Gary-Summer

Thursday, July 17, 2025

July 17, 2025 - North of Belfast

Title: July 17, 2025 - North of Belfast
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

View of Belfast from parking garage

I must be rested, having woken up around 4am. Sherri is awake as well. I lay in bed until 5:30. Not much to write about until our 7:30 breakfast. The first order of business this morning is to obtain lunch. For this, we visit a sandwich shop called Maggie Mays. Also a grocery story and a pharmacy-chemist as they say here-is called upon for certain person specific items. Then we gather up the car from the parking garage, This is an adventure all in itself getting out of it. Of course the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, so rounding the corners of a parking garage has a different perspective, a bit unnerving-I am glad I am not driving. But Rachel does good. Then it is out onto the open road. She is very cognizant of being on the left and is deliberate in her driving. This is good.

Our first stop is Carrickfergus Castle

, We get to experience our first old building in Ireland-yesterday Rachel and I saw some Cathedrals which could qualify. We have an hour to look around before we need to continue on our journey-almost sounds like one of those bus tours doesn’t it? But we are on our own and have a lot to see today.

The thing which is fascinating to me is the stonework. How it has been put together and held together after so many centuries. Then also the craftsmanship where the walking surface is smoother than many modern sidewalks. This is a place which inspires loneliness, both in terms of being isolated. But also in a sense that you can be alone with yourself and just wander and explore themselves. This is true of this place even if we have others around us. It just is that kind of place.

Knockagh Monument

When we were coming in, Sherri saw an obelisk on a hill. We could not identify it then. But looking from the Castle, we can see it clearly, also we can figure out what it is: Knockagh Monument.

Our next stop is the Dark Hedges. This is another place I had not heard of, but the kids are pretty enthusiastic. Apparently this has been the screen for many movies. Rachel finds the place-a lot of narrow, rural roads. But the narrow roads seem to be most of Ireland’s way of travel.

Waiting for rain gear

The Grey Lady

Back to Dark Hedges. We walked a ways when it started to rain. Rachel hurries back and picks up our rain gear. This enables us to go a ways further. The actual hedges have degenerated over time-after all they are about 250 years old and getting close to the end of their lifespan.. There was a sign which said that about 30 trees had been taken down over the past several years, making the hedges not as solid or dark as they used to be.

We talked with a couple locals who tell us that this rain is unusually heavy. For us Californians from the Central Valley, we do not get this kind of rain in our area in the Winter, let alone. We are drenched and decide to go back to the little pastry shop and take refuge there. This will give us an opportunity to assess our plans.

If we are going to be in a pastry shop, we might as well have lunch here, which we do. We can use the Maggie Mays sandwiches tomorrow. As you can tell, we are opportunistic with our eating. Our plans were to go up to the Giant’s Causeway and then over to Dairy. But our local friends indicated that it would be worse up there and pretty miserable, without much visual. So we decided to turn back towards Dublin.

Belfast Castle Catwalk

The rain has stopped, so we can resume our driving. Steven is providing relief on the driving end. We retrace the route we took out to the Dark Hedges. But instead of going to Carrickfergus Castle, we will visit the newer Belfast Castle. This castle was made more for show than for protection. It looks like it is now part of a county park. There are gardens in front of the castle with a cat theme. Today there is some sort of event going on. So the castle proper is not available for us to tour. But we do enjoy the gardens.

Rachel takes back the driving chores. Andrea directs us to the CS Lewis Square. I am not sure how I feel about this. I am a devotee of Lewis. But I think that much of what I read should reside in my head. What will this square add to my understanding of Lewis?

We parked a couple of blocks from the square. We then walked through a park to get to the square. The first thing we noticed is a Mr Tumnus sculpture. Followed by the Winter Queen’s wolf, Magirum. There are several characters from Narnia represented in the park. Aslan reigns over all. The Square really is in Lewis’ name only. There is a coffee shop there. But not only is Lewis acknowledged, but so is George Best, The Yardman, and Van Morrison. Afterwards, I saw some pictures of the Square. There should have been a sculpture of Lews and the Wardrobe and a few other things. Reading a comment on TripAdvisor, it sounded like there is some renovation going on.

Mr Tumnes

It is now time to go back to our hotel. Rachel is turning in the car and Sherri and I are getting a new room with an upgrade. Dinner is at a place called Home Belfast, just around the corner from the hotel. It is probably the most highly rated restaurant which I have been in-it is Michelin rated. The food is good. We had a ribeye, a couple chicken, lamb, and hake.

Tomorrow is a half day in Belfast, then we travel to Dublin. Rachel wants to do a BlackCab tour. I have proposed that if that does not work out, we could do a Troubles walk which the GPSMyCity has. Rachel was able to get us a tour tomorrow with BlackCab tour. Then it is off to our separate rooms. I shower and am in bed by 10.

