AlessandraZoe

This is the second half of my DONE!!—Devon, Cornwall and Northern Ireland Without Renting a Car Trip Report. I knew that when I was searching for information on this forum for just Northern Ireland--especially when it came to personal experiences with public transportation--I was having a tough go of it. Therefore I've tagged this part as both UK and Ireland, even though technically, we never left the United Kingdom during our entire 18-day journey in Devon, Cornwall and Northern Ireland.

AlessandraZoe

On Wednesdays, Flybe offers a noon non-stop flight from Newquay Airport (NQY) in Cornwall to George Best Belfast City (BHD). That flight date/time was one of the key factors in deciding when we would leave Cornwall for the second half of our trip.

Trying to decide which days we would stay where when was darn hard. There was so much I wanted to see, but we still wanted to "chill" in Belfast the way we had in Dublin a few years earlier. Eventually I had to toss out seeing County Donegal (that county may be in the north, but it's not Northern Ireland per se) and stopping in Omagh at the Ulster American Folk Park. And there would be no ferry trips to Rathlin Island, either. Instead I centered our travels on

The Coastal Causeway
Derry (Londonderry)
Belfast

and even then, I kept shifting dates as to when we'd hit those spots. Eventually I decided that Belfast and Dublin weekend day-trippers to the Causeway would present us with some difficulties (I was right), so once we landed at George Best, we would immediately head for our first few nights in Bushmills. Then we'd spend two nights in Derry and finish out our trip in Belfast before we flew back to Heathrow and home.

One decision was easy-peasy: we would buy a one-week iLink card good for all zones in Northern Ireland. Then we would decide if we wanted to top it off or buy day tickets or whatever near the trip's end in Belfast.

And one decision not even in the running was a car rental. We had taken four cycling trips in the Republic of Ireland and one trip solely dedicated to a week in Dublin. We had done just fine without a car, even though people who had yet to visit Ireland had told us it could not be done (funny how that works). As I explained at length in the Devon/ Cornwall half of this trip report, it's not that we're trying to save money by not renting a car. WE JUST DON'T WANT TO DRIVE!

And we didn't!

thursdaysd

AlessandraZoe

It's interesting you should say this, Thursdaysd. We had avoided touring Northern Ireland, even though my sister, who HAD toured much of it during the Troubles, raved about its beauties.

My sister and I had worked over several summers in Wildwood NJ in the 70s with many Irish Catholics from Northern Ireland. They, like us, had traveled there in groups with sisters, brothers and cousins during the summer months to make as much money as possible within a few short months to fund their educations back home.

My sister had become semi-engaged to a young man from Belfast in the process, and hence later traveled to Northern Ireland to experience his world. She soon decided it would not be possible.

Although our Irish summer work friends had avoided discussing their lives back home--they preferred to live in the carefree present for a few months--over the course of three summers, we certainly got to have a bit of understanding of their dire circumstances as Catholics and also of the dire political circumstances of Northern Ireland. Yet whenever we all were out at an Irish bar, when it came time to "pass the hat" in support of "our friends in Ireland" (aka, the IRA), they stopped the outreach of our hands. "You'll only be supporting people who are willing to blow up our homes if it 'helped the cause' " was a refrain we'd hear over and over again.

Thus, decades later, my husband and I tried our best to arrive with an open mind. I think it helped that my husband is Catholic with Ulster Ireland ancestors who fought in the American Revolution and I am Protestant with two ancestral lines that came out of Ulster Ireland between 1760 and 1820. We also both know we are NOT our ancestors; we are ourselves, and our marriage was founded on being willing to evolve our viewpoints. We often laugh about views we held dear when we met--they just are no longer pertinent!

I'll soon make a short list of my most recent pre-reading for the experience in case others want to get a feel for things before they visit.

"Get a feel", though, is the operative phrase. My husband and I often said during this trip segment that we were living through the "Blind Men and an Elephant" scenario. There is just no way we can ever fully understand the circumstances--we were only touching ears or tail or feet, etc. We could only "feel our way around" with hopes we would leave with a better insight.

And as we'd often tell our bar mates throughout the trip, if one arrived in Cheyenne, Montana, one would thing, "Oh, the United States is this" or if one arrived in Philadelphia, PA, one would say, "Oh, the United States is this." There's just no way to quantify a city or a country, and at least, we knew not to try. We could only make sure we were listening, not telling.

