Well, as bad as things were with the accommodation we slept like logs. As I said earlier, we put my camera bag and a pillow at the window to keep the cold out and it worked. I woke up quite early but had slept really well, so I got up and wrote yesterday’s blog. I went out and sat in the foyer which was really warm as the heating was going full bore. Our room was still chilly though. We should have left the door open and we might have been warmer. Anyway, I made a hot cuppa while I typed and just as I was finishing, Cecile was up and we started to get moving for the day.

Dinner last night at O’Shea’s Merchant pub was so good, and we knew they did breakfast too, that we decided to go back this morning. It was really good again. We got the Quick fix I think it was called. 2 Kerry Irish sausages, 2 eggs, bacon and toast. It was great and while I’m not normally a lover of sausages, these were unbelievably good. While we ate, we booked tonight’s accomodation and settled on Holiday Inn Express in Belfast. Bellies full, next room booked, we headed back to pack our things and pick up our car for the next few days. Taxi was called and turned up within about 2 minutes and we were on our way.

We got to Eurocar to pick our car up but it was quite busy so we had to wait a while but we ended up driving out with a little Renault Clio and we were on the road. This car is definitely not as good as the one in England as it has no navigation but as we both have GPS on our phones, it’s fine. We set off through the streets of Dublin to find our way North to Belfast. It was pretty easy all in all. Sunday morning, half of Dublin must be at Mass as the roads were so quiet. Before long we were on a freeway. I freaked a bit about the speedo. It was in kilometres. We had travelled all over England and Scotland in miles and I struggled to get my head around being back with kilometres. I kept thinking I would have to keep converting from mph to kph. I then realised that the Republic of Ireland is in the EU so uses the metric system. Of course, that doesnt include Northern Ireland but I’ll deal with that when I get there.

We were avoiding tolls, so turned off the main highway through some little villages which was so much nicer than a souless highway anyway. We stopped in one of those villages along the way to buy a few supplies for the next few days.. bikkies, cheese, butter, milk etc. Just so we don’t have to keep buying food on the road which is not only expensive, but honestly is so tasteless and boring. Continuing on, we ended up back on the highway.

Our first stop today, other than for supplies was Newry in Northern Ireland. Cecile’s maternal grandfather was from there and she has always wanted to have a look at the town. Surprisingly, when I had my DNA tested through Ancestry, it turns out I had some connection to the same town. Perhaps we are related way back? I’ve suggested she has her DNA done so we can know but she says she’s too scared to find out in case we are related lol. Anyway, we drove into Newry and went to the address where her grandfather once lived. There was no longer a house there but we found the block it had been on.

The town was much bigger than we both expected it to be and we had a bit of a look round then headed on our way again. A bit closer to Belfast, I saw a sign for Black Skull. Well what is a girl to do? I had to go see that town, so I turned off the road to go hunting. The signs all said 2 mile away but we drove for ages and it never showed up. Is it too Brigadoon? Everywhere we drove had the same 2 mile sign but Black Skull was nowhere to be found. As we drove around looking, I saw a structure out of the corner of my eye and said (stupidly) ‘Oh look.. there’s my castle’. Unfortunately, the corner of my eye must have been blurry or drunk, as it was something like a mobile tower or antennae. Not sure really but definitely not my castle.

A lot of houses around that area had front fences with turrets as posts. They must have been on sale. They looked gorgeous. I want some for my garden. By the time we got to Belfast, it was time to book into our hotel, as the search for Black Skull took longer than expected. We drove to the Holiday Inn and I was not happy to find no parking though their advertising said there was free parking. We went in (thankfully minus our licorice allsorts baggage) and said we had a booking. Turns out there are two Holiday Inns in town. Back in the car we got to the right one where there WAS parking, so we booked in then had a Bailey’s (me) and a Latte (her) and some nachos.

Then it was time to do some exploring. We went down to the Titanic but didn’t go in as it wasn’t on our list of priorities but it was great having a look at the building which in itself is a work of art. There was a Stenaline ferry in and it’s quite overwhelming when you see huge trucks being driven in, looking like a Tonka toy. They really are huge ferries.

After that, I suggested we go for a drive to Bangor which is about 30 minutes, if that, out of Belfast. A friend form the mountains is from there originally and we’ve spoken about it and I wanted to see it for myself. Bangor is a lovely seaside town and the marina was huge. As we were driving through it, we saw the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. There were a few people who had, what looked like, a brand new couch on a shopping trolley, trying to get it home. I wanted to wind down the window and sceam ‘PIVOT… PIVOT! at them. (it’s a Friend’s quote). We did a turn and went back past them a few times so we could get a picture of them. By the time we got back to them, they had got it halfway down the drive so the pic isn’t as clear as we’d have liked. After a quick stroll around the marina we couldn’t believe how big it was. There were boats everywhere. We managed to avoid the singing minstrel who was busking down there and then it was time to head home.

Back at the hotel, we were stuffed, so we made a cuppa in our room and just sat and relaxed for a bit. Neither of us felt like going out for dinner, so we raided our food stash and had a quick bite in our room. I made some bikkies and cheese for Cecile and this time she didn’t throw them like the other day lol. Then it was finally time for a shower. You know how Kate Moss said that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels? Well after avoiding the communal showers at the last place we stayed, I can say in all honesty… No perfume ever smells as good as clean feels. Oh it was divine. I was in jammies quickly and ready for bed. Another early night tonight as we are off to the Giant’s Causeway tomorrow then further across to the West Coast. So until tomorrow…

Happy searching for Black Skull…. Livvy xxx