Tuesday 28 December 2010

Bangor


Well, we arrived safely in Bangor, GI.
After our Monday ferry was cancelled we were re-booked on the slower Ulysses super ferry. This is variously reported as the largest ferry in the world and the largest on the Irish Sea routes.
Anyway, we arrived at Holyhead about 4 hours before our ferry was due to sail. Try as we could, they would not allow us on the 12:00 fast ferry. I guess it was full, but I still think it was unfair not to have been offered the option of the fast ferry since that is what we paid for. I shall be sending a stiff e-mail to the booking company! This has lost us a whole day and over £150 in unplanned costs.....

More pleasantly, fuel is really cheap in Eire. Around £1:00/ litre for diesel. Needless to say, we topped up before crossing the border into Northern Ireland. This must be the only border in Europe where you can drive across the border, changing the speed readout from MPH to KPH or vice versa, as you go!

I'm relieved to see there is no water shortage problems here in Bangor, unlike large parts of the Province. It is getting serious in some areas, from what we see on TV!

The car temperature gauge was reading 10C as we arrived in Bangor. That must be the warmest it has been for months.

More tomorrow.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Northern Ireland

North Wales

Now in Bangor. A pretty smooth drive up except for the M6 which was very slow from around Stafford to Sandbach. It was just the volume of traffic that slowed it, together with spray from the persistent light rain.

Of course it is raining more heavily this morning, in Bangor.

We are off to catch the ferry at 14:10, so a little bit of time to check out Brunel's Britannia bridge on the way over!

There was some sort of emergency in the Straits last night with the Air Sea Rescue helicopter out looking for the source of an emergency call from close to the bridge. The bridge is about 1/2 mile from this hotel, but no noises to awaken us......

More words from the ' other side'.

Sam




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Falkenham Rd,,United Kingdom

Sunday 26 December 2010

New Year

Tomorrow we head off to Bangor, Northern Ireland. But, since Irish Ferries informed us this morning that they have cancelled the 17:15 Holyhead to Dublin ferry tomorrow, we have had to re-book onto the 14:10 on Tuesday. This is a bigger, slower ferry than the cat we were booked on.
As a result of the change in crossing we have decided to travel as far as Bangor, North Wales tomorrow. So then, Monday night in Bangor and then Tuesday night in Bangor! Just different countries....

More from Bangor!

Sam




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Falkenham Rd,,United Kingdom