The Lake District of England, and a day in Northern Ireland

 Well, here we have the beginning of the 3-day All-day tour event. We arrived in Liverpool on time and were treated to the standard clearance announcement, including weather expected to be 'cloudy with showers'. And just like yesterday, the sun was shining from a near-cloudless sky! Do they even look out the windows? We feel sorry for the people living in the Inside cabins who trust this information to tell them what to wear! It probably explains all the people who leave the ship holding umbrellas. We suppose they can use them for sunshades! Of course, that just meant that we would most likely have another beautiful day, as we had with every cloudy forecast so far.

Michel and Judy took a tour to the city of Chester, which they had wanted to see on previous trips but hadn't had the chance. So we headed off to join our 4 busloads going to the Lake District and Lake Windermere.

The day was quite nice and sunny from the very beginning, and we had a very nice two-hour drive through the northern English countryside. It was quite interesting to see how the terrain changes as you go inland and further north - from gently sloping farmland to high fells (hills, not mountains).

  We eventually arrived at Haverthwaite Station, and the steam train that was the inspiration for Thomas The Tank Engine. Way back when, lumber and charcoal production was the big industry in the area around Lake Windermere, and the railroad was built to haul out logs and coal. Nowadays it's a tourist attraction, running between Haverthwaite and Lakeview on Lake Windermere, a distance of maybe two miles. The forest is pretty overgrown on both sides of the tracks, but we did get a couple of pictures.

              

 

Arriving in Lakeview, we wandered "en masse" (there were four buses from the ship, plus at least one other large group) from the platform to the dock to await the boat that would take us on our cruise of the lake. We think Noah had it easier than our four guides. We had talked to Sue, our guide, on the train, and she agreed with our assessment that it is probably less difficult to herd cats than cruise passengers!! We really wonder, given the level of difficulty apparently involved in walking 50 feet from train to dock, how some of these people managed to make it from London to the ship in Southampton!

After a brief wait our boat, the MV Swan, arrived and a mad dash ensued to get onboard. Fortunately while we were waiting, they opened the back gangway, so we boarded there and found a comfortable bench on the stern. The lake itself is about ten miles long by about a mile wide and reminded us very much of a smaller version of Lake Simcoe. The shores are lined with great manor houses, most built in the 1800's, by the industrialists who developed the timber trade. Now most of them have been converted to hotels and lodges, with the odd rowing or sailing club thrown in.  Sue mentioned later that the lake had once been a hive of water sports, like water skiing and  Seadoos, (again much like Simcoe), but about three years ago local council passed a law limiting boats to a maximum ten knots, so things are much calmer now. Our ride to Bowness took about 40 minutes, under bright sunshine which allowed for great picture taking.

              

Our buses drove to Bowness to meet us, so we had about a half hour to wander around town before they drove us up - literally - to the Windermere Hydro Hotel for lunch. After sampling some of the local ice cream (yes, it is becoming a running theme, but England is known for its cream, so it has to be checked out!!) we strolled around a bit. The church bells were chiming on, and on, and on; it being Saturday instead of Sunday, and having spied a decorated car going up Church St....lo and behold, there WAS a wedding going on! And there were quite a few people standing around waiting for the bride. Not wanting to seem too curious, we just snapped a quick shot of the bridesmaids and bride's mother waiting for her arrival and moved on.

              

 The Windermere Hydro Hotel is (literally) right at the top of the town. Even though it would only have been about a ten-minute walk, the buses drove us all up the hill that seemed never-ending. Some of the people on the tour would never have made it if they'd had to walk.

Lunch was very nice roast lamb with potatoes and veggies, and Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. Sue even managed to wangle the recipe from the hotel pastry chef, so we have a copy to try it out ourselves at home.

One thing many people don't know about the Lake District, especially around Windermere, is that it was greatly due to the efforts of Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit and various other childrens' stories, that it has remained as unspoiled and beautiful as it is. She was instrumental in establishing the national park in the area and was the first female president of the trust that oversees it. She lived at Windermere, so the town is the home of the Beatrix Potter Exhibition and the Nursery Shop.

