joyce told us that was part of the ambiance.

HHR:  Was that your day?

Larry:  No, next we went to the Giant’s Causeway.   The most characteristic and unique feature of the site is the exposure of some 40,000 large, regularly shaped polygonal columns of basalt in perfect horizontal sections, forming a pavement. This dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland.

Jerry:  It was pretty impressive.  How often can you work polygonal into a sentence about hiking?

Debbie:  We could have taken a bus.  Sometimes it is hard being Les Cheap girl especially if you wear 4 layers of clothes.

Joyce:  We had an audio guide but noticed that Debbie kept looking the wrong way and taking pictures of odd things.

Debbie:  I really don’t want to talk about this.  40,000 columns threw me off.  You know, people were not supposed to be on those rocks.  There was a sign about staying off the rocks.   I was taking pictures to help security.

Larry:  We ended our day by going to Dark Hedges.  We had to give Debbie some ice cream since she didn’t get to ride the bus.

HHR:  What is Dark Hedges?

Jerry:  Well, I am glad that you asked.   Dark Hedges is actually an avenue of beech trees along a road and it forms an atmospheric tunnel where cars pass through.  Game of Thrones was filmed there.

Debbie:  Technically, cars can’t go down the road because people are all over the road taking pictures.  It is also not that dark.  I didn’t feel any atmospheric tunnel.   I walked down the middle of the road giving stink-eyes out.

Larry:  We think Debbie may have over indulged in hiking today.

The group left the Bed and Breakfast at 6:30 am to catch the ferry to Ireland.  It was a few hours ride and gave them time to eat breakfast.  (Debbie did see some napping).  Once they landed, they went to their flat in Belfast.  The flat had a younger theme which incorporates purple, pink and zebra print.  The pictures give you a true sense of the apartment dynamics.

Debbie and Larry were excited when they found that the flat was right next to a new gas station (think Circle K).  It was a combined grocery and gas store.  Debbie used the ATM to withdraw some British pounds but found it was the Bank of Ulster notes which confused her.  Joyce tried to convince Debbie that it was Funny Money.  Debbie panicked and frantically tapped out an inquiry on her phone.   Interesting fact (especially if people are telling you it is Funny Money).  The notes are legal currency, but technically not legal tender anywhere (including Northern Ireland itself).  Issuing banks have been granted legal rights to issue currency, and back the notes with deposits at the Bank of England.  Confused?  Just know that it spends like regular money.

Next was the traditional “Let’s ride an exploratory bus” to give the group time to introduce themselves to every person within 50 feet of the bus stop while they figure out which bus to get on.  Eventually,  off they went to City Hall on the bus after having made numerous friends.  (Tourists on a city bus are a rare sight).  The four ate lunch at  City Hall and then took a tour.  Debbie was sad that they did not have hot dogs available.  She did however get the hardest piece of bread possible.  (Debbie says that you could build a house with it and those Irish people are tough to eat that bread).

Now, we are going to deviate here from our regular format to talk about “The Troubles”.  We did not have a good feel for “The Troubles”, Northern Ireland or the feelings that still exist in today’s world.  What are “The Troubles”?  It is Northern Ireland’s sectarian strife that happened almost 40 years ago.  It was between the Catholic Irish nationalists who favor unification with the the Irish Republic  to the south and the Loyalist Protestant paramilitaries who supported continued British rule.  It was rather shocking to see how uninformed that we were and sad that this is still an issue.