More Belfast

First thing in the morning we drove up to Belfast Castle. This is one of those manor houses that looks castle-like but was never meant to be defended I think. Its grounds were inviting and had we more time we would have walked up the hill behind it. The views over Belfast Harbour were great.

Given that we hadn't seen much on the bus, we drove around the famous Shankhill Rd and Falls Rd areas. Remember that the Boyne is commemorated on the 12th July? That put our visit right into the lead up for the marches. There were flags over all the Proddy areas and wood piled up ready for the bonfires. I suspect the building sites in the vicinity would have had very little of their boxing left if they didn't post guards. Many of the more inflamatory murals have been replaced by more peaceful messages, but there are still a fair few to make the feelings of the neighbourhood obvious. It was a little wierd joining bus loads of people photographing these murals as for the people who live there the conflict is still very recent and wounds still raw. They must feel they live in a zoo at times.

After checking these out we ventured south again. We passed through Armagh but it was closed.(Never listen to those in NZ who say we must open shops 24/7 to stay in line with the rest of the world - it's bullshit.) Armagh was 'bandit country' as it is close to the border and had a strong Catholic minority. There is a huge police station and there were several armoured police land-rovers driving around. They were close to the only vehicles we saw. It was really bizarre walking the streets with every door closed, every shop shut, and only perhaps a dozen people to be seen. They take their Sundays seriously here.

There was no choice but to move on and we stopped at a Cafe in Newry. There was quite a good musician singing for us, which I also thought unusual given the venue and time.

Last time I came through here we 'crashed' the border at 100kmh and expected a hail of bullets to follow us down the road. No such worries this time.

We stopped in Ashbourne, close enough to Dublin Airport that we wouldn't have to get up too early. What looked to be a small B&B/Hotel on the Internet turned out to be a large Hotel in reality, but the price was right and the room was good.