Trail Lesson:

If you live for pleasure, you will be disappointed when things do not work out. But if you are curious, then any experience provides an avenue for excitement.

Background

Maggie Mays. I had seen this place yesterday and was wondering about it. First of all, this is a sandwich shop and it looks pretty successful as a local one. I do not expect to see one in Fresno anytime soon. I was wondering if there was a relationship between this place and the Rod Stewart song, Maggie May. I could not find the connection. But as I looked, I wondered if it could be connected to an older folk song about a sailor who gets taken by a prostitute who is called Maggie May or Maggie Mae. I could not find that connection either. But the rabbit holes you chase when you wonder.

Extra Photo's

Andrea walking a wet Dark Hedges

Inside Carrickfergus Castle with Andrea and Steven

Carrickfergus Castle Canon

Carrickfergus Castle

Defending the gate involved a screen to stop advancing soldiers. Then pouring boiling oil over them

Guarding the waters around the castle

Looking north from the castle

Guard station

Going to the castle: Steven, Sherri and Andrea

Rachel, Sherri and Steven

Carrickfergus Castle

Andrea and Carrickfergus Castle

Interior of the castle

Castle Chapel

Andrea and Steven are soaked at the Dark Hedges

Lawn in front of the Grey Lady

Belfast Castle

Andrea and a stone cat

Daughter and father enjoying each other

Castle gardens

Belfast Castle

White Witch

Magnus

Mrs and Mr Beaver

Mr Tumnus

Aslan

Flowers and Plants

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

July 16, 2025 - Belfast

Title: July 16, 2025 - Belfast
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

4.7 miles

Description:

Missed light

I must have been tired last night. I slept soundly, waking up at 6:30. I was thinking of laying in bed for a few minutes and then get up. We are scheduled to be down for breakfast at 8:30. At 9:00, I heard the rattling of the door and realized that I had overslept our 8:30 breakfast time with the kids-so had Sherri.

Before we go downstairs, we pack everything like we are going to move rooms as this was a one night situation. We moved everything into the kids room. Then we went downstairs. We discussed what we are going to do today. The Titanic Belfast Museum is the choice. But before we do, Rachel talks with the folks who operate the rooms. We get to keep our room for one more night. Yipee.

Sherri, Andrea and I start off walking to the Museum. A pleasant walk and our first real experience with the city. My impression is that a lot of it is old and a lot of it is still recovering from the scars of the Troubles where Belfast was almost a battle ground.

Old Custom House and Gary

Titanic Belfast Museum

We make our way down Queen St to Castle where we turn east. A little ways farther, Castle turns into High. Someplace we cross High, maybe to investigate a storefront. How come we did it was a minor mistake because when we get to Victoria, there is no viable way to cross Victoria on our side of the street, nor can we cross High. So we head north to Warring, so a black and head south ending up on High. We then come to the Big Fish. This is moderately interesting, but we are looking to cross the River Lagan on a pedestrian bridge to the River Trail. When round the Odyssey Plaza, I spotted a place called Titanic Desserts. I am wondering if this is the place. But we keep going past it,

Surprise finding Rachel's Friends

But not too far as the Titanic Belfast Museum. Andrea had bought timed tickets-we were a bit late, but without too much concern for entry. Seeing how the Museum funneled you through a narrow space, it makes sense to have a timed entry. The first part of the Museum has more background on Belfast. It showed the part which linen, rope making and agriculture played in its development. Frankly, the Museum really did not do a good job of tying this in with the Titanic. But things started getting more interesting explaining how widening and deepening some of the channels lead to the development of a thriving and world-class ship-building industry. There was one display which noted that the Wolff company, which built the Titanic had spit out ten large ships in one week. But then I started wondering, is Belfast a hub of shipbuilding now? If not, what does Belfast do now for commerce? What happened to the shipbuilding industry? Looking at the Wikipedia article, Harmon and Wolff is still a major shipbuilding contractor.

Sight of Titanic Dry Docks

But that is not the main point of this museum. It is the Titanic, afterwall. The exhibits walked us through what it was like to build the ship. This went from how the drydock was built to the setting of the hull-all 6’ of it. To the pounding of rivets and how the ship had a double set of water tight bulkworks. To illustrate this, there is a ten minute ride called the Shipyard Ride.

SS Nomadiac in a dry doc

Sort of like Disneyland’s Haunted House ride, not very scary to most people. I am not like most people. This car we were in took us past scenes of the foundry. By the time I got through the shipbuilding area, I had a good idea of what it took to build the ship. Even more so, I was left in awe of the planning which must have taken to organize its construction.