After lunch, we settled back on the bus for the ride back to Liverpool. The M-series highways get you from place to place quickly, but generally there's not too much to see on the way. Here are a couple of photos from the ride:

             
One last thing that Sue pointed out to us is that one of the symbols of Liverpool is the pair of Liver (pronounced Ly-ver) Birds on top of the Liver Building. One points out toward the Mersey River, and the other towards the town. The story goes that the female bird is gazing out to sea, waiting for her mate to return, and the male is looking toward town to see if the pubs are open yet!

So, onward overnight to our stop in Northern Ireland - Belfast. We had booked a private tour in a London cab for the day, and were even met before the allotted time by Brendan, our driver/guide. So we started off, trying to stay ahead of the numerous buses of ship's tours that were headed, in one way or another, for the same places we were. Our main objectives were a drive along the Antrim Coast and visits to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Giant's Causeway. So without any waste of time, we started out at a good clip to get out of Belfast and onto the coast road.

Carrickfergus Castle in Carrickfergus on the Antrim Coast

               

 

Luckily, we didn't need to make any stops along the way and got to Carrick-a-Rede in good time, and ahead of the buses from the ship. We were doubly glad we were on a private tour when we found out that the actual bridge was a full kilometre hike from the entrance gate! We could not imagine how long it might take some of our shipmates to make the walk to the bridge, then across it, and back again. Here are a few shots of the bridge and the area around it. Quite beautiful!

             

 

              

 

The bridge itself is not a difficult crossing; it's all the tourists who get out there and want their pictures taken that slow things down. Having said that, you will note that there is a photo of Larry with Michel behind him - Monica took it on a quick two-second pause as she made her way back ahead of them. The bridge crosses from the mainland to a small island and was originally constructed by local fishermen. The area around the island once teemed with salmon and the fishermen used the bridge to check their nets, an easy thing to do given how crystal clear the water is. It is almost a Caribbean clear!

After crossing over and back, the three of us made the long trek back to where Brendan and Judy waited at the carpark, loaded up and headed for the Giants Causeway. This is a stone formation that covers a promontory into the Irish Sea and, while it looks like it is manmade, it is actually a natural formation. While Michel and Monica decided to take the l-o-n-g walk down from the visitor centre (why do the Irish insist on putting things so far apart?), Judy and Larry took the shuttle, found a comfortable stone, and waited for the wanderers to appear. While there, Larry overheard one of the local guides explaining that it is believed the stone formation is the result of lava flow from an ancient volcano, but no one has ever come up with a workable explanation for the almost perfect pentagonal shape of the individual stones.

 

 

 

After wandering about, and getting the requisite touristy photos, we hopped on the shuttle bus (even the wanders agreed the walk UPHILL was too long!) for the ride back to the top. And Lady Luck smiled on us. The skies, which had looked threatening for about a half hour, opened into a fairly heavy downpour just as we reached the visitor centre. A good thing, since our rain gear was all in the taxi with Brendan and he magically appeared just as we were trying to decide how to get back to the car without drowning! So, after a brief stop at the Bushmills Distillery for a little shopping and a quick lunch, we headed back to Belfast.

Dunluce Castle, looking quite ominous in the rain. Too bad we
couldn't stop for a visit.

 

 

When we first met Brendan in the morning Larry had talked to him about his grandfather emigrating from Belfast, how family lore had him involved in The Troubles and one step ahead of the law, when in fact, as a member of the royal Ulster Constabulary, he WAS the law and was probably one step ahead of the IRA. On our way back, Brendan asked if we would like a tour of Belfast, but instead of the usual sites, we visited the history of The Troubles. He took us to Falls Road (Catholic) and Shankhill Road (Protestant), the areas that were "ground zero" of the worst violence in the late-60's and through the 70's. We saw the Catholic memorials to their "martyrs" and the Protestant memorials to theirs. These take the form mostly of murals painted along the sides of buildings on both sides of "the peace wall" that separates the two neighbourhoods to this day. Brendan explained that, as much as anything else, the people of Belfast, especially the Mothers, finally got tired of burying their children, and that is ultimately what lead to the peace accord that ended the fighting. For all that, the wall still stands, looking eerily like the remnants of the Berlin Wall we saw a year ago. Brendan explained that while the fighting is for the most part done, there are occasional "flare ups" and the wall prevents them from getting out of hand. Interestingly, he said the fight was never about religion, but about politics, with the two sides divided on roughly sectarian lines. One side, predominantly Catholic, wants the North to rejoin the Irish Republic (hence the Irish Republican Army), while the other side, almost entirely Protestant, wants the North to remain part of England. His own thought is that the North will always remain a part of England.

