Strangford

Day 19 - we decided to stay put for another day and take the short ferry crossing to Strangford, which is Old Norse or Viking for strong fjord on account of the fierce tide which we experienced yesterday.

Strangford
Strangford old quay
It is only small, pop 475, but very picturesque as you can see from the pictures. It has a strong Game of Thrones connection, as do a lot of places in Northern Island, as we have discovered. I will do a Game of Thrones blog soon as there is lots to tell.
It was a pleasant morning and we had coffee in a local pub, the Cuan, in the centre of this conservation village. They were expecting a coachload of GoT visitors and the landlady said that the wolves would be arriving across the square at 12.45 so we decided to go for a stroll and come back. Eventually the wolves did turn up, a bit later than scheduled but we have come to realise they work on Irish time here, in other words an approximation. The wolf handlers had lots to tell us about GoT and they had been extras in a lot of the filming. As the lady on the ferry said "Nearly everyone here has been an extra in Game of Thrones".


In the afternoon, after crossing back to Portaferry, I visited the local Aquarium which also has a seal rescue centre. There were no baby seals but there were two young seals that will be released shortly. A brief blog today but I will do a GoT blog soon. We are off to revisit the Fiddlers Green pub which we sampled yesterday evening and then on to the Portferry Hotel for dinner.

We say goodbye to Ali tomorrow morning as he catches the 9.30 bus back to Belfast and we will continue our journey towards Dublin.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day one and two of the Caledonian Canal - the adventure continues

Image
The Lunatic crew for the Caledonian Canal   We entered the  Clachnaharry sea lock at Inverness for the 1.30 lock and were met by a very helpful, calm lock keeper who talked us through. There was a large sign saying Ireland this way! Clachnaharry Sea Lock, the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, The Great Glen, Loch Ness and Ireland! The lock was timed so that you could then sail through the railway swing bridge, then on to the Muirhead flight of four locks. We had relaxed once we got on to the canal, thinking things could only get better and there is much less to worry about in a canal as opposed to being out at sea, no tides to think about for example. How wrong we were, we were forgetting this is the Lunacy cruise. At the second lock Mick fell in! We heard a plop and a splash and Mick had fallen into the lock between the lock wall and the boat. Josh's quick thinking saved the day as he put the long swim ladder over the edge and Mick managed to climb up befor...
Read more

Day 48 and the return to our home port of Ramsgate.

Image
Lunar Sea and her crew back in Ramsgate  Dear Readers, we finally arrived back in Ramsgate five years after setting off on 1 May 2017. The weather then had been atrocious, but it couldn't have been more different for our return. It was promised to be the hottest day of the year, so we had plenty of sunshine and not very much wind. lt did pick up to about 12 knots as we approached Ramsgate, so we managed to get the sails up and the flags flying for our entrance to Ramsgate.  Leaving Dover, heading for the Eastern entrance,  on our way home now. It had been an uneventful 4 hour trip from Dover to Ramsgate, but for some reason the unusually hot weather had created an optical illusion and we had a really clear view of France as we passed Deal. Perhaps it is the high pressure, not sure why?  France, shall we go there instead? We had Josh's daughter Jo on board and Owen and Jordan, two of Josh's grandchildren, joined us in Dover for the day sail. When we got to the approac...
Read more
Image
  Hello again from Lunar Sea in Portishead. The boat has been here for two years now and we are continuing our adventure from tomorrow, the 31st May, by locking out of Portishead Marina (near Bristol in case you wondered) and we will be heading for Penarth Marina (near Cardiff) for our first stop. Then on to Padstow via Watchet for a night's stay and then probably an anchorage for one night off Clovelly, to break up the 18 hour trip from Watchet to Padstow.  We have been so lucky to have found this charming marina which has been Lunar Sea's home for two years, we will be sad to leave, but excited to be on the homeward stretch of our marathon around the UK sailing trip. It was supposed to take 2 years, but due to bad weather in year 1 and a mutinous crew, plus the pandemic in the third and fourth year, it will have taken 5 years (assuming we get back to Ramsgate this year, watch this space!) Wish us luck, calm seas and a good wind. I will try and do a daily blog, sailing condit...
Read more