AlessandraZoe

I am a worrier by nature, so I had made extensive notes about our trek from the BHD baggage claim to the Belfast Great Victoria Train Station and our ensuing travel to Coleraine and Bushmills.

It went PERFECTLY. My only real worry is that we would arrive in Coleraine after 5:50 pm, thus creating a need for a taxi to Bushmills Inn. But the Bushmills staff automatically replied, "No worries--there's always a taxi at the station."

I loved the Bushmill's Inn staff, by the way.

Yep, the tourist information desk was right to the left of baggage claim. Yes, they could sell us the one-week, all-zone iLink card (around 60 pounds and change per person). Yes, the card would include the 600 Bus to Great Victoria Station. Yes, the 600 was right out the door, a bit to the left 167 feet away (yep, that's in my notes). Phew. I could breath.

We settled in our seats on the bus, and a lovely couple to my left said, "So you cycle Backroads?" What???? How could they know that? They pointed to our luggage tags. Oh, I keep forgetting that. I replied, "Well, no more. Those days are gone. But we did over 17 trips with them." It turned out that they were cyclists themselves, and they were just returning from Cornwall. I was impressed. "Wow, if you ventured outside the Camel Trail, I am in awe." They assured me there was no need for awe--they did stick to a short segment of the Camel Trail. The husband of the pair had recently developed Parkinson's (late onset), and as I had only accidentally been informed just recently, aerobic activity holds the disease at bay. So not only is the husband dedicated to keeping his cycling in his life, but he's also adding things like...BALLET! Totally cool.

Wishing them well, we exited at the Belfest Europa Bus Centre, and we wheeled our luggage to the connecting Great Victoria Bus Station (my notes made no mention of the steps to do so). Yep, our train to Coleraine would leave at 10 minutes past the hour, and in 10 stops we'd be at Coleraine.

At Coleraine, we walked to the connecting Coleraine Bus Centre (to the left!) and took the 402 towards Ballycastle. We had to learn to lay our smartcard on the bus ticket reader to get a ticket, but once we were "schooled," off we went after informing the bus driver, that as idiotic Americans, we would have NO idea where the Bushmill's War Memorial stop would be. He laughed and said, "I'm used to you! No worries."

In around a half hour, after an amazing ride of spectacular ocean scenery, the driver said, "Bushmill's War Memorial it is." And we descended the bus into...rain. We quickly made our way down the street, going in the wrong entrance--the Bushmill's bar. Of course my husband remarked, "This is the right entrance for me." He promised the lovely bartender he'd be back in minutes.

We made our way to reception at this rabbit warren of a hotel, where we were shown to our room. More about the room later. We indeed were parched and found our way with some difficulty back to the bar. Mark, the young bartender who had helped us navigate to reception, now started helping me with local pronunciations and helped my husband explore local beer options. After trial and error, we settled on a Yardsman IPA from Belfast's Hercules Brewing Company. Not great, but not bad.

We had dinner reservations down the street at Tartine. We put on a bit better clothing, donned our Goretex and raised our umbrellas for the short walk. Tartine is a lovely place and our meal was quite good. The house IPA from Lacada Brewing in Portrush was not "us" but we were happy we tried it. There was a wedding going on, and I loved the bride's dress. My youngest was the bride's doppelganger, and since we had just purchased my daughter's wedding dress, I made sure I did not photograph the party because the bride's wedding dress would have been even better than the one we had purchased.

We returned to the hotel and planned to sleep. There was no trad music within miles scheduled for Wednesday night, so we might as well sleep. But I thought I was missing a clothing layer--there were so many layers to keep track of!--and I returned to the pub to find...a trad session. It turns out that the bridal party had commissioned the local band to play on a Wednesday night, and we all were allowed to join. I ran back to our hotel room, dragged my husband out of bed, and nestled in for an hour or two of excellent music. Wonderful. Thank you, you lovely bride!

Next: We Tackle the Causeway

AlessandraZoe

Darn--I just realized I did not list this as a trip report. I was concentrating on correctly tagging and missed the obvious!

thursdaysd

AlessandraZoe

I gave it a go, Thursdaysd. We'll see. Thanks for the idea!

