054:42.612 N
005:48.717 W

Day trip to Belfast

For several days now, Windy.com had been promising strong northerly winds today, so we took a train into Belfast City.

Had a brilliant tip from our boat-neighbour to jump off at the Botanic Gardens which also houses the Ulster Museum, so we had a thoroughly absorbing few hours visiting both sites.

Really interesting to see the enterprising spirit that has existed in this city for centuries and which put Belfast firmly on the World Map a long time ago.

The Museum promised ‘something for everyone’ and they were not wrong. There were so many topics covered, aiming to make sense of the past, the present and the future through collections of art, natural science and history.

The timeline of Ireland from 1600 is depicted in huge time-lines down the walls. The final room covered ‘The Troubles’ detailing from 1960s to modern day, my Pa Robin was much in my thoughts having been posted to NI from 1977-1979; a very different city to what we found today.  We thoroughly enjoyed the vibrancy and positivity that we found in the bustling streets, people were super-friendly and there was an upbeat feel about the place.

From the Museum, we passed through downtown Belfast with its grand City Hall, onto the Maritime Mile. This airy 1nm route filled with sculptures, artefacts, interesting snippets of history, follows the River Lagan to the Titanic Quarter where everything, everywhere, is Titanic, of course.

Back to Carrickfergus after 21,000 steps!

We love bringing TC to a city, you can dip into the hustle and bustle of busy city life, then return to the cockpit of your floating home, drink tea and mull over the day in total contrast to what you left behind.

It’s Tuesday night racing so we’ve been watching a flurry of race boats passing our stern, everyone giving a cheerful wave and thumbs up ~ including an invitation to join in on TC. 

After 50+ hours of motoring, Bol was keen to do an engine check so has just spent a couple of hours adjusting the valve clearances which he thinks were slightly out. He also tightened the four prop-shaft coupling bolts, other than that, the engine seems to be ticking over happily and we’re all set to head on north tomorrow.