Doing the North

Friday, July 10, 2015
Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
 Thursday morning we headed north from Sligo towards Coleraine in Northern Ireland. I was amazed that there was absolutely no evidence of a border as we approached Derry. Not that long ago, I'm sure there were armed patrols on the border. The only way we knew we had crossed over into the UK was when we saw a speed limit sign of 40, which was clearly too slow for the road we were on if in km/hr, so we knew it had to be in mph. Our first destination for the day was actually Bushmills, where we had lunch--with difficulty as the pubs there don't seem to serve lunch and the restaurants don't seem to serve beer, so we took take-out into a pub. We then went for a tour of the Old Bushmills Distillery. Unfortunately, it is their "quiet season" so they were not actually making any whiskey there and we couldn't get into some sections because of maintenance. Also, there were no pictures allowed anywhere inside the plant, but it was still interesting. The bottling operation, where they were actually bottling Jameson under contract, was very interesting to watch. After leaving the distillery, we headed up the road to the Giant's Causeway, which is a very interesting rock formation with an elaborate legend around it about a giant named Finn McCool and how he challenged a giant from Scotland, where there are similar formations, at the other end of the "causeway" that he built. Anyway, this has been a major tourist attraction since the 1800's and there are a whole other set of legends about the guides who used to work the area. Now, it is a huge mass market attraction and there are hundreds of people there at any given time, so trying to get a photo without at least a handful of people in it is very difficult. Still it was neat to see.  After that we headed just down the road for a brief stop at Dunluce Castle, an impressive ruin . Then we headed for our hotel in Coleraine. Of course I got us lost on the way (but apparently it happens to a lot of people going there).  Eventually got checked in. Weird staying in a chain hotel, the Premier Inn, after all of our B&B's and guesthouses. Then today, Friday, off to Belfast. Once again, a bit of trouble finding the hotel (another chain, the Ramada Encore), but we got there before noon and went out for lunch and then some exploring.    One of the really interesting things in Belfast is stumbling over some of the great mural art that is tucked away in alleyways and lanes.  Tomorrow, we'll see some more on a "black taxi" tour.
 
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