There once was an Irishman, an ipad and a satnav..........the Irishman said, 'don't take that road over there', the ipad said 'no connection' and the satnav said 'recalculating'.

The time in Belfast had given us a wonderful start to our Irish adventure. We'd spent a great night out in an Irish bar watching Ireland play Sth Africa, Rugby of course.The place was full of of ex rugby players and Chris had the opportunity to shake the hand that had once shaken the 'Real McCaw's hand. The atmosphere had been electric, Ireland put up an amazing fight and  lost by only a few points.

I've met an incredible  number of teachers  since leaving Australia - they're everywhere. That night there were both Scottish and Irish teachers in the bar. As you'd expect they all have the same familiar story to tell, about how much they love their job.

The next day we caught up with a Belfast couple whom we had got to know in Scotland. Lovely Irish,  hospitality, they took us to some magic places and showed us some wonderful sights. I think their warmth and generosity will be one of my enduring memories of Ireland and not least of all that fabulous Irish Coffee they made.

Then, it came time to hit the road again. Readers may sense some trepidation in my voice here.

Paddy the proprietor of  the All Seasons had given us the 'good oil' on the way to go and what to see.
The sat nav lady, before we left, gave us the benefit of a circuit tour of Belfast, I think she didn't want us to miss anything. Once was good, twice was ok and after 3 times, I decided to get out the ipad.

However once on the road up north and watching the fantastic scenery all was forgiven and the satnav lady once again became a knowledgeable and trusted driving companion. Even Paddy had redeemed himself in our eyes. The detour that he told us about was awesome - a winding drive on a cliff edge overlooking the Irish Sea.

The rope bridge at Carrick-A-Rede and the Giants Causeway were well worth the visit and by the time we'd made our way through both, it was getting dark.

A quick stop at a pub and a look at the ipad to find a place to stay and then we were on our way again, having  typed the latest directions into the satnav.

An hour later, after travelling down many dark lanes, we were back at the same pub, how did that happen?   I grabbed the ipad as it had come to our rescue before. This time up flashed 'No connection'. We were now in the deep North, not Belfast with the benefits of great internet coverage.

There's always a silver lining so they say- if we hadn't got lost we would never have discovered that great B & B, but that's a story for a another blog.

Next day, somewhere along the way, I mentioned in passing to Chris that I hadn't heard the satnav lady say 'Where possible make a U turn'.

No 1 Tip to all travellers using satnavs in a foriegn country,
if you want to avoid going round in circles;-

Never ever turn off the U turn option in the settings menu.

A P ark in Belfast, good for squirrel sightings.

Workplace, Health and Safety for Goats

An Irish Loch

Our first Squirrel

Great place to have lunch

Rope Bridge

Giants Causeway

Near the Giants Causeway

Vertical climb to the rope bridge

Castle near Belfast

It's not cold

The fisherman used to have only one rope to hold and one rope to walk on. I'm  glad they've improved things

Belfast, The Titanic and more.

We finally convinced the sat nav lady, that we didn't want to return on the ferry to Scotland and could she please direct us into Belfast. The port where we had landed was about half an hours drive, north of Belfast.
She obliged, and it wasn't long before we were motoring full steam ahead in the right direction. The roads were good, petrol was cheap, the sun was shining,  new sights to be seen and everything was going according to plan.

 Lulled into a false sense of security?

Less than 30 minutes later, we arrived in Osbourne Road. I had booked a B & B there and by the look of the street it seemed I'd got it right. ( Not that either of us were keeping scores ).
Classy boutiques, fabulous shoe shops, restaurants, lovely old homes, parks and ancient churches all added up to a nice area to be in. You never know exactly where you are going to end up, when you book to stay in a new place - it all looks pretty good on the internet. No photos of derelict dwellings next door,  police sirens wailing continuously or high speed trains hurtling past the bedroom window.

Anyway, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself when I heard the sat nav lady say, ' arriving at destination on left '. I looked across expecting to see a charming B & B, and saw instead what seemed to be a funeral parlour. That couldn't be right, it certainly didn't look like the 'All Seasons Hotel'.

After 4 trips up and down Osbourne Rd in peak hour traffic, with the light fading, I could sense Chris becoming just a little testy.