One of the 'mural walls'. Some of the murals change on a regular basis,
reflecting current issues

One of the gates that are closed every night to keep potential
violence at bay.

 

 As we sailed out from Belfast Larry said he felt something of an attachment to the city and just maybe had a little understanding of his Grandfather than he did before. A very interesting end to a very interesting day.

On to Scotland!! 

 

 

 

 

  

Cobh, Killarney and Dublin - Two Days in Ireland

And you thought we were going to kiss the Blarney Stone!! Well, actually, we did, too, but we realized that although we had  all talked about booking a private tour, none of us actually did it. So we found one of the ship's tours that looked interesting. Blarney Castle looked to be a very busy destination, so we chose to avoid it - good thing, since ELEVEN buses left the ship for Blarney Castle - one more thing to add to the list of want-to-sees for the next time we come this way.

We booked an all-day tour that took us out into the southwestern highlands, part way around the Ring of Kerry and into Killarney National Park (you'd think we stole the name from the Irish, except in Georgian Bay it's a provincial park), and finally visiting Muckross House, outside of Killarney, where Queen Victoria once stayed during a visit to Ireland.

Cobh (pronounced 'cove') has as its claim to fame being the last port stop of the ill-fated Titanic. That was when Ireland was 'occupied' by the English and was called Queenstown. After the 26 southern counties of Ireland gained their independence the name was changed back to Cobh. It is quite a small town, the nearest port to Cork, which has a relatively large population of 120,000.

              

              

The County Cork Golf Club

It was quite a beautiful drive along the Ring of Kerry.

 

  We made a short coffee stop in the town of Macroon, where we noted that there are lots of pubs, many looking like they've been there for a while, sort of like this one:

In fact, our tour guide Rohisin (pronounced Rose-een for 'little rose') told us the story about one town that had about 120 inhabitants and 52 pubs!! This would be one of those places where a man could go out drinking in the evening, and by the time his wife finally figured out which pub he might be in he could be back home again claiming he'd never been out drinking!!

Our next photo stop was inside the Killarney National Park, at a spot called the Lady's View. It is so called because Queen Victoria asked her ladies-in-waiting to find a nice place for a picnic during her visit in 1864, and they chose this one because of the beautiful views of the lakes and the valley.

             

          

 

              

We stopped in the town of Killarney for lunch before visiting Muckross House. We had thought we might get traditional Irish Stew, or maybe Bubble and Squeak, or perhaps Corned Beef and Cabbage, but that was not to be, probably because of the overwhelming proportion of Americans on the ship, many of whom might not have liked the cabbage! We did, however have Potatoes with our chicken, and it was all very good, especially dessert, made with a local favourite that has a worldwide following...

             

              

Do you need more than one guess?  It's Bailey's Cheesecake, of course!
Very light and delicious.

Of course we had already seen a couple of golf courses, and then found this shop down the street from the restaurant:

    

          

Our visit to Muckross House included a tour of the inside, which is a representation of upper class Victorian life, both upstairs and downstairs. Of course, you can't take photos inside, so you'll have to make do with an outside shot of the house from the garden, and one of Muckross Lake. The house itself was built in the early 1800s, while Ireland was under English rule. In 1858, Henry Herbert, the owner, was given a 6-year (!) head's-up that Queen Victoria was planning a visit, so he had the place completely fixed up, even to the point of knocking down the main entrance portico and building a brand new one, just because. His wife had her personal rooms redecorated, too, and offered them to the Queen for her use during her stay. Too bad that, not only did she just stay for 2 nights (!!) in August of 1864 but she brought her own bed along as well!

