Tuesday July 15, 2014

There is nothing worse for me than cycling in the rain and hearing the grit and dirt on my chain.  I look at Mrs Sweetcheeks and know that she needs to be cleaned and I wonder when and where am I going to get the opportunity to clean her? Of course if Mrs Sweetcheeks needs cleaning Ralf’s bike also needs cleaning.  Today was the day to get the bikes clean, oiled and ready to go again.  I get a great satisfaction of seeing gleaming  drive trains and gears, no road dirt and grit on the bikes.  Often people will comment on our ‘new’ bikes, then we tell them that they have over 10,000 kms on them and I am sure they don’t believe us.  But, if you want a bike to take you around the world you have to keep it clean and well maintained and that is my job and I really enjoy doing it.

After the bikes were clean we headed downtown Belfast, we picked up a few necessities – a patch for my pannier, more fuel for the camp stoves and maps for south Ireland.

Belfast has some stunning architecture.  I wouldn\’t call it a pretty city or even one I would return to.  I am not sure if this is because of the history of the troubles and I didn\’t feel comfortable or because the weekend festivities of the Orange Order and the parades were too close to the surface.  I felt that there was still a divide, an uneasiness.

We saw some of the peace wall, and noticed the ‘divide’ between protestant areas and catholic areas.  I still feel the divide in the city maybe it is because it was bought to our attention this week-end, but it is not a united city, by any means.

On saying that we did enjoy our walk around Belfast, little lane-ways and open squares, great architecture and buildings.

This was a monument to  unknown women workers, whether they work at home or away from the home and of course both.  It is very difficult to see from the picture, but there are typewriters, telephones, babies bottles and inscriptions.  The sculpture was created in 1992 and the creator was asked to depict in cartoon style working women of the street – as Amelia Street was renowned as the red light area in Belfast.  Ms. Walsh the sculptor depicted working women, but not the kind that the City Council had envisioned.

Queens University Belfast was on our way home.  A stunning red brick building, with great doors.

The final word on Belfast.