Was it really a ‘cycling day’? Not sure but what the heck; it did involve 7km…

Craig (see cycling day 13) drove me and the bike the short distance to Cairnryan to catch the ferry to Belfast at 9:30. It was, of course(!) , raining but by the time the Stena Superfast VII (I thought it was quite slow) chugged into Belfast harbour the rain had stopped. I was a little surprised, disappointed even, to find that Belfast was remarkably similar to most other British cities. And that’s not really a complement. I was hoping for something slightly exotic… But perhaps I shouldn’t judge a city by the cycle through its docks. As the centre approached I could certainly see the investment that has taken place over the last 20 years, mainly in office blocks. The cycle route – number 93 – was still a bit hit and miss. Will cycling infrastructure be next in the list for having cash thrown at it? (I think we all know the answer to that.)

Hotel found, tourist office visited, Apple Store located, iPhone sorted. Well, in the most drastic of fashions. The old iPhone X had been water damaged beyond repair. I’m still weeping at what happened next but at least I’m now back up and running on the communication front.

Tomorrow I’m spending the day in the city. A walking tour at 11am then further wanderings, interspersed with a bit of forward planning. My thinking is to set off on a fairly coastal tour on the north in an anti-clockwise direction before heading towards Dublin. Thoughts welcome. I’ll be setting off on Saturday lunchtime after a 9am visit to Titanic Belfast.