UKx2=Good Times

Wednesday we were in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  

The morning was a bit cold, windy, and rainy so we stayed on board until our afternoon excursion to the Mount Stewart House and Garden.  Along the way, there was a photo stop at the Northern Ireland Parliament building.

At the Stewart House, the weather was good so we visited the gardens before going into the house.

And the sun even made an appearance for a while.

We came upon Mairi, Mairi Quite Contrary.  More on Mairi later.

Then it was time to visit the house.

Coming from a family of watchmakers, I love to see the old clocks.

At the end of our house visit, we indulged in tea and scones.

And now, Back to Mairi.  In the tea room, there were some old photos and Linda was struck by the photo of young Mairi.  She said that Mairi looked just like Linda from an old photo of her.  See the resemblance?

We're going to have to dig up that old photo when we get home.

At the gift shop, we bought a book with 50 scone recipes.  We'll be experimenting with different types of scones to serve with our tinned fish!

It was a good excursion and the weather cooperated.

Thursday we were in Ullapool, Scotland.  It was a tender port.  Linda was initially quite scared that she would fall overboard, but I eased her mind and she felt better.

We took an Oceania excursion - Corrieshalloch Gorge & Loch Broom.  At the gorge, we walked through the forest to a gently swinging bridge and a viewpoint of the gorge.

There were also several waterfalls along the trail.

The walk was fairly easy, the weather had cleared, and the views were great.  All good, except for the midges or no-see-ums.  The most annoying bugs.

After the gorge, we were supposed to continue along Loch Broom for further views but there was an accident blocking the road so they went with Plan B which was to give us a panoramic ride through the Scottish Highlands.  It seemed to rain whenever we were riding but it cleared enough for us to make a couple of photo stops.

After the excursion, Linda and I went to The Seaforth Restaurant for lunch.  We had soup and fish and chips.  I had the Cullen Skink - a thick soup made of smoked haddock and potatoes (aka fish soup!).  It was really good!

It, of course, rained while we were having lunch.  When it cleared, we went for a little walk around the town.

It is a charming town of about 1500 residents.  We added about 650 people to the population.  Our waitress told us that they get about 3 cruise ships a week visiting.  I can't imagine what it would be like if a ship with 3000 people visited.  But, the businesses love it.

I am sorry to have frightened Linda so much on the tender ride.  I should have adhered to Rule of Civility Number 3:

Show nothing to your friend that may affright him.

Since Northern Ireland and Scotland are both part of the UK, they added nothing to our country count, but I won't hold that against them.  They were lovely places to visit.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry