From Ireland to Northern Ireland

Wednesday 16 May 2012  - Dublin to Northern Ireland

Day 34 and 125 to go

It was so lovely to have a sleep in this morning and not be in a rush or on someone else’s timetable. We got up at 8.30am and were ready for our cooked breakfast in the restaurant by 9am. I can see us putting on plenty of weight over the next week if we get a fully cooked brekkie every morning.

We returned to the room and rang home before we packed our cases, dragging them back down the rickety and steep stairs. We were able to store our bags for a couple of hours while we went for a wander around the city. I also booked up another night for the night before we go to Glasgow.

We walked down the main road O’Connell Street. It was a brisk but fine morning. We enjoyed the freshness as we walked along the Liffey River bank and then up into the Temple Bar area. We even located the hotel we will be staying in for a couple of nights on our return to Dublin.

We then wandered through the grounds of Dublin Castle before setting the GPS and walking to the car rental company. 

We collected our little Renaut Clio and drove back to our guesthouse to collect our bags before setting the GPS to navigate us to the Chatham Mill B&B in Ballymoney Northern Ireland. It was so pleasant driving on decent roads and in a smaller vehicle than our camper there were no heart stopping moments. I guess it helped driving on the right side of the road as well.

The countryside was so picturesque. There were green fields lining every highway and street. It was such a contrast to Egypt.

We drove from Dublin to Belfast going from the country of Ireland into the English run Northern Ireland. We continued driving on the main northern highway before getting off in Ballyclare for a subway lunch at 2pm. By this stage we needed the break from driving.

Shortly after we were back on the road and an hour later we were pulling into the Chatham Mill B&B where we were met by Jeff who showed us to our room before serving us tea in the lounge and giving us some information about the North West 200.

We gathered our things before deciding to driving to Ballymoney 15 min away.  This is the home town of Joey Dunlop and the rest of the Dunlop family who are famous in this part for their motorbike riding. We made it to the town centre before parking opposite the town hall and the museum.

This building housed NW 200 memorabilia, pamphlets and souvenirs along with an exhibition on the town that included the history of bike riding. Paul bought a program and t-shirt to commemorate the visit. We enjoyed wandering around the different articles.

We then visiting the Joey Dunlop exhibition further down the street, where they had bikes, clothing and trophies on display along with more souvenirs to buy up. This was interesting as well.

We returned to the car and drove through the main streets. We parked at the shopping centre before walking through the Dunlop memorial gardens that contain a memorial for Joey and his brother Robert. From here it was a short walk to the Joey Dunlop bar.

There were many bikers at the bar enjoying a drink so we joined them inside watching a video that was playing on the Isle of Man. The bar was quite lively.  After our drink it was off to find an ATM before dinner.

We stopped at a little chinese restaurant for a quick bite and then returned to our B&B at 7.30pm. We went straight to the room where we could vege out. Paul read his program while I sorted out photos and uploaded things to the net. We decided we would need to be out of bed early to ensure we could get to Port Stewart before the roads are closed in the morning.  It is going to be another long and probably quite chilly day.

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