One interesting event happened while we were getting ready to wait for the ride. Two young ladies approached Rachel and greeted her. Michelle and Jess were friends of Edrees and they had stayed at our house one night during a Labor Day weekend. This started up a conversation which lasted the whole time while we were in the Museum.

By the time the ship was built, it was the pride of Belfast. When the ship left drydock, it was estimated that 100,000 people were watching-the ship’s owner did not believe in christening events. From Belfast, it sailed to Southampton to pick up passengers. This was in 1912.

Then it was out to sea for the ship. At first all was good. But a bit before midnight, a message went out saying that there were icebergs in the shipping lane. The exhibit noted that radio communications were not standard for ships and that the radio channel was meant for passenger communications rather than talking for important ship communications. The message about icebergs seemed to have not reached the Titanic.

A little before 2am, the ship hit the iceberg and issued an alert for all ships. The closest ship, the California, the radio operator had gone to bed before this. Other ships more than twice the distance responded, saving a great many people. Still many people, something like over 57% of the souls on board died.

The final phase of our exhibits was the discovery of the Titanic by Roger Ballard. Instead of using Sonar, he used an experimental method called Argo. When the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered, there was celebration, then the realization that this was a graveyard.

We got out of the Museum about 2pm. Andrea in particular was hungry, but I think we all wanted a meal to come down from the emotions which this Museum evoked. We found a place close by called Zizzi which served pizza. We got two: Rustic Sticky Pig and Rustic Sofia. Tasty. We also consumed a lot of water.

Albert Clock Tower

What to do afterwards? Andrea, Steven and Sherri were all ready for a rest period. But Rachel and I were interested in stretching our legs for a bit. I found on GPSMyCity an Introduction to Belfast walk. Rachel and I decided to do part of this walk. We re-crossed the bridge over the River Lagan.

This brought us to the photo op by the Big Blue Fish, a place of local note. When you look at the scales, they contain the history of Belfast. Then onward to The Albert Clock Tower, which we passed by on the way in. Beside it is a metal sculpture to world peace. Somebody has stenciled Capitalism Kills onto it. This is where Rachel and I depart the rest of them.

Our next stop is rather elusive. We go searching for St Mary’s Cathedral. Shortly afterwards, we came to a church. The label on the church is Belfast Cathedral, not St Mary’s. But as we continue to go up Donegall Street, we see a statue of a character we do not know who this is. But the sign says Kremlin and looking at the barred door, it says, Welcome Comrade.

Belfast Cathedral

So I am guessing this is an office of the Communist Party. But then Rachel looks it up and says it is a gay bar. Boy am I wrong.

We see a cathedral just up the road. But it is not St Mary’s. It is St Patrick’s. Not sure if there is anything special about this church. Still it looks impressive. We go down Carrick Hill in the general direction of St Mary’s. But I think our plan now is to meander in that direction and if we hit it great, if not, we want to get to the Belfast Grand Central Station.

St Patrick's Cathedral

But we were surprised to come across a statue of Fredrick Douglass on a street in Belfast. First, because I did not realize he had been here. Second because I did not know that the impact he had on the citizens of Belfast. On this later part, it did take about 170 years for this statute to be put in place after he spoke here in 1845-46.

We went through the Castle Court Shopping Center and when we emerged on the other side, walla! There is St Mary’s a street or two over. It has a simulation of Lourdes in France to honor Mary. It is a bit of a solemn place.

After stopping at St Mary’s we head on back towards the hotel. But rather than stopping there, we kept going about five blocks to the train station. There Rachel made inquiries about getting train tickets to Dublin. This is a no go-they only issue same day tickets. But we get some good information that the train’s seats are the same if standard or first class. I think she may have been contemplating splurging for first class tickets for her aging parents.

Back to the hotel room we go. I think we are all tired and get some rest in the room. Evidently Rachel is less tired than the rest of us as she has planned out our day for tomorrow. I am just glad I do not need to do that.

After resting, we get ready to go out for dinner. Rachel will not be with us as she will be meeting her two friends for dinner. The four of us wander around the area. Most of the places we go to have stopped serving food. But on some backstreets-why do I feel safe on these backstreets in Belfast? We found the Morning Star pub. Evidently this is a somewhat historic place as it has been in business since 1810. Steven and Sherri order food while Andrea are not that hungry. (We do mooch off of the other two.) Steven has a beef stew and Sherri has a beef and Guinness pie. Both are pretty good.

It was light even at 10pm when we left. We wander around about, going past the Belfast City Hall-a pretty grand looking building. After getting back to the hotel, I take a shower and hope into bed, falling asleep pretty quickly

Background

Kremlin. The status on the outside of the bar is of Lenin. Rachel went out with her friends Michelle and Jess that evening. Her friends were interested in going to this place called the Kremlin. Rachel knew what it was.

Extra Photo's