8/26 -- The ScenicRoute to Belfast

We left Derry and headed to Belfast the slow way, because it is not very far. Instead of freeways, we took the coastal route and stopped to hike down to a waterfall and lunch along the way. It was quite rainy in the morning and (fortunately, I guess) we didn't miss much scenery because we took the same roads to start that we had taken yesterday to the bridge and the Giant's Causeway. All the landscape we had seen yesterday was pretty invisible today. I took some rainy day photos through the bus window to illustrate the difference.

'Master of Communication' mural:
Morse, Faraday, Bell,  Marconi

At this point, it is more foggy and misty than rainy

Then the rain started.

The rain resulted in dozens of waterfalls tumbling from the highest hills. By the time we got to the hike, the rain was intermittent and light, which made the  hike down the sometimes steep hill a lot safer. When we finally started to see water, we were surprised at how brown it was, but clear. We surmised that it was not mud, but tannins leaching from the trees.

The starting point of the hike overlooked the hills. The far
one had lots of waterfalls.

It was a  lush wooded area, which we haven't seen much
of here.

This is the distant hill with all the active waterfalls.

This is where we start seeing the river.

Jim noticed this tree. Look carefully at the
shape of the trunk. Nothing obvious caused
it, but there must have been something.

The start of waterfalls

Now it gets serious. It is hard to see the tea
color of the water in this photo.

Jim says 'HI!' to all of you.

Here and below, the brown tone is more noticeable.

Lunch was huge -- probably 8 ounces of roast beef, a huge dollop of mashed potatoes, a roasted potato, a bunch of steamed veggies, and a popover. It is common here to have two or three types of potatoes served at each meal and veggies in a separate dish to be shared by several people. We also had a rhubarb crisp for dessert, and Jim (who has always resisted my suggestions for rhubarb) exclaimed at how good it was. It appears that his previous rhubarb dishes had been prepared with inadequate sugar.

Back on the bus, we continued the scenic route to Belfast. We stopped in Carrickfergus for a pit stop and also to say hello again to Stephanie, the OAT rep who accompanied us on the Killarney/Dingle  leg of the journey. She brought a baked treat and told us about her city, which is close to Belfast but really not a suburb of it. There is also a 1100 something Norman castle here in remarkably good condition.

The rain, which let up for the hike, came back.

Above and below: the Norman Castle in Carrickfergus

Finally, Belfast and our hotel were achieved. After our luggage arrived, Holly showed us around the area we are staying in and we broke off to explore. We found a Tiger store, a Danish chain with fun stuff, especially for kids and really cheap prices. We got pretzels and a set of sparkly hair ties for just 2 pounds. We also found an eclair which was pretty good. This ended up being dinner. We even found our way back to the hotel.

The opera house near our hotel.

A church

The City Hall

Both statues at this corner had visiting pigeons.