AlessandraZoe

We had a very plush room at Bushmill's Inn. It actually was two stories, with a sitting area and shower/toilet downstairs and a bed and tub/toilet upstairs. But we started laughing because it came with a multitude of problems.

First, the staircase had short steps, so descending and ascending had to be done with a lot of caution. With my natural clumsiness in mind, my husband secretly and proactively searched for just how one called emergency services in Northern Ireland.

Second, even with cold temperatures outside the room, the inside was a greenhouse of heat. Leaving the windows and curtains open was the only way to get air up into the rather too toasty loft sleeping area. Staff had placed a fan in the lower area underneath the staircase, and soon, we dragged it upstairs and tilted it to direct the cooler low area air up into the bed area.

So, OK, we had that sorted. What's the problem? After all, the bed was comfy and the room was clean, clean, clean.

Well, our stay was during the longest days of the year. And the room never really got dark. Even with cloud cover, there was a sort of glow through the windows, which we could not close or cover without suffocating, throughout the night. We'd wake up thinking it was dawn and then just burst out laughing.

How lucky we were to have such woes! What a great complaint to have in our older years: "Our days were too long."

Still, if sleep is important to you at this time of year, do chose another room type.

Breakfast was great the next morning--the best smoked salmon of our trip--once we actually found the breakfast room. Let's repeat: this place is a fun, cozy, delightful rabbit warren. After breakfast, I told my husband that my new method to return to the room would be to walk directly OUTSIDE after eating and walk back inside via the reception area. I was willing to do so in cold and rain. My husband thought I was nuts, but I sure got back to our room quite a few minutes ahead of him every time.

We packed up for the day: layers, rain gear, sunscreen, gloves, hat, extra socks; knee sleeves for my husband and Achilles sleeves and hiking poles for me. I learned long ago that if one travels to Ireland, no matter what time of year, pack gloves and hat.

Our goal was to head towards Ballycastle via bus, stop at the very least at the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, and check out a trad music venue in Ballycastle in case we'd want to go there that night. I knew there were other things we would just see along the way on the bus, but I had no need to stop at every lookout. It we wanted to do so, we could stop on our way back from Ballycastle. In other words, "no worries!"

So it's full disclosure time here. There are pluses and minuses doing things the way we did it:

1) If you take a tour bus, you get dropped off far nearer the Causeway and Rope Bridge entrances. We had quite a hike in and out of both from the regular bus stops, which did not bother us one bit but could present a hardship for others. We observed that others were physically having problems even dropped off near the site, and remember, the temperature was quite cool. A hot day would create an another set of difficulties. So be forewarned.

2) Even with our "cheap" method of touring, there could still be associated costs. I could care less if we visited the Causeway museum, which would have taken additional time and money, even though we would have gotten a discount just by showing our smartcards. I had read a lot about the geologic formations in the area, and my husband loves learning about all this stuff on the fly during our journey anyway. So our entry to the Giant's Causeway was totally free. The Entry to the rope bridge, though, was 9 pounds per person. However, a lot of people chose NOT to cross the bridge, and if they chose that option, the scenic area all the way to and around the bridge was free.

Back to our adventure...
We made it from the bus stop up the hill to the Giant's Causeway entrance, where we had a choice of paths. I had read this page carefully before we left, and I knew to take the Blue Path to the stones but, if the weather held, could explore some other ways back.

We played on the stones for a bit once we got down there, but seriously, the wind almost whipped me off a few times. There are lookouts down there for falling people, and I asked one of them how bad that day was. He smiled and said, "Mild." Whoa.

As a matter of fact, the weather seemed to vary at every 20th pace. Our gloves and hats were on, and at one point, I told me husband, "I can't believe I kept my rain pants at the hotel.

After I got my fill of feeling like a weakling on the rocks, we took the Red Path past the rocks and used the Shepherd's Steps to ascend to the Cliff Path back. I kept stopping to take pictures of wildflowers about every 3rd step until we started the worst of the climb. God Bless my hiking poles. At the top, I said to the others catching their breaths, "What no pub here?" But once we got back to our bus stop (I took a zillion more pictures of wildflowers), we indeed had "breakfast beer" at The Nook near the entrance. Done!

