Belfast and Derry

On Sunday I took an early ferry from Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland. It was only a short crossing, which was just as well, as we were "trapped" inside the ferry- we could not go out on deck. Larne is quite close to Belfast. On my way to Belfast I stopped and had a look round the castle at Carrickfergus. It started to rain heavily at that stage. Rather than doing a tour of Belfast I visited the transport museum. The exhibits were excellent. My favourite was the DeLorean exhibit (pictured below). The DeLorean is most famous from the movie "Back to the Future". Belfast is, strangely enough, the "home" of the DeLorean. The DeLoreans were built in Belfast (thanks to generous government subsidies), until the company went bust.



It was sunny and warm on Monday morning, so went for a walking tour around the more infamous parts of Belfast. The area around Falls Road is a Catholic enclave in a largely Protestant city and one of the most well known flashpoints of the "Troubles". It is mostly calm now although the "peace wall" still separates that area from the surrounding Protestant area at night. Pictured below is one of the murals on Falls Road.

Flags are the most obvious signs of the allegiance of particular neighbourhoods. I am sure that there are many other, more subtle, ways in which the distinctions between the communities affect people in Northern Ireland. For much of the rest of Monday it rained. I went into central Belfast and did a little shopping. From Belfast I visited the "Giant's Causeway", a World Heritage Site famous for the hexagonal shapped rock formations. The car park charged an extortionate £6 to park so I parked 1km down the road and walked back. The causeway was interesting. I spent Tuesday night in Derry (or Londonderry, depending on your political persuasion). Derry is famous for its city walls, which are still intact and quite imposing.

From Derry I drove in to Ireland (there are no border crossings or even signs to indicate that you are crossing the border), bought petrol (it is cheaper than in Northern Ireland) and then whent to Malin Head, a nice spot and the most northerly part of Ireland. From there I drove to Carrick, in County Donegal.