A Visit to Ballyclare Ireland

The Road Trip – Shrewsbury to Ballyclare

Holyhead to Dublin Ferry

We drove from Shrewsbury to Holyhead in Wales. This took us three hours and driving through some of the most beautiful scenic countryside in North Wales. We kept saying ‘Oh what a pretty village!’ Caught a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin Port in Ireland. It was a Stena Line ship called the Stena Estrid. A pleasant enough 3.30hr trip. Return trip cost us 360.00 pounds sterling.

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ETA Dublin Port around 6pm. Unfortunity the 2.30hr drive from Dublin Port to Ballyclare was in darkenss, and wet. Ballyclare is a small town just 20 minutes drive from the Northern capital, Belfast. Belfast is my brith city. So this trip, like every other time too, is a bit of an nostalga trip. It brings back my childhood and teenage memories.

The Irish have a great sense of humour. They have to.

Why? Well I have traveled throughout most (ok … lots of) the world and for some reason most people I meet want to tell me an Irish joke. And on a more serious note some Inspirational Irish Quotes .

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Ballyclare Walks with Wee Alfie

We still have family in the north of Ireland so that is of course where we rested our weary heads, Ballyclare. My family live outside the town in a rural setting. Great for fresh but coldish (sometimes freezing) walks most days, Even got some snow. The surrounding secnery was quite spectacular. Our walks around this 4-mile quiet country road circut took about 50 minutes.

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St Augustine’s – You can almost see the Ghosts 👻

Not to be missed,. Our circuit walk took us along the Ballynashee Road through the village of Ballyeaston. What we discovered in Ballyeaston was the ruins of St Augustine’s. The site was used as a centre of worship since the fifth century. Standing around in the freezing cold taking pictures made me wonder how hard it must have been there 1500 years ago! The present ruin seen in these photos was built in 1786 and ceased to be used as a place of worship in 1894. Definitely a little ghostly and the moss covered gravestones leaning over with snow melting over them added to the effect.

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Belfast it Hasn’t Changed Much

Well maybe a little. Always love coming back to Belfast. Fabian gets a little tired of me tell her my childhood and teenage memories as we drive around the city. When I left Belfast in the late sixties it was hard to get a job so my future didn’t lie there. Just after I left my home town the troubles started and continued for the next 35 years.

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Famous places to see in Northern Ireland would be the Titanic Museum and the Giants Causeway, The Antrim Coast Road, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, Game of Thrones filming sites, to name a few. I would also recommend St George’s Markets in the city on a Sunday morning. The breakfasts are simply great but they have an amazing array of other food stalls from all over the world and fresh local produce as well as handmade craft and curio stalls. For more information on the history and places to visit and would suggest the following links:

• https://tourismni.com/
• https://visitbelfast.com/
• https://titanicbelfast.com/

A Day out in Bangor & Ballyholme

Visiting Bangor & Ballyholme was another nostalgic trip for me. My family spend most summer holidays there for many years in the ninteen fifties and sixties. Bangor is about a 30-minute drive from Belfast. The drive takes you through Holywood and you can cut in through Crawfordsburn and Helens Bay before entering Bangor from the north.

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We walked past the old Ballyholme Hotel which has been converted into apartments. The walk back to Bangor took us up the Ballyhome Road and High Street and down to the centre of town and just in time for lunch at the Boathouse restaurant after a quick icy shower as some unexpected sleet almost blew us over.

Lunch at the Boat House

We stopped at the old Boathouse which I walked passed many times as a child in the late nineteen fifties. Today it’s a tiny but scrumptious restaurant. So what a lovely place to stop and have lunch. We chose the two courses from the special lunch menu. We always share so we had a starter of pork Belly and for the main courses, Adlantic Cod and Sage and Truffle Gnocchi. Finished of with a Dark Chocolate Ganache. At twentytwo pounds each, it isn’t too costly, especially when a burger meal costs about fifteen each Of course the menu doesn’t spell out the lovely surprises which arriced at our table. Home baked bread and butter, amuse bouche, champ, and a tasting plate of lemon tart (the one we didn’t order). If in Bangor try this link http://www.boathousebangor.com

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Bangor – Before & Now

After lunch we headed in the oposite direction through the new (1989 is new when there are buildings 100’s of years old isn’t it?) marina to the Pickie Funpark. The fun park was originally the Pickie Pool when we were children. We used to play there while on holidays. The pictures below show Bangor how it looked in the mid nineties to how it looks today. The marina transformed the waterfront in Bangor. You will also see a picture below of the Mckee Clock. We used to wait here as kids for Mum and Dad to come out of the pub to take us to Barry’s long gone Amusement Park.

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A Trip up the Antrim Coast

A visit to Ballyclare is never complete without a trip up the Antrim coast road. From Ballyclare we cut across the hills to the east coast at Ballygally. Travelling north along the coast road to Glanarm and Carnlough. Two interesting facts about Carnlough a very small coast town. Did you know that Winston Churchill once owed the local hotel, The Londonderry Arms? Neither did I. Carnlough is also a location for the popular film series Game of Thones, which I might have to binge watch sometime.

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From Carnlough we headed up to Cushindall on the way to Ballycastle. There’s one picture below that I liked driving though the town and looking towards mount Tievebulliagh covered in snow. We then left the main road and took the old Torr Head road towards the Carnanmore Moors. The weather that day was sunny with showers of sleet and snow. The scenery along Torr road was spectacular as seen in the picture below.

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Torr Head itself was closed for repairs that day. This headland was important in the 1800s for recording the passage of transatlantic ships though the gap between Ireland and Scotland, relaying the information back to Lloyds of London. Moving now up over the Carnanmore Moors as seen below on the Farrenmaccallan Road. This part of the causeway scenic drive is breathtaking. I had to stop the car to take these pictures. A great feeling of closeness to nature itself, and of complete freedom in the isolation and solitude of this stark windswept landscape. It might be a bit different in summer but we had the road almost completely to ourselves.

The Carnanmore Moors

When was the last time you felt euphoric, no blockages, a nature connection with spirit A move from what we think is normal to a higher level of awareness? An expanded awareness? We all have a higher self, but we seldom look for it. We are all two busy following earthly pursuits. When we become aware, aware of our thoughts we have a choice. In the Carnanmore Moors, I had a choice. I could have thought “Its too cold, its too windy, Its barren out here, not pretty” but i didn’t. I thought how blessed i am able to experiance the peace and tranquillity, the isolation and natural beauty of these moors.

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Ballycastle

As we leave the Carnanmore Moors we hit another scenic town, Ballycastle and time for lunch. And what do you think we ordered at the fishing harbour? Well Fish and Chips of course and for a special treat Crab Cake, yum yum.

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This next set of photographs depicts one interesting natual volcanic creation, Giants Causeway. We also visited the ruins of Dunluce Castle and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.

The Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. Salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years. In the 1970s it had only one handrail and large gaps between the slats. A new bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built with the help of local climbers and abseilers in 2000. Today it is only use by tourists and costs 10 pounds to walk across to the Island.

Dunluce Castle. The castle was the seat of Clan McDonnell. Located on the edge of a basalt outcropping and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place.

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Gaints Causeway. A natural volcanic eruption formed the hexagon pillers some 50-60 million years ago. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. 😂

RMS Titanic

We all know the sad story of the RMS Titanic. The ship hit an iceberg and sunk on its maiden voyage to New York on the 15th of April 1912 . Below is a picture of the new Titanic Musum in Belfast. Also while walking through Barmouth in Wales UK, I spotted this plaque in commemoration of Titanic’s 5th officer Harold Lowe. Harold served on the Titanic and awarded this recognision for saving many lives. The musum is well worth a visit when in Befast.

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Well that’s all folks. We hope you enjoyed our travels around the North of Ireland .