We got our next bus and disembarked at the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge stop. We descended a hill to get to the entrance, where again, the entry fee to cross the bridge was 9 pounds but remember, just hiking up to the bridge was free. Here are details about the hike.

This area was crowded, so we were quite pleased we had decided to arrive on a Thursday and had not attempted any of it during a pretty weekend. And the day was brightening, that's for sure.

We made our way back to the bus stop, where we were a bit unsure of where we'd pick up the next bus. I stood where the bus had dropped us off (no bus sign) and my husband stood across the road at the "real" stop. The bus stopped for me.

We decided to sit back and enjoy the view all the way to Ballycastle. And in addition to the stunning view, we delighted in the company of a sweet older couple who had sailed in their boat to Ballycastle from a Scottish island with their two Labs, both of whom were lying at their feet on the bus. From Ballycastle, their return voyage home would take two days.

Once we reached Ballycastle, we parted ways and walked our way to O'Connors for a light lunch of soup and a sandwich. The staff was sweet to us, but we just didn't know if we wanted to be there that night for the trad.

We found our return bus stop and headed back towards Bushmill's. The sky had clouded over again; nonetheless, the scenery was gorgeous. My husband was so quiet and I asked if anything was wrong. "No, not at all," I'm just thinking how great it is that I get to absorb all this and not be behind the wheel of a car."

On our way back, we decided we'd try for the Early Bird dinner at Tartine. I called while we were on the bus, and they said they had just one slot left, at 5:15. We took it! Back at the hotel, we quickly showered and made our way down the street. While seated in the little lounge there waiting for our table, we watched at least 20 people get turned away. The caravan parks lining the Causeway created a lot of drop-in traffic, I'm sure. Some of those turned away were really upset about it for some reason, pointing out all the empty tables in the back, not understanding the demands of a kitchen. A lot of the people turned away were in dirty hiking clothes, but since I saw others who were seated similarly garbed, I doubt their clothing was a factor. It's clear on the restaurant website that reservations are highly recommended, and emailed requests are NOT the way to do it.

After a meal less satisfactory than the previous night's but still good, we trekked back to our room. Should we or should we not make our way to Portstewart where we knew there was trad at the Anchor Inn? Transport there by bus would be no problem and the superb Bushmill's reception staff had given us a slew of taxi numbers to get us home. But we had to admit, we just did not feel up for it.

I decided to soak in the upstairs tub until my muscles started forgiving me, and I swear my husband took the same amount of time in the shower downstairs. We did some minimal packing for our next day's departure, amped up the fan to cool off the upstairs, made ourselves some tea and read a bit downstairs, and then hit the hay when the loft's temperature had lowered enough.

And we giggled again every time we woke up at "dawn".

Next: The Open Fever: We Visit the Pro Shop at Royal Portrush

Macross

I wrote a long post last night and it disappeared. I am saving all the links. We have done two day tours of the coast and one trip on our own using the train but you have this down and want to save.

AlessandraZoe

Macross,
I'm happy to know this thread may be of use.

I, too, had posts on this thread disappear. One took me an hour to write. I'm hoping this reply goes through.

AlessandraZoe

Yeah! Something finally posted. I'll start again tomorrow. I have a reading list that will take forever to write correctly.

P_M

I'm still with you and looking forward to hearing more.

bdokeefe

AlessandraZoe- Nice write-up. Especially good info as your decision to go via public transportation is the road less traveled. Ireland also seems to be a nice place to go slow in.

My compromise is to have a rental car for only a part of a trip. I was in Portugal recently and really enjoyed using the the trains/trams/subways to get around for the first 5 days, then a car for 5 days, then public transportation again after a plane jump to the Netherlands.

So please continue when you have the time, I'm enjoying reading it. And good job with staying so active, I felt lazy thinking about all your bike tours. My bikes have engines.

AlessandraZoe

The next morning, we enjoyed another great breakfast at the Bushmill's Inn. We would be heading to Derry (Londonderry) by train at some point in the day, but there was no rush on this simply gorgeous day. There would be a train every hour, it would only take us around a half hour to get TO the train at Coleraine, and the journey from there to Derry would be under an hour.

