Someone at work mentioned some special fare deals that Stena (on of the ferry companies) were offering from Scotland to Ireland - so on a sudden impulse I checked their website and booked myself a return crossing from Stranraer to Belfast.
So on Monday 25th August 2003, the morning after my 45th birthday, I set off from Edinburgh to Stranraer by car to begin my newest adventure.
As a datapoint, I was a "late starter" with regards driving - never having had any desire or need to do so (living in a city with one of the best public transportation systems in the UK). However I've been a fairly regular visitor to the US and Canada over the last few years, and soon realised that "public transport" in the US is not as readily available as here. I'd been at the mercy of my hosts' scheduling and desires as to what I'd managed to see (not a complaint about my hosts - but I was on vacation and they were usually constrained by work or children's school schedules as to where and how far they could take me). So at the age of 43 I decided to learn to drive and six months later took my official Driving Test - and passed first time!!
Since then I've enjoyed exercising my new skill, with a driving tour of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire in early May this year, a trip to Inverness a month later (at 24 hours notice to see the solar eclipse). All good practice for the day when I fly to the USA and hire RV - I have a daydream of one day exploring the sights there, unconstrained by schedules and tour bus itineraries.
Driving to Stranraer I decided to take the A71, followed by the A77, rather than the motorway (M8) to Glasgow and then the A77. (this has relevance for later in the tale - quite a bit later) All went well, I set off quite early, not being too sure how long the journey was going to take me, and concerned about arriving too late to get checked on board the ferry. The AA routefinder suggested that the journey would take about 3 hours 4 minutes, but that's assuming optimum driving speed, no delays, etc. I'm always a bit cautious when travelling - I'm proud of the fact I've never missed a connection EVER! - and you never know when you'll meet roadworks. (again this will have relevance later *g*) Stena state that the *last* check in time is 30 minutes before the boat sails.
As it happened I arrived in Stranraer an hour and 20 minutes before departure time, only to find that the check in staff there wouldn't let me check in until 30 minutes before departure! I ended up parking in a public car park and exploring the town long enough to get a nice cup of mocha and something to eat, and take a few photos of "Stranraer Castle" (which I'd never heard of before - but then Scotland is full of small castles)
So here is Stranraer Castle
Boarding the ferry was easier than I'd anticipated. I have been a passenger in a car boarding a ferry before, but was anxious about actually doing the driving myself - but I found that my skills are greater than I feared (as usual). It was no more difficult than parking in a multi-storey car park (which was very challenging the first time I had to do that! *g* - how come they don't teach that when you're learning to drive?)
The trip from Stranraer to Belfast took about 3 and 1/2 hours. I'd brought a book to read on my trip, thinking it would last me the ferry crossing and give me something to read in the evenings before bed, but in fact I finished it on the crossing. I also had time to eat a late lunch/early dinner in the ferry's restaurant (Irish sausage casserole with roast potatoes - totally delicious!) and wander around with my camera - here's a shot of us arriving in Belfast Lough (pronounced the same way as "loch" in Scotland - how come folks can pronounce the Irish spelling but have problems with the Scots one?)
Arriving in Belfast just about tea-time (6.45pm) I decided to see how far south I could get before stopping for the night.
The main road south to Dublin is well marked, and the motorway within the city is relatively easy to navigate, as city motorways go. I found it easy to get on my road south into the Republic. What I didn't find easy was working out whether I was north or south of the border between the two Irelands! There is no checkpoint, no border guards, anymore - and unlike Scotland where we have a bl**dy big sign telling you when you're about to enter England or when you've gotten home to Scotland, no signpost, no flags - nothing. The only way to tell is that north of the border the road is the A1 and south of it, it's called the N1. That and distances are given in miles in Northern Ireland and in kilometres in the Republic!
By 8.30pm I was tired enough to want to sleep, not caring which side of the border I was. As it happened I was south of Dundalk, passing a little town called "Blackrock", when I saw a B&B sign on a rather nice looking house. I pulled in and rang the doorbell. I was shown to a lovely little room with its own en-suite facilities, with a double and single bed. Very comfortable - but to my city ears the night was just TOO quiet!
Next morning I checked directions with my host and set off towards Galway. Contrary to his directions it is NOT "motorway" (or even dual-carriageway) all the way from Athlone to Galway! Let's just say that Irish roads are ..... interesting. Driving there is not boring.
My route took me through Mullinagar, heading towards Athlone, but a sign drew me to my first diversion of the week - "Tullamore". Tullamore Dew is my favourite Irish whiskey and the sign promised a Visitor's Centre for the distillery. Sounded interesting, and I wasn't in any hurry to get to Galway after all.
Oooh those Irish roads - the town centres of every Irish town I came to were ... well, they were old towns, with narrow streets meant for horses, suddenly having to deal with 21st century motorised traffic. Tullamore was one of these towns.
The visitor's centre was well signposted and there was good car parking facilities nearby. I parked in the sunshine and wished (yet again) that I'd bought myself one of those sunshade/reflectors for the car windscreen - it was going to be hot in the car when I got back. There was a small charge of a few Euros for the centre - if I could have waited a little over an hour there would be a guided tour, but in the meantime there was a "self-guided tour" - ie, you followed the numbered signs and a printed guidebook loaned to you by the reception desk. This was fine - I ended up with an English family going around at the same time and we saw it together. There were a number of interactive things available for the visitor - especially kids - including a chance to rake the barley, as would have been done during malting. The exhibits were quite interesting - the "revenue" man even had real record books on his desk. There was even a bee-hive, with a real colony of bees making real honey - you could watch the worker-bees building the honeycombs.
The tour started on the top floor, with an exhibition dedicated to the whiskey, then you moved down to the middle floor to an exhibition on the town of Tullamore. The whiskey and the town are deeply entwined. In the town section of the exhibition there was a wardrobe full of period clothing so that you could dress up in style to have your photo taken with the hot-air balloon that set the town on fire! There was also a cell from Tullamore's Gaol on display (well, a reconstruction - I'm sure the rat was rubber *g*)
The end of the tour was in the bar downstairs from the reception, where your entry ticket entitled you to a wee dram of Tullamore Dew or Irish Mist. I had to decline since I still had to drive to Galway, but instead I got the best cup of coffee I found in Ireland. Quite reminded me of France - I could have been back in a Parisian café from the taste!
End of Part one - continued in Part 2
