Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon

I left Belfast today to head back to Southern Ireland. That’s what those in Belfast were calling the Republic of Ireland. I was able to pick out some of the Belfast sayings. One of the displays at City Hall yesterday was on language and how the language and accent of Belfast has devolved from the English and Scots who were planted there as well at Gaelic. I somehow managed to chose Ulster Scots as the language on the audio guide and I couldn’t switch it back to English. I did try to listen for a while but had to give up. Apparently if you leave the audio unit off for a while it jumps to Ulster Scots. They had to give me another one.

Anyway I digress. It was a lovely day to start, surprising as Storm Callum was meant to hit Belfast in the early hours of the morning but I woke to a cloudless sky. By the time I left the hotel it had clouded over. I realised that across the road was a unionist section of the city - Sandy Row. A mural there was of King William/Billy. It replaced a more militant mural saying “You are now entering Loyalist Sandy Row Heartland of South Belfast Freedom Fighters”and had a painting of a masked gunman. The replacement is much more mild.

Yesterday the tour guide had said that the mountains surrounding Belfast were wonderful and gave a great view of the city. I set