By now, all the anxiety I had felt planning out trains, planes, and buses for Northern Ireland was totally dissipating. I told my husband I could not believe how long it took me to realize when planning that our connections would not be that complicated. For example, what I thought might be a complex rail route was idiotically simple: a train leaves from Belfast, heads northwest to Coleraine and then continues on to Derry. Once at Derry, it returns the OTHER way. Simple, simple, simple.

And what would happen if we would miss the 402a bus from Bushmills to Coleraine? Well, we could take the 172 (a route that does not go along the beautiful coastline) or the 402 bus. In effect, it was "no brain needed" touring. In fact, had we arrived on a weekend or been touring in July or August, we could have experienced the Giant's Causeway & Bushmills Heritage Railway to have taken us to the sites we had visited the day before. It runs 8 trains a day on Sat and Sun May through October and every weekday, too, in July and August. I suspect our iLink card would not have worked on it, but the the fees--5 pounds per person--would have been nominal.

We packed up and checked out, asking reception to hold our bags. We boarded the next bus to Portrush (a 402 or a 402a) and settled in to enjoy the views. We did not stop at Dunluce Castle--just seeing the ruins from the bus was enough. Instead, we were heading for Royal Portrush Golf Club, the site of the 2019 Open.

No I don't golf. My husband used to eat it and breathe it--he and his evil companions would golf 54 holes of golf every Saturday. Yep, we golf widows would be in a constant teeth-gnashing mode. But eventually, it dawned on my husband that there might be more to life than aiming for the greens, and the madness gradually left him without any intervention from me. Still, my husband was all excited to check out the Pro Shop so he could gift my youngest's fiance, another golfer, with Royal Portrush gear.

I had emailed the Pro Shop weeks before we left to see if they'd be open even though the course would be closed for the six weeks prior to The Open. They responded right away, saying they'd be open. The course security guy was ready to head us off at the entrance, but when we said, "Pro Shop", the gate opened. We made our way around back and found the shop. My husband took over an hour to decide upon the perfect shirt and the perfect hat and the perfect bag tag. It boggled my mind. In the meantime, I got to observe the other shoppers, and that "attitude" that can sometimes appear in a golf club was beginning to constrict my breathing. I told my husband I'd be right outside, and I got the opportunity to chat with two of the course greenskeepers, really sweet guys who were all excited about getting to show off their hard work in a few weeks. My husband finally left the shop, proudly holding his purchases like a kid with a new puppy, and I took pictures of him in front of "The Open" display sign. Egads, he made me send the pics to 7 different people right away. Sheer madness.

We rode the bus back to Bushmills, drinking in the views again. I wonder how long it would take me to become inured to all this beauty if I lived here? Once we arrived at the hotel, we got a pint in the hotel's restaurant bar, which is full of really neat cubbies and corners, to plan our day.

Heck, it was nice--not raining for a change--so we decided we'd walk around town, a pretty level walk, to properly see it in sunshine. The town was proudly displaying flag posters of famous people with connections to the area on every block on both sides of the street. I saw the poster of Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens and studied it. Hmm, his family came from County Antrim. I'd later look it up to find out that Mark Twain had Ulster roots on both his paternal and maternal sides. His father's family came from the aristocratic Clements (or 'Clemence') family on Clements Hills between Straid and Ballynure. Hmm.

What we didn't do was visit the Bushmill's Distillery for a whiskey tasting. Every time we had taken a cycle trip with a company, we had either had a wine tasting, and/or olive oil tasting, or a whiskey tasting. I quickly found that even a thimbleful of whiskey would just ruin my day, and I learned to drink the chaser instead of the alcohol at the events.

As we were returning to the hotel, tour buses were starting to park in the hotel lot. Ah, there they were. I had read online that sometimes the hotel is filled to the max with tour groups. There were some small golfing tour groups in the hotel during our stay, but for the most part, the hotel's common rooms had not been packed. The receptionist told us that from here on in, her life would indeed get ugly. We were sure her behaviour would never be ugly--this is a lovely staff. We got our bags, headed out the door, and caught the 402 bus to Coleraine.

Next: Train to Derry and Our First Night in Town

AlessandraZoe

P_M and bdokeefe--Thanks for the encouragement. I also have to remind myself that even the tedious writing bits can help me relive so much of the trip's sheer joy.

