…on a trip to Northern Ireland.

Our first trip to Northern Ireland was back in August of 2018 and it has been a destination at least once each year since then. Our visit that year was a fairly short one as we were continuing our journey north to Oban and Mull, but we packed a lot in spending a great day in Belfast, visiting the Titanic Experience.

Since that trip, which was in August, our trip across the North Channel has become our first main trip of the season and very much follows the same pattern each year with an overnight stop on a Lamlash mooring and then nine or ten hours of sailing the following day to Glenarm. Ballycastle is slightly closer but getting there involves crossing the North Channel and the ferocious tides off the North Antrim Coast which can run up to seven knots. Unfortunately, the tides on the dates we intend to cross aren’t that favourable and to make the most of them we’ll head south to Bangor and spend a couple of days and include a trip to Belfast for the day before returning to Glenarm. There isn’t a great deal in the small village but there’s a small supermarket, some nice walks and a cafe in the grounds of Glenarm Castle and a couple of pubs including the wonderful “Stevey’s Bar”. From there we’ll head north around Fair Head for Ballycastle. This year Hamish, a friend from Stornoway is joining us – he’s great company and it should be a wonderful trip.