It turns out that Mr. Herbert, who was hoping that his hosting the Queen would get him a knighthood at the very least, actually ended up going bankrupt instead and losing the house altogether. It was eventually bought by an American family whose daughter married an Irishman, and after she died, the house was given to the Nation to become a heritage site. Playing on Queen Victoria's visit helps the trust that runs it generate money for ongoing restoration and upkeep as a museum.

       

We managed to get back to the ship just under the 'All Aboard' wire, and were entertained by a local band as we waited for the lines to be cast off. Even though the ship visits once every 12 days for a full May-September season, it seemed like half the town was somewhere on the waterfront to see us off. Here are a few photos of Cobh as we sailed out to the Irish Sea on our way to Dublin.

             

             

 

          

After another quiet night on calm seas, Friday morning found us yet again in Dublin. Those of our "regular" readers know we were here last September, on Crystal Symphony, our final stop before we ventured out into the hurricanes on that trip! Nothing quite so dramatic this trip, in fact the weather forecast from the Captain Thursday evening was ideal, cloudy with a chance of showers!! We have decided this is the "default" weather forecast. It has been read that way at each port so far and so far each day has been sunny and warm. This morning was no exception. We lay in bed and listened to the clearance announcement from the Officer of the Watch, which included the current weather as being "cloudy and rainy". This was most curious as our cabin was facing east, and even with the heavy drapes closed, we practically needed our sunglasses even though we were still in bed!!! Opening the drapes confirmed not a cloud to be seen!

As we had all been here before, and none of the tours really appealed, we decided to take the shuttle into town and explore on our own. Michel and Judy in previous trips had never made it as far as St. Patrick's Cathedral, so being "Dublin veterans", we said we knew how to get there. And promptly got lost!  Fortunately a kind local stopped, saw us looking at the map upside down, took pity on us, and told us where to go. No, not like that!!! Actually we were not that far off, and ended up coming at it from the opposite direction to the way we had come in September.

Can't remember if we posted this last year.
Homage to Chris deBurgh - was he inspired to
write the song after a visit here?

 

 

 

Here you can see some beautiful needlepoint on the cushions,
as well as the tilework on the floor.

The high altar from the choir loft, with the
Lady's Chapel beyond

 

One of the stained glass panels. This was dedicated
to one of the professors of music at the
University of Dublin.

Statue of St. Patrick

 

The one thing we wanted to repeat from our September trip was lunch at The Temple Bar. While the entire pub district in that part of Dublin is called Temple Bar, one of the biggest pubs is THE Temple Bar. Last year we arrived at 12:30 and ended up sitting at the bar, so this time we decided to get there by 11:30 in order to get a table. Good thing too, because that "cloudy with showers" the Captain had been talking about the last three days? It actually arrived at 11:29, just as we walked in the door! Interestingly, the same barkeep was behind the bar, and the same singer was singing the same Irish songs as when we were here last September. We had a lovely lunch, and proving history does sometimes repeat itself, Monica even had her two Jameson's Irish Whiskeys.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the Captain was still gloating over his now accurate weather forecast when we came out and it was still drizzling. Which then turned to a full-fledged downpour, necessitating taking cover in the doorway of a pub down the street, neither us of being dressed for rain! Since there wasn't a cloud in the sky when we left the ship, we hadn't thought to bring the raingear!

Once the rain finally did let up, we continued on our stroll in the general direction of the shuttle bus stop. A number of well known writers came from or have lived in Dublin over the years, the most famous being Oscar Wilde, and Michel and Judy wanted us to see his statue in a nearby park. According to a young boy who ran past us in the park "it's the only painted statue in Ireland", and it does look rather interesting.

The rain is good for something! This little guy took a
quick bath in a puddle in front of Oscar.

And by this point the sun had made a return appearance, allowing Monica to continue her photographic collection of "the famous doors of Dublin".

 

We are now back onboard the ship and we will be departing for Liverpool at 4:00 PM. We have very long, all day tours planned for the next three days in Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow, before we finally get our first sea day next Tuesday. While we will do our best, that MAY be the next post on the blog!