A coach took us from Derry to Belfast, with the number in our group dwindling at each stop. We were in the final group to be dropped off at Belfast railway station. A few final farewells and we were alone again with our bikes. Fully loaded panniers now added to our bikes, along with our general level of fatigue meant that everything felt like an effort. We had booked our bikes and luggage, using a luggage app, into a local business - turned out to be a barbers on the first floor. Could take the bags but not the bikes! Tracy was particularly tired as someone was snoring last night. It must have been bad because she tried to sleep on the bathroom floor in the hotel instead - all those extra cushions and pillows came in handy after all.
We stashed the bags and were looking to store the bikes elsewhere before heading to the Titanic museum. Tracy at this point lost the plot - a combination of physical tiredness and lack of sleep meant that she couldn't face wandering aimlessly around Belfast, with us, our luggage and our bikes in 3 different places, with our planned accommodation several miles away.
Time for plan B. There was a Travelodge a 3 minute walk away. We got an early check-in, stashed all our kit and headed off to the museum. So we paid for two different sets of accommodation that night and luggage storage that we used for 30 minutes. Tracy said "It's only money" for literally the first time ever. Storing that quote for future use.
Grabbed a subway on route, but had no time to eat before our allocated slot at the museum. We walked through the galleries of the museum, quickly abandoning the audio tour as it was easier to just read the boards. Tracy was obviously starving as she kept taking surreptitious bites from her teriyaki sub whenever she found herself on a quiet corner.
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| Titanic museum |
The shipbuilding aspect and history of Belfast was all very interesting. Things took a dark turn though and I hope that I'm not spoiling things for future visitors when I tell you that the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on it's maiden voyage. Who knew?
It meant that the gallery that covered this part of the story was very quiet and sombre. It gave me the perfect spot to have a little nap.....I mean reflect on the grave developments. The death and destruction seemed to cheer Tracy up no end. Personally I think the whole thing a bit overdone. You build a ship that ends up failing in the first job of any seafaring vessel (i.e to float) and you build a museum to celebrate your incompetence. With hindsight it was probably very foolhardy to get on the cable car ride with Belfast engineering skills.
We headed back to our hotel with a three point plan:
1) Buy lots of junk from the Spar
2) Eat lots of junk from the Spar
3) Sleep off lots of junk from the Spar.
Tracy managed 10.5 hours sleep according to her Fitbit. I slept less well after spending some time on the blog and being disturbed by the never ending parties of hen do's outside. They were riding the party bikes whilst drinking and singing along to the karaoke - what they lack in talent they can always make up for in volume. Payback for my snoring last night I guess.
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| Hen parties spreading their cheer through the streets of Belfast. |
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| Please just pedal faster. Away from me. |
Tracy whinge factor 6/10 - apparently sleep deprivation is a form of torture. She wouldn't hold out long in the event becoming a prisoner of war.
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