A Lady of a Certain Age...

Today, was going to be easier as it was not as far to make the return journey back to Belfast up the west side of the lake. We left an overcast Ardglass after a good breakfast. Downpatrick, Killyleagh and then a brew stop at ‘Daft Eddies’ at Whiterock.

From here it was back to Comber and returning down the Greenway towards the cranes on the docks.

The evening beverage was taken in certain lovely old famous Belfast pub owned by the National Trust that was opposite the most bombed hotel in the world...The Europa, bombed 32 times!!

Today’s track is by the the lovely Neil Hannon and Divine Comedy born in Belfast. Some of the best lyrics that you will hear in a beautifully crafted song.

Girl from Mars....

Leaving the hotel we had a quick tour round the dry docks in the cool morning air. It was ‘Titanic’ this and ‘Titanic’ that but disappointingly, the actual ‘Titanic’  was nowhere to be found. We did however find the old pirate radio ship HMS Caroline.

 The funny little fella on the Comber greenway wished us “Top o’ the mornin’” as we cycled on the 10miles for breakfast.

 From here it was up to Newtonards and then the rural back roads clockwise circumnavigating ‘Strangford Lough’ following Sustrans route 99. This took us out to the coast at Ballywalter then down the Mourne coastal route only stopping for Mr Whippy and milkshakes at Portavogie before making our way down to catch the little ferry at the aptly named ‘Portaferry’.

Here, the 4 o’ clock boat brought across all the kids from the Strangford grammar school and then we jumped on, payed our quid, and jumped off 5 minutes later.

At the 52 mile mark with only 2 miles to go our old bones needed oiling so it was fortunate that we came across the ‘Curran’s Inn’

Finally into Ardglass, a small fishing harbour with tiny boats and crab pots and a ‘wet’ pub that sold a locally brewed dark beer called ‘Guinness’....how quaint!

Belfast band ‘Ash’ have always been a firm favourite on my indie playlist so Iv dug this track out for you to enjoy. Tim Wheeler of the band was only 16 when he had this hit in the charts in 1995.

The bright side of the road...

It didn’t take long from leaving the ferry to get a hard reminder of the past, a plaque for a 4 and a half year old child, blown to pieces during the troubles on the side of an old church. Cycling down the and into the modern docklands was however very impressive and lifted the soul as it became apparent that Belfast had turned the corner, thriving again and attracting tourism and business. The city was impressive, a mix of the old and the new and felt cosmopolitan.

Time to have a ride round and look at the sights.

We left the docklands, with the famous cranes that lifted the fated ‘Titanic’ and headed to the outskirts of the town. When we got out to the Protestant Shankhill Road, with the Union Jacks flying, the memorial gardens and the loyalist posters on every corners it was obvious that no one here was ready to forget the past. 

Through the now open segregation barriers into the neighbouring Republican side and along the Falls Road things felt a bit diffferent here compared to the modern city. The high wall was still there, creating a cage for these residents and again on every corner tributes, wreaths and reminders of the years of murders of their people by the British forces. You were left in no doubt how both sides still feel but at least some progress has been made by both sides and good luck to them and may this continue.

Today’s track by the celebrated musician from Belfast leaves no introduction necessary....enjoy Van Morrison here.

Screamager...

 The weather was looking up, a good general synopsis of the sea state was a gentle south-westerly blowing good to fair off Dogger Bank according to the early morning shipping forecast. No warnings in force so with military precision everything was packed and carefully stowed away; egg butties wrapped in a spare pair of freshly-laundered Y-fronts were squashed into panniers along with copious supplies of bovril and baked beans, a harmonica, a packet of love-hearts and a corkscrew...nothing had been left to chance, it was time to depart.

At the port of Cairnryan the Stena Estrid, bound for Limassol Cyprus via Belfast was parked up and waiting to whisk us over the North Sea...

Today’s blog title track is ‘Screamager’ by Belfast band ‘Therapy?’ 

The boys are back in town...

‘Twas the eve of the expedition and the meticulous planning and training for the great event was now over. It was time to meet up with the other athletes to go over the fine detail and get ‘in the zone’ for the start of the epic crusade that would commence at first light the next day.

It was obvious to anyone when we met that we were at our peak 

fitness and ready for the challenge but to take on a few extra carbs at this stage wouldn’t do us any harm so the venue for the team pre-brief was the small but plentiful, Sulwath Brewery only an hour 

or so from the main ferry terminal and a couple of hours hike away 

from our digs for the night at the comfortable residence of ‘Casa Di Pongo’.

Casa Di Pongo

  

With the calorific balance now finely tuned it would be downhill from here, then up hill, then a flat bit for a mile or two and then....well you get the idea, it’s a bike ride, ok....

The blog title comes from the 1976 Thin Lizzy classic featuring the late bluesy guitarist ‘Gary Moore’ who hailed from our next destination, Belfast and died in Spain. Effortless performance here live in Sydney for Phil Lynott and the boys...fantastic!

Teenage Kicks...

