Across the sea to Ireland


The next evening we were over at my daughter's to load the rest of my tool collection, pottery, purchases at the Chinese super-market and wine.🤔. It wasn't all going to go in. Well I probably could get it all in, but the back of Aimile had sunk below the nut in the centre of the hub cap. Hard decisions had to be made. I would have to leave the 3 boxes of wine behind plus 3 boxes of rare Stanley planes. I thought about swapping them for Jacky, but didn't think I would get away with it!


Happily Chris didn't dump me in Shropshire, so we got up early the next morning to make our way to Birkenhead. It's a working household, so everyone was preparing for work and school by six thirty am. Very early for us - but we had a ferry to catch and some worries about morning rush hour traffic. And it was very cold - Chris had to scrape the ice off Aimile...


The ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast was booked for a 9.30am departure. That meant doing battle with the early morning rush to work. Not a pleasant thought, fully loaded on a frosty morning. Aimile was up for it and hummed along despite her heavy load. We got through the early bottle-necks only to be confronted by serious road -works. It was a strain on the nerves. Had we allowed enough time? We made it with half an hour to spare. I treated Jacky to a coffee and we sat and watched The Ferry Across The Mersey going back and forth. It was an uneventful crossing and we docked on time at Belfast and drove into the city. We found the hotel that Jacky booked at the second attempt. After getting settled into our room, we headed out into the drizzle to sample Belfast's night life and get something to eat, only to find that serving food closes at 5.00pm. We declined the suggestion to check out Macdonalds and eventually stumbled on a little gem. The Mourne Fish Restaurant. Fresh Oysters were on the menu. 





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