Days 7 to 11 - Northern Ireland to Stroud to Germany - Europe 2022

Northern Ireland to Stroud to Germany

Packed up and left the Airbnb around 9:30. This was the checkout time. Early!

Vanessa drove excellently back to Belfast Airport, stopping to refuel just before the airport. After returning the rental car we prepared to say goodbye to our friends. Their plan was to take the Translink bus back to Belfast and from there take the Aircoach to Dublin airport. Catching the Translink bus from the airport went smoothly since they had bought tickets through the app ahead of time. They also pre-purchased tickets for Aircoach. Unfortunately, the Aircoach app doesn’t really explain the bus ticket options, so they got standby tickets rather than tickets for a specific time. Luckily, they were allowed to board the bus in Belfast because it wasn’t completely full.

Edon and I spent a few hours at the Belfast airport before taking a short EasyJet flight to Bristol.

We were picked up at airport by my cousin, his partner, and their son.

We drove back from Bristol. They prepared us a delicious lentil dinner, which we all enjoyed.

My cousin’s dishwasher was not working, so Edon and I did the dishes. Edon, my cousin, and I stayed up later than expected looking at old family pictures of our parents as kids. My dad had recently scanned the pictures and this was the first time I had had the chance to look at them.

The next few days were spent in Stroud and were much slower pace than our previous week. Edon helped get the dishwasher running again, which was very helpful since we spent a good amount of time cooking and eating delicious food. It was so much fun playing with my cousin’s son, who is 13 months old, and this occupied several hours of the visit. It was super awesome to be able to spend time with family and are so glad they made time and space for us to visit!

There are several walking paths around Stroud. Many are publicly owned, but they often also pass through private lands. Just strolling through private land is strange to me as an American, but totally normal and expected there. 

We had sunny and dry weather, so nearly everyday we went out for at least one walk on the trails. Star Anise is a local cafe that we ate at last time we visited. My cousin now works there. We had an amazing lunch at the cafe our first full day in Stroud. I had a falafel mezze platter and everyone else enjoyed a delicious curry. A couple days later we got a lunch out at The Long Table. The lunch wasn’t very impressive, but I really enjoyed the vegan chocolate cake I got there. 

On the solstice, I accompanied my cousin’s partner and the baby to a small get together for local parents and their little kids. It was at a cool space by a tiny  creek in one of the fields owned by a local organic farm. Apparently the farm keeps the space there available for local folks to use. 

There is a pretty lake close to my cousin’s that is popular for swimming. After eating a picnic breakfast at the lakeside, Edon, my cousin, and his partner went for a swim. The water was way too cold for me to go in. This worked out well because I was able to play with the baby while they swam. 

On the day Edon and I left we were dropped off at the Transportation Hub in Gloucester. Luckily, Edon and I had been messing around on Google maps looking for coffee places in London earlier in the week and noticed something strange about the train route to Heathrow for the day of our flight to Germany. The train we were expecting to take into London and then onto Heathrow was not showing up as available for our travel day. Turns out there was a rail strike planned for that day and the train we needed wouldn’t be running. My cousin helped us find an alternative, a National Express bus. Although the bus would take about an hour longer than the train, it conveniently went straight to Heathrow from Gloucester. We bought tickets right away. It was fortunate we did because the bus was totally sold out by the time we had to take it. The bus had a bathroom, which was great. I was surprised that we mostly passed through fields on our way to Heathrow and not towns and suburban sprawl.

It was a little confusing for me at Heathrow because we needed to take a free train or bus from Terminal 2 where we got off the bus to Terminal 5. Edon and I didn’t see a bus at the bus depot where we were dropped off. There were several signs directing us to the free train, but a few temporary signs seemed to indicate the train wasn’t running because of the rail strike. The temporary signs were wrong and we made it to Terminal 5 on the free train.

It only took an hour to get to our terminal, through security, and to the concourse we expected to leave from, so Edon and I had a couple of hours to kill before the flight. 

Edon got chips and a mojito at an airport restaurant. I messed around on my phone.

Our actual gate was announced at the time we should have been boarding our plane. And we were in the wrong concourse. So, another tram/train ride was needed. Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes, so we didn’t miss our flight. 

The flight was quite short. Toward the end of the flight our pilot announced he was approved to take a short cut, which I didn’t know was a thing.

Shortly after that announcement the plane hit turbulence as it passed through thunderstorms. It was not really bad turbulence, but it was the worst Edon and I had ever experienced on a commercial flight.

When the cloud cleared, Germany was visible from my plane window as little islands of tiny golden lights surrounded by dark forested areas.

After landing we were picked up by Vanessa and her husband, Mark. The data on my phone was actually working well for the first time of the trip, which came in handy as we tried to find them at the airport.

After giving us a ride back to their house outside of Stuttgart, we got a tour of their amazing home before everyone headed to bed. It was especially kind of them to do all this, since they had to leave around 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning for a weekend trip. We ended up getting to bed around 1:30.

Day 6 - Ticket Purchases, Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, and Ballintoy Harbour - Europe 2022

Ticket Purchases, Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, and Ballintoy Harbour

I woke up at 6:30 in a bit of a panic. For various reasons I had delayed buying some of the essential plane tickets Ezikai and I needed for completing our trips.

Often I plan things way in advance, but hadn’t had the opportunity to do so for my trip or for Ezi’s upcoming trip.

One reason I had delayed purchasing tickets was because I wanted to talk to Vanessa about our travel plans. Vanessa and I part ways tomorrow for a little while, so it was important to speak to her today about plans and tickets.