 The Troubles’ as they have come to be called featured heavily throughout my childhood due to the fact that the horrific images were on the 6 O clock news every single night. The names of places and events got hotwired into my memory; strange sounding places that I had only ever heard of but had never actually been to or knew nothing about. The Falls Road, Milltown Cemetery, The Lower Bogside, The Maze and The Shankhill Road to name but a few. Throughout the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s the violence escalated into the U.K. as hotels, shopping centres, politicians and innocent bystanders became targets and victims of sectarian attacks. Both sides had uncontrollable factions and were as bad as each other, both blamed each other.

They weren’t just the ‘Troubles’ then, it was nightly display of carnage and violence. Car bombs, shootings, masked men, army soldiers, politicians shouting, bitter tears, marches and flags, petrol bombs and sectarian violent protests that were all very confusing to a young lad watching the news back then, but the images have stayed with me all my life. Only now do I understand what the hell was going on back then.

People said then that it would never end, they would never find peace, but somehow, against adversity, they have. Thankfully the Good Friday Agreement agreed only 12 years ago is intact and hopefully people have learned to live in peace and things have moved on for the better.

It’s time to go and have a look, so it’s out with the ‘Fenwicks’ bike cleaner to see if I can scrape a bit of mud off ready for the tour!

Music by Northern Irish bands or musicians definitely get an airing too in the forthcoming blogs as a tribute to their inspiring music. Following on from SLF here’s another band from this area and I make no excuses here, the only links are that all the bands featured in these blogs hail from NI, that way I get to choose all my favourite tracks!

Kick off here with ‘Teenage Kicks’, an absolute classic from Feargal Sharkey OBE and the boys from 1978 and a firm favourite of mine and of the late John Peel. How happy is that drummer..?

Alternative Ulster...

 As the lockdown gets slowly unlocked it’s almost time to try and have another jaunt away somewhere for some much needed R&R and blog inspiration.

The dilemma though is where can I go?

 Parts of the U.K. like Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester and sunny Burnley are out of bounds on the grounds that the virus lurks hither and they are all crap places anyway for a holiday so I had to think further afield. 

Perhaps Jamaica, Puerto Rico or Israel? 

Ryan Air didn’t seem to have any cheap seats going or short break offers!

Maybe visit our old European friends Italy, Spain or French France ?....but with the slumping pound and old depressing Brexit debate getting a bit tetchy these days with International treaties being ripped up and tariff terrorism rife then maybe its best to give them a miss as I may also be required to consider ‘self-mutilation’ on return depending on the exit rules or I might risk getting ‘caught by fuzz’ eager to use the very latest impressive and highly efficient Tracking, Tracing and Exterminating technology.

I can’t consider the USA either, as its not safe to walk the streets there anymore without the vigilante police 👮‍♂️ ‘popping a cap in ur ass’ as you step out of the ‘all ya can eat diner’ and anyway, they are all getting worked up into a frenzy with the election of one of two old donkeys that will probably trigger civil war/race wars/Star Wars and raging forest fires for years to come!

Russia was dismissed again as its too bloody cold and I’m not wanting to get poisoned.

Belarus is too crowded these days and the same with the Greek Islands but for different reasons!

So where oh where can I go?....a moral dilemma!

Suddenly I was inspired by Greta Thunderbird, of 90’s pop combo ‘Extinct rebellion’ ...well any sort of rebellion appeals to this recalcitrant troubadour really, so I decided to jump on the trendy carbon neutral wagon wheel.

The trip would need to be ethical, address our well-being, raise awareness for something and inspire social adhesion during these unprecedented times so we would need a challenge that offered an opportunity to collaborate with our colleagues, participate in teamwork whilst fulfilling our own inspirations through self awareness and gratification in places of worship or ‘pubs’ as we like to refer to them as.

Such a proposition would no doubt embrace climate change, destroy capitalism and do my tiny bit for the environment so I decided not to fly, train or boat...oh, hang on...well, I don’t suppose ferries count that much for emissions do they?

Our very own ‘Tour de Planet’ concept was born...

It was to be an endurance bicycle trip of over 3 days and would make a clear statement to the world and push our athletic bodies to the limit during an adventurous journey of a lifetime that would take in a rough sea crossing, a capital city and a lake...

You’ve guessed it, we are off to the Emerald Alley of Northern Eireland....

part motherland, part fatherland, part United, part City...well, the little Proddy bit up north that I learnt about during my childhood when every night it featured on the news during the 70’s for one reason or another.

I’m hoping it’s changed a bit as Iv never been before...

This weekend will be the signal to Pack up ‘the troubles’ in our old kit bags and panniers along with a few pairs of undies and small pot of sudacrem (other soothing bottom and chaffing lotions are available).

It will be much like going abroad but the language and the Covid rules will be similar to Lancashire but only the voices will sound different and the rules will probably get interpreted just a bit differently for some reason?

Anyhow, No euros or passports to worry about and the food and drink shouldnt give us too many ‘Belly-Wazz’ problems if we stick to the local diet of potatoes and Guinness.

To do my bit for ‘extinct rebellion’ I intend to travel by bicycle and take an old Catholic pensioner along for a ride accompanied by a dour Scottish dodo wearing the leaders  ‘orange’ jersey on a peaceful procession up the cobbles of the Shankhill Road to raise awareness of our campaign ....what could possibly go wrong?

Watch this space...or the News!

I had to sneak in an old punk favourite here and a band from Northern Ireland that I saw later at King George’s Hall in Blackburn, turn up the volume and enjoy them here in their prime.