Day 1: Northern Ireland

Off towards Belfast…..Got the laptop out, will try to document the journey as it unfolds. We are driving on the M1 North to Belfast. We just saw a sign for Slane. We’ve decided to go there, because of the Slane Castle, but more so, due to the fact that U2 has filmed several concerts there. Guidebook states that Slane Castle was damaged by fire, but has since been restored and it is also famous for a triumph of Christianity over Paganism in 433 AD. So we have decided, not only are we celebrating U2 today, we are celebrating Christianity. Honestly, I am more excited by seeing the heaps of sheep on the sides of the road. I am quite fond of sheep and just do not get the opportunity to see them as often as I’d like in London City. You’d think by now, we would be spinning some U2 tunes, but the radio is silent, so I will be turning on my pod…..just flipped it on, random selection, first song up is ‘Beautiful Place’ – so not by U2 and by a band so not comparable by any means, but a great song for this part of our journey. We do live in a ‘Beautiful Place’…. We just saw an amazing old building mostly destroyed by fire, which looks like an old factory or something. I wish I could have captured a photo of it, but unfortunately, it is impossible at this moment in time even if I risk my life hanging out the window…..

SLANE CASTLE
So NOT fair…..it is closed for a private function today….can you believe??? I mean, it is 7am, we just wanted to take a picture! It is blocked off quite a bit, but we tried to search for a location to just get a photo……with no luck really. Sad, and not a way to start off our adventures today. Now we have U2 up on the IPod FM transmitter – It is a beautiful day….ok, well a bit rainy, a bit dreary, but still beautiful….I so want to go skydiving, but the weather, just wouldn’t be good for it. This is such a beautiful country however, and there are so many countries to skydive in. I of course, still as part of the things to do before I die, need to skydive solo, as I have not yet done that – but hopefully I will have further opportunities this year.

Back onto the M1, and back off to Northern Ireland……….We’ve reached Northern Ireland pretty quickly……A21, A26, A1, A27, A3……we just keep changing roads to travel on. I assume we are traveling in the proper direction. This country is gorgeous and even on a dreary day, GREEN!!! Very, very, very, green…Plans for remainder of the day are: Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway (I am excited for the Wishing Chair there) and a town called Londonderry……We have now it a town called Lurgan. Trying to get to the A3…slightly ‘lost’, but.Lurgan is pretty fun. See the random photos taken with me hanging out of a moving vehicle….

And we did find A3 and back on the correct path again…

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge
Dude – so cool……so fun…..we need more rope bridges in this world and the surrounding area is just beautiful.

Giant’s Causeway

Londonderry
Well we drove past quickly. We wanted to go there due to ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ (yes, the trip really is about U2, and of course, influential historical events). However, traffic was horrific, and we decided we had already had a bit of a long day.

Belcoo
We stayed at a lovely B&B my first B&B experience.