BANGOR MARINA IN BELFAST LOUGH

20^th June

We had a few days here in Bangor Marina, and the train took half and hour to get into the centre of Belfast.

We did some washing and Carol and I went to see the Lifeboat Crew. It was an inshore Lifeboat, but said that it was one of the busiest lifeboats in service, due to so much leisure traffic on the Lough.

We then took the train into Belfast, and had a tour on the bus, which was really interesting.

We visited one of the biggest delicatessen I have ever seen, with so much wonderful food it was overwhelming. It was called Sawers.

The other interesting place was the oldest pub in Belfast, and is one of the only two that the National Trust run, it was called the Crown, and was amazing inside, as it had all the original features, with booths and gas lamps, wonderful tiling and stained glass windows. Well worth a visit.

21^st June

Girls went back to Belfast today to visit the Titanic Centre, and meet up with Penny's husband John.

I went back home.

It was nice that there was time to do the sightseeing, but unfortunately the weather wasn't very nice.

BANGOR TO ARDGLASS

25th June

Today we set of at 7 o’clock to get fuel, and to sail down to Ardglass.

The weather forecast was NW 2/3 occ 4

At last the wind in the direction that we want it to be.

We had to leave early as we needed to get the sweep of the tide past Copeland Island

The Wind was SOUTH WEST – we couldn't believe it. Where was our NW.

nowhere certainly not with us. It is beyond a joke.

Never mind we gently motored with the tide, and was making 9.5 kits. Very swirly

We got to Ardglass Marina at 2.30.

Had a walk round Ardglass, it is very quaint, not very big, but has a lovely golf course.

We were greeted by the quite elderly Harbour Master and his dog. The Marina was very nice with nice showers.

Bangor Marina, will take a lot of beating though, it was immaculate, and very clean, and organised.

We met up with a yacht that was going round Britain with Tom and his Son Stephen. We had met them at Bangor, and they caught up with us again. They came aboard for a drink in the evening.

26^th June

We were going to go to a small harbour on the way to Howth Marina, - Dublin to break up the journey, but looking at the weather forecast, we decided to make a bit of an effort and get to Howth in one go.

We left at 10am, the weather was wonderful, the sea was smooth, and we made really good passage to Howth and arrived at 8 oclock. At the bottom of the tide, and it was the lowest tide ever recorded, It was an unusual entrance, as all the port and starboard marks were on their side, and float when the tide comes in.

We had contacted the harbour office and had been given a berth, but when we go there, it obviously wasn't free. We took the next one, and then realised that there were ropes from a yacht out sailing. So we had to extract ourselves, and find a free berth. What Fun! after a 10 hour trip.

On the trip up the coast, we had seen beautiful Mountains, and Carlingford Lough, what a shame we had to give it a miss. We also saw a few porpoise, and a very large mammal, that we thought was a Whale. It was very large, and could have been a Rosso's Dolphin. They are a loan animal, and have a very slow roll, and can be confused with a Pilot Whale. We hoped it was whale.

Howth is a very nice place, with lots of beautiful sea food restaurants.

27^th June

When we awoke this morning we realised that our decision to come yesterday was a good one. Mainly because it was pouring with rain and windy.

We decided to take the train into Dublin – it is less that half and hour.

So we were tourist in Dublin today on the tour bus in the rain.

This evening we are off out to a local restaurants, with one of the crew from the

that we had met in Castletown Bere. He is one of the lifeboat members, and tomorrow, we will meet up with the coxswain and crew.