AlessandraZoe

So here's a BIG TIP which I made sure I followed: on the train from Coleraine to Derry, sit on the right side and pay careful attention. You are embarking on what is often be labelled as one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. Leaving Coleraine, train runs alongside the River Bann. You near Mountsandel Wood, the earliest known settlement of man in Ireland dating to between 7600 and 7900 BC. Coming up is a golf course, The Castlerock, and the small John Lanyon-designed station of Castlerock, dating from 1875. You will through two amazing tunnels, Castlerock and Downhill, the longest railway tunnels in Ireland, blasted out in 1845 and finished by 1853.

I had considered stopping in Castlerock to walk to the Mussendon Temple. The walk would not have been hard, but as always, I would have been unsure of the weather. We soon came upon Benone Strand, a stretch of gorgeous unspoilt beach. On the other side of the train, one can see the cliffs of Downhill and Binevenagh Mountain.

I was going crazy looking at all the shore birds. I could have spent a month on that beach with my binoculars.

Finally the stretch of water alongside narrowed as we followed the River Foyle to Derry. I had been told that the transit from the Derry Station by bus to Derry proper would be simple, but ever the worrier... Oh, my goodness, it was a snap. We exited the station and there was the shuttle bus waiting for us. We climbed aboard for the short trip across the river to the bus centre, whose location we'd need to know for our bus trip onwards to Belfast. We both consulted our Google maps to map out our route to The Bishop's Gate Hotel, and we ventured forth.

Yep it was short, about 0.8 km or 1/2 mile. It was, unfortunately, a very steep short walk. Dragging my luggage, I just kept thinking in my agony, "I get a beer. I get a beer. I get a beer." When we managed to get to the reception desk, the receptionist said, "Your room won't be ready for another 1/2 hour. Would you like to wait in the bar?" Lead us forth!

And wonder of wonder, we would have our first sip of one of our favorite beers of the trip, the 26 Pale Ale made by Londonderry Northbound Brewery. The name comes from the Master Brewer’s measurement of bitterness. "26" is indeed our number, and to get that taste with an ABV of a mere 5% is a wonder. The brewer used New Zealand hops, which puzzled us, but then I would read that he and his wife had spent a lot of time in Australia, and it made a bit more sense. WELL DONE!

Darn, our room was ready. We were shown into...our junior suite. Uh-oh, I had forgotten to tell my husband why we were living so large. Well, there IS an explanation. I must have read a zillion hotel reviews in preparing for this trip. And many of the ones for (London)Derry stated that if the temperature went up, one had to open windows because AC wasn't on offer, and the ensuing problem would be that departing crowds from Derry nightlife and hotel events could present quite a problem. So after consulting with various hotels, I found a room with AC. We didn't use the AC, but we would find later that this specific room was more or less protected from a lot of noise when we opened the windows. In the meantime, my husband had a room and a closet in which to spread out all of his stuff and I had a room and a closet to spread out all of mine. Even better, the one bathroom (you didn't think I'd get two again, did you?) was perfect for doing a spot of laundry.

Next: Train to Derry and Our First Night in Town cont'd

thursdaysd

AlessandraZoe

I should have posted two videos that helped me plan for this Causeway part of our trip:

This an old Seat 61 video that explains getting the train in Belfast, getting to the bus station in Coleraine, and shows you some of the gorgeous Causeway scenery. A reminder: We never had to buy any bus or train ticket. Our iLink smartcard was our ticket for a week.

This is a clever video that shows all that two young men did with a ONE-DAY iLink card. It shows the part of the trip from Coleraine to Derry, too.

AlessandraZoe

thursdays--Well now I have to do Lyme Regis!

WATER MOCCASINS!!!! That must have been super scary.

I never golfed (well, I tried once but realized that a club and I would never be friends), but whenever we would travel out west before we had the kids, I'd make sure to find some top-ranked course nearby and schedule my husband for a tee time, knowing for sure there would only be 18 holes involved of for the day . Then I'd walk near the course with guide book and binoculars to watch local birds. A lot of great golf courses are situated on migration flyways, and the varied habitat of a good golf course is ideal for seeing a variety of birds. So both of us would go home happy.