I spent a couple of hours looking up flights before leaving my room and blurting out to Vanessa that I was frustrated and not finding any great ticket options for either of us. “Good morning”, would have been nicer.

By 13:30 I had purchased the essential plane tickets, although none of the needed train or bus tickets. Hostel reservations weren’t done either. All those would have to wait for another day.

The weather was the sunniest it had been so far, but it was cold out and a strong, cool wind blew. Several of the fields outside had been mown that morning. The birds were delighted. With the sunny weather and it being Saturday lots of folks were walking on the Ulster Way trail.

It wasn’t an ideal day for the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, but it was our last day to do it. Plus, Kyle and Edon were able to hang out today. We bought tickets online, ate lunch, and walked over to do the rope bridge. As we waited in line to cross clouds started to roll in.

It was so windy that crossing the rope bridge was a much different experience than I was expecting. I had my phone out and was nervous I was going to lose it. This meant I also only had one hand available for holding the rope railing. Unfortunately, several people didn’t wait for me to cross and got on the bridge right behind me. It felt like they were purposefully taking heavy steps to shake the bridge.

The bridge is only approx 60 ft long, so it wasn’t a long crossing. Vanessa didn’t like it any better than she thought she would and sat a bit on the available bench before getting up to explore the island with us. 

It was a small island and it was very windy so we didn’t explore for very long. The views were beautiful though.

Crossing back Edon lucked out and got to cross with two kids his age who bounced the bridge like crazy. They all loved it. Vanessa saw what was happening and waited until they were off before she crossed. Again, I had people get on the bridge right behind me, although these seemed to shake the bridge less than the previous group.

Vanessa and I overbought groceries the second trip. Back at the cottage we did our best to eat massive amounts of food. Edon washed laundry. Kyle worked on homework. Vanessa packed. 

Shortly after 19:00 Miles accompanied me to the eastern part of Ballintoy Harbour, which I hadn’t yet explored. It was cold and very windy. Huge waves crashed into the rocks surrounding the Harbour. Miles and I had a fantastic time exploring and watching the waves. Miles finds money everywhere he goes. During the first grocery trip, he found over 1 pound in change. Today he found a 10 pound note in a tide pool. It is plasticky and wasn’t damaged from the water. I got my entire back side splashed with water from a wave hitting a crevice I was near.

Tired and happy, but also sad because we have to leave, we headed back to the cottage.

I packed and ate more and did dishes before heading to bed.

Day 5 - Dark Hedges, Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge Trail, Larrybane, White Park Bay - Europe 2022

Dark Hedges, Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge Trail, Larrybane, White Park Bay

It was rainy this morning, but not the misting on and off rain we have been having so far. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it was fairly steady. It was also cooler than it has been. 

After a slow morning we decided to do a short trip to Dark Hedges. The beech trees were planted (most likely) in the late 1700s to create an imposing entrance to a newly built house, Gracehill House. The trees are now very old and large and several are missing. The boys weren’t terribly impressed, but I thought it was a worthwhile, free outing. The trees were definitely large and in the small areas where they were still densely planted it was dramatic. The receive lots of visitors now because they formed the “Kings Road” in the Game of Thrones tv show.

The internet was working when we got back to the Airbnb, so Kyle decided to get homework done and Edon began work. 

The rain cleared up, but it was colder and windier than our previous days here. Miles, Vanessa, and I went out to explore the eastern route of the Ulster Way path we had been walking earlier in the week.

We assumed the eastern route was the path to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. We headed that direction, going further along the path than the previously. 

The rope bridge was used in the past by salmon fishermen, but has been a tourist attraction for over 100 years as well. The Atlantic Salmon are now endangered. And the original rope bridge has been replaced with a sturdier version. 

Vanessa is very hesitant about doing the rope bridge. Miles and I brought her as close to the bridge as we could get without tickets and it didn’t allay her fears. The views of the coast were stunning.

Apparently the Ulster Way did not continue its eastern trail along this path as we had to turn and head back shortly after the rope bridge. 

Several times we had seen a man-made structure in the side of a cliff when looking west up the coast from the rope bridge path. We went to go and see if we could climb down to it and found out there was an easy path to get there through the second car park of the rope bridge attraction. 

According to a sign, this area was also used in filming Game of Thrones.

It is known as Larrybane. It was formerly a limestone quarry. We climbed down past the old building remnants and found a rocky beach, boulders, caves, and to Miles’ delight, tide pools. I walked east up the beach, back toward the rope bridge, while Miles and Vanessa checked out the tide pools. I came back and we all explored a cave that Miles found that could only be seen when walking west along the beach. Then, the three of us headed back to the cottage.

The weather was still clear, but cool that evening. Miles and Vanessa hadn’t made it to the Sandy beach or grassy hills of White Park Bay the previous day. Edon and Kyle still had work to do, so Miles, Vanessa, and I drove to the parking lot of the western side of White Park Bay. We hiked down to the beach through the green hills. At first we walked to the left and found a very beautiful fairy glen. There were at least three more caves here. The opening of one was easily large enough to walk into. It went back a long way, but the strong smell of guano prevented us from exploring it.

We returned to the beach and walked slowly east up the sand. Miles found so many tiny jellyfish washed up onto the beach. He did his best to return every one to the sea.

It was getting late, so about halfway up the beach we turned around and climbed to the hillside path. We took a meandering route back to the car. It was a gorgeous evening.

I washed laundry, showered, and headed to bed.