We are all Derry Girls

Monday was moving day, driving via the Belfast ‘Peace Walls’, which are scarily still closed at night to keep the ‘sides’ apart. We headed north and visited Ballymena, the ‘town of seven towers’ (point of dispute: don’t bill yourself so dramatically when you only have three towers left to see, and they’re not tall like Bologna’s or San Gimignano’s!). Then it was a detour to The Dark Hedges (GoT site, again lost on us) and then The Giant’s Causeway. What a treat that was. We walked the site in what we felt was the correct direction … clifftop first (a little droning), then descended the escarpment (some more droning) to a vantage point and doubled back to the Organ Pipes (and some more droning there!). A drone past Dunluce Castle and the Cliffs of Magheracross interrupted our trip to Portrush. It is a seaside town that entertains the northern coast of NI. A fun fair (closed, phew) and many amusement arcades provide attractions, as does the sandy beach and cute boat harbour (another one!). Lunch in the sun, a walk along the beach and feet in the bracing seawater rounded off our Portrush experience.

Londonderry/Derry/Doire was a bucket-list destination; a city with a complete, unbroken perimeter wall and a long history of struggles and strife. It was nerve-wracking to squeeze through a city gate (Ferryquay Gate) and tackle the narrow, one-way system to get to our Pump Street digs within the city walls. We had a guided walk of the parapets with a factual, balanced account of the troubles Derry has had since its founding by St Columba in the 500s and the plantation settlement of the area in the 1600s. The 1960s and 70s Troubles were also explained (in a simplified but appropriate way) as we looked over the ‘Peace Wall’ and Bogside. As we were doing this, some ‘apprentice boys’ were blaring marching music from the walls to see what reaction they could get from below. Shame to see young men being so divisive in a city that is really trying to promote peace and reconciliation.

We completed a full circuit of the 1.6km walls, ensured we captured the Derry Girls mural, visited the ridiculously ornate Guildhall with its jaw-dropping stained-glass windows and appreciated the symbolism of the Peace Bridge across the River Foyle. An evening walk around the outside of the city gave us an interesting view of the walls from below. They really loom over the lower ground of the outer ward.