Another couple arrived at the B&B last night. Turns out they were from West Hartford, Connecticut. We had breakfast together. A very pleasant couple on a package tour (flight, B&B’s, car all in one price) for 6 days and had flown into Shannon Airport.
We loaded up the car and left the B&B about 9am headed towards Athlone, about halfway between Galway and Dublin. We got there about 10:15am and found a place to park near the castle and the cathedral. The castle didn’t open until 11am, so we went over to the cathedral which had a service underway. That meant we did get to a church service today….
The castle itself was large and impressive, but only a very small part was open to visitors. The visitors center had a two-floor layout that went through the history of the town and the castle. This is where the English were garrisoned in the 1550’s as they were conquering Ireland and where in 1554 they attacked and ruined Clonmacnoise.
We then continued on our way to Belfast on the motorway towards Dublin. We took a northern route around Dublin to get on the M1 motorway going from Dublin to Belfast. About 2pm we both decided it was time for lunch and started looking for a pub. We found one in Ardee and had a delightful lunch. Nina had some kind of a pie with chicken and mushrooms, I had roast beef.
There was an interesting statue near the place where we parked the car:
Nearby was a plaque that told the story of the statue:
The M1 motorway was just a few kilometers from Ardee which was about 30 kilometers from the border into Northern Ireland. Way back in 1924 following the Irish war of independence, a referendum was taken about whether or not to separate from England and become a independent commonwealth country. Sixteen counties in the northern part of Ireland voted to remain with England. All the rest voted to sever the ties. The result was a partitioned island but with a very soft border. Many in Northern Ireland weren’t pleased with the result and the “troubles” ensued with Protestants fighting bitterly with the Catholics and with the British. While most of that has been resolved, strong sentiments still remain.
Ireland belongs to the EU, as does England (mostly … they didn’t join the currency union so they don’t use Euros). And Ireland is the huge problem with England’s withdrawal from the EU, the so-called Brexit. If England leaves the EU, then Northern Ireland leaves the EU and a tax and tariff border would need to be put in place between the two Irelands, abrogating the peace treaty that granted the Republic of Ireland its independence. The Republic strongly insists that a soft border must remain in place. Northern Ireland is almost vehement in wanting a soft border because almost all Northern Ireland trade is between them and the Republic of Ireland. The EU agrees about a soft border. The US has strongly stated their opinion that the soft border must be maintained. No one knows how to do it. England is sure that maintaining a soft border between the two Irelands will make it impossible for England to completely withdraw from the EU. Negotiations continue, but the deadline is in 9 days when England is no longer part of the EU. We’ll be in Paris when that happens. Should be interesting!
So, in the Republic, things are measured by the metric system and money is in Euros. In Northern Ireland, the English measurements (miles, feet, furlongs, etc.) are used and the currency is the British Pound. We haven’t figured out how to switch the dashboard of the car from kilometers to miles. It must be possible … just not explained in the manual for the car.
Our B&B is the Rosleigh House on the south side of Belfast (www.roseleighhouse.co.uk).
It’s a lovely bedroom with a nice bathtub, suiting Nina just fine! There was a Subway shop down the road and that sufficed for dinner this evening. Now to decide what we’ll do for the next two days in Northern Ireland. On Wednesday we drive back to Dublin, turn in the car, and fly that evening to Paris.