So I decided to ring Paddy, the proprietor of the All Seasons. I explained we were parked near a mortuary and couldn't find the number of the All Seasons hotel.  'Ah', he said, 'you're very close, but the numbers on one side of the street are even and on the other side they are odd'. This was not exactly the response I'd been hoping for. I pushed for a little more detail and was told that ' the numbers were lower on one side than the other'. I had already noticed that opposite 331 was 660.  Trying to remain calm and not to shout at the man I asked politely, if it was near anything. ' Ah yes it was near The Other Place'.  Apparently I found out later that this was a restaurant, with a black sign with grey lettering.

It seemed the situation called for desperate measures - I'd have to get out of the car to ask a local bystander. There was a little old lady waiting patiently outside a grocery store, opposite. I thought she looked as if she had  lived in the area for years and would know the place like the back of her hand.
I was about to ask the question when a bowl was thrust towards me with a few coins in it.. Too late, I realised she was begging for money

Ah well, she was very helpful.......

A little while later we arrived at the All Seasons. Paddy greeted us warmly saying that he was beginning to get a little worried about us. But then we were Australians and they usually found their way around.

THERE IS ALWAYS THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE:

XMAS PARADE

GREAT ICING

TO THE TUNE OF - SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

WARM WELCOME

BELFAST TOWN HALL

CITY CENTRE SHOPPING MALL

TITANIC MEMORIAL STATUE

VACCUM CLEANING THE STREETS

SATURDAY MORNING SHOPPING

CITY ARCADE

THE TALL POSTS SYMBOLISE THE STEEL RIBS OF THE TITANIC

GREAT SHOP

SKILLED MAP READER

GREAT HEELS

AND THERE'S MORE

SHOE HEAVEN

ALBERT MEMORIAL CLOCK

A COLD KISS

WHERE'S THE TITANIC

TITANIC EXHIBITION

RIVER LAGAN

IT'S FREEZING

Over the sea to .........

A great way to get around Scotland is to use the ferries, Caledonian Mac Brayrne, is the name of the company that owns the ferries ( scottish pronouciation is Marck Brrrrain, with that beautiful brrrrrrrrrr sound that the scots do so well).

The ferries come in all shapes and sizes and take all shapes and sizes of cars - from wee ones like our  fiesta, to buses and semi-trailers. You drive in the back end and out the front.

On one of our trips the ferry did a complete 180 turn and continued in the same direction as before. Seeing that the ferry had ramps on both ends, we were at a loss as to why this had ocurred.
After much discussion amongst the passengers, such as  ' it travelled better backwards', 'the captain wanted the land on his west'  Chris offered the suggestion that it may have been because the windscreen wipers worked better that way. It was generally accepted as being the best 'scottish' reason on offer.

The ferries are super efficient, getting cars on and off quickly, so you don't want to arrive late. We drove in one time, 15 mins before departure and were chastised for being late!

It's a great way to travel....... The isles of Mull, Iona and Arran have all been on our route. Life on these isles wouldn't exist,  if it weren't for these ferries.

The size of the ferry dictates the service you get on board. From sitting in the bar, enjoying a meal and  looking out onto the beautiful sea lochs, to a room with just the basics, benches and a heater.

Everybody uses the ferries, holidaymakers, island residents, commercial vehicles, and every second person has a dog or two.
Sometimes the number of dogs on board outnumber the people. They love their dogs so much that as you'll see, they even let them drive their car on board!

Our ultimate trip sofar, was the ferry to Ireland. We managed to get the best seat in the house, right at the front watching the waves crash over the bow. There we sat with our little picnic lunch, cheese from Mull, smoked venison from Arran and sipping on an Ausi red.
Sounds to good to be true - well it was a bit of a problem when we got to Ireland as the sat nav kept redirecting us back on board the boat to Scotland.

The photos below are of the islands and the wonderful ferries that took us there.

Walking on the beach (for 2 minutes) - Mull of Kintyre

Ferry berthing at Mull

Smooth sailing from Mull to Oban

The abbey at Iona

The smallest car never gets to go on  first.

Reflections on Mull

Even the retired ferries get a good home

A sunny moment in time.

Iona from the ferry

Waiting for the ferry at Iona

Iona's Scarecrows

Is there nothing a dog can't do!

Early morning on Mull

Oban

Isolation

One fine day on Loch Fyne

How's this for a back door view - Easdale where they use to mine slate

Here comes the ferry

Iona

Aye,aye Captain

The man's always buying me flowers.

Iona

Chapel on Iona

Where does the land end?

Arran

Iona

This is where the really big trucks go.

Sitting back and relaxing

Open wide - come inside

Happy Sailor

A storm brewing

Iona Abbey - the perfect retreat. 'Yes, they do have them here'.

G'dday Mate

Beautiful Loch Fyne