The weather looked ok(ish) for us to move on. We were going south to Ardglass and the time to leave was about 11am. We set off and very soon I put on my oilies as it has started to rain a little. We had just got round the headland and the weather forcast came on the VHF radio. The wind was forcast to be stronger than expected. We carried on a little further and the wind was getting up (as forcast). Paul then told me that we had 25 miles to go - about 5 hours and asked me if I wanted to carry on. We discussed it and decided that it would not be a pleasurable sail and turned back. The next question was where to go? We could go back to Bangor but having just spent 3 nights there wen't so keen. We were in Carrickfergus before then and then I suggested Belfast. Paul went below to do some investigating and then agreed that it would be a good place to stop. Belfast is about 7 miles down Belfast Lough - it seemed to be a very long 7 miles. Anyway we got there. The marina is right in the heart of the city and we can see the Titanic exhibition hall from out berth.
We explored Belfast this morning starting with a visit to St Georges Market. It is set in a lovely old period building and it a "Proper" market selling everything - fruit and veg, meat, fish, clothes and a craft part. On the upper floor there is a cafe and you can sit and enjoy a coffee looking down. There was even a musician playing a guitar! Truly delightful.
We then walked by the city hall where there was a remembrance service taking place for the Somme.
We were walking back to the boat when we saw a Police Landrover complete with riot shields - quite an eye opener! When we were in Belfast a couple of years ago we saw a Police station covered in barbed wire. Something we don't see everyday.
We saw some lovely sculptures in the city
We just got back to the boat in time as it started to rain! Not only rain but hail!! It is the first of July and we have hail!
We couldn't visit Belfast without going to the Titanic exhibition. We have a budget and the cost of visiting the exhibition was £18 per person. A little on the expensive side. They did do a "late saver" ticket where for £7 you could see the exhibition for the last hour before closing. On reading the information it recommended that you allow 2 hours for the visit. Paul is not a great one for museums so this sounded like the one for us.
I love the "Airfix"model of the Titanic!
On arrival at the very impressive building the staff were fantastic recommending where to go to make best use of our time. It was a very good exhibition and we got round in the hour and saw most of it. It was the size of the ship that got me, when you looked at the photographs you realised how large the ship was. Outside they had the dock where the Titanic was built
You can't really see form the photo but does have an outline of the ship in stones. On the right the green represents the people who died and the bits inbetween the people who survived. There is a plaque on the front of the ramps with the names of all the people who lost their lives in the disaster.
So glad we did it and we did have enough time to see it all.If you were really into museums you could spend all day there.
So glad you have been to the Titanic exhibition. It's something I have always fancied doing. Dad was very interested in the Titanic and we have several books on the subject. Where are you going next?
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