Wales 2 Blue Knights Visit Northern Ireland
Early spring 2011, and a few of us decided to take a coastal tour of Northern Ireland, a six-day visit covering over 800 miles start to finish. The main itinerary included The RUC Memorial Garden in Belfast, The Titanic Quarter at the old Harland & Wolff Shipyard, the Antrim Coast Road, and of course, the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope-bridge.
RUCGC, HQ, Belfast
One section of the RUC memorial Garden. The scene shown represents the “Rough and the Smooth” of NI Policing - the flowing water rough on one side and calm on the other. On the left, are memorials that, viewed from the front look like iconic tablets, but when viewed from the side (as shown here), represent police officers standing to attention!
RUCGC Memorial Garden
Here, a guide takes us through the circular area of the garden and points to various features of the policing history.
Stormont
A brief stop to ride the “Stormont Mile,” view Carson’s Monument and have our photo taken by the security guys.
Below: Giant’s Causeway, Ballintoy and Dunluce Castle. Ballintoy is interesting in that the road is extremely steep, narrow and full of tighter-than-tight hairpin bends. Here, one of the lads raced ahead to catch the rest of us negotiating one of the turns.
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Below: “Samson" towers over a Sealink Ferry in the old H&W Shipyard. Next, still the largest dry dock in the world, and where the Titanic was fitted-out. Finally, HMS Caroline, the only remaining RN ship from the First World War. She is a Light Cruiser, and saw action at the Battle of Jutland.
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We didn’t quite cover the entire coastal route - there was just too much to see, and the weather played a few games with us! However, we managed to meet the locals, have a lot of laughs and have a look at one or two “curiosities.” Below, are just some: One of Belfast’s most famous pubs, The Crown, is the same today as it was even before the Titanic was launched. Not many people know that the author of the Narnia stories (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), C S Lewis, came from Belfast. Near his old home, a wardrobe sculpture has been placed. Nowadays, Belfast is well known for its many wall murals - both political and historical. Here is one dedicated to the Titanic and its builders - the latter mostly from this corner of East Belfast.
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Since we were in the immediate area, and being bikers, it would have been a sin not to visit Ulster’s most famous “boy racer.”
Before popping off to Portrush for an evening meal, we made a quick detour to Ballymoney and paid homage in the memorial garden dedicated to Joey Dunlop.
Aficionados of racing will know that the pneumatic tyre was invented by John Boyd Dunlop, an Ulster/Scot in Belfast. We wonder if Joey's family are related?
Before popping off to Portrush for an evening meal, we made a quick detour to Ballymoney and paid homage in the memorial garden dedicated to Joey Dunlop.
Aficionados of racing will know that the pneumatic tyre was invented by John Boyd Dunlop, an Ulster/Scot in Belfast. We wonder if Joey's family are related?