|
British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
|
Home Copyright
© |
Notes
from a small Ireland As we stood in the castle grounds, which stand out on a short promontory into the bay, we and the medieval castle were being buffeted by the wind; leaning into the storm, we watched the rain race across the bay towards us. In less than two minutes the far side of the bay disappeared behind a curtain of rain and, within a few more seconds, we felt the first, heavy drops. As we ran back to the car the heavens opened wider and large, heavy, wind-whipped drops attacked us; we sat in the car watching as the rain lashed around the castle walls then, slowly, it eased off. This was our second day in Northern Ireland - and we had been informed the weather had improved over the last week. Central Belfast is far more Scottish in style that English, while retaining an Englishness that has taken all the bad architecture and made it look half-decent. Heavily bombed during the war because of the shipyards, the city is dominated by the large yellow Harland and Wolff cranes in whose yard the Titanic was built – and the city won’t let you forget. We had lunch and then took a two-hour guided tour of the centre (very gentrified since the troubles ended) and down to the river (like most rivers in cities - empty of ships). On Saturday we headed for the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. This is a small rope bridge approximately 60 feet high and 25 feet long leading to a small island. This was originally used as a base for salmon fishing, and is now a tourist attraction. The bridge is quite steady – although it was windy. The views were breaktaking with the sea a clear turquoise blue. Four colours dominated: black rocks, dark blue sky, light blue sea and green plants. We then dropped down to the Giant’s Causeway – somewhere we had visited before just recently. The rocks are just amazing, some standing over 100 feet tall. The pavement runs out into the sea, getting blacker. The hexagons are not perfect and are stepped. It’s a truly magical site. From here we headed to the Bushmills distillery and rather than do a tour we did a tasting. We had five whiskeys to try – three from Bushmills and one Scottish and one American. Now I know they picked the whiskeys, but the Scottish one was very rough and the American very, very rough and sweet too. The Bushmills was so smooth in comparison. From here we walked into town for a very nice lunch. In the afternoon we went up to Dunluce castle where we watched the storm race in. Before that we had meandered around the ruins and watched a display of gunnery from the 15th and 16th centuries. We then headed back to the hotel for a steam and sauna! On Sunday we were up early, so we checked out and managed to squeeze in a lot of sightseeing. It should be noted that the population of Northern is very small, and thus the numbers of cars on the roads are small, but the roads themselves – even the major routes - are in many cases what I would call a country road. So it often takes longer to get around than expected. Anyhow we started off at the Ardboe cross – this is a sixth century carved cross with scenes from the Bible. Many are difficult to make out today, but it stands about 12 feet high and is still imposing. Behind the cross is the site of a monastery, with a small roofless building still standing. The ground is hallowed and is therefore used as a graveyard today. We had noticed the flags and bunting flying in a number of areas: in some, the Union Jack, in others the Irish Tricolour. This is left over from the troubles, but better than the bombs, I guess. This area was an Irish area and one of the graves was of one of the hunger strikers from the early 1980s. It’s at this point that you realise that the troubles – while gone – are not distant. Funny to note that the poorer the area seemed, the more flags there were. We left here and went on the Sperrin Rings. High in the Tyrone Hills are seven stone rings. The rings are each about 8 to 10 yards across and the stones stand about a yard high. It was an amazing site, totally empty, windswept and unknown. From here we shot across to the Castle Espie Wetlands Centre. This is a large site on the shores of the Lough, and as well as having birds flying in they have a captive breeding programme, which includes the Nene goose from Hawaii. From here we drove down to the monastery at Nendrum. This was an early medieval monastery and was more a walled village than a place of contemplation. The small church (roofless), the base of the tower and the 3 concentric stone walls surrounding the site still stand. Again this stands on the shore, on a small promontory, and is a wonderful site. We drove over to the Scarpo Country Park and Tower. Built on a hill in the early 20th century, it stands overlooking the Lough. The tower is a further 100 feet high on the peak. The views from the top extend as far Scotland, the Isle of Man and (what we didn’t/couldn’t see) Wales. From here we drove through Belfast past the parliament building (Stormont, a great white building on a hillside) and past a number of the paramilitary murals on the sides of houses. These really did inspire the feelings of the ‘troubles’. Finally we ended up close to the hotel, and we visited the Patterson Spade Mill. This is a small 19th century factory that makes spades. Now I never thought that spade manufacturing could be interesting, but it was. It’s a National Trust location and they still make a number of spades. Starting with a lump of metal, it’s cut, shaped, beaten, tempered and has a handle inserted, all powered by a water mill; where the newest equipment was delivered in 1923, which was a second-hand drill. There were originally over 170 different spades to cope with different soil and regional traditions, and the size of the person using it - who could be a child. They now only make four or five different versions. All the equipment they use is water-powered and the site also contains a corn mill and a beetling mill (a process used in linen making). The workers’ cottages were really just a row of single rooms not more than 10 feet by 10 feet – with up to six people living in them. We then visited the Mausoleum next to the local ‘castle’, believed to have been built on the site of a church that was used by St Patrick. Now it’s just an empty building in the middle of a graveyard with a few headstones arranged around the walls. Some of the dates on the headstones went back as far as the 1760s. This was
a holiday of contrasts and not the bombed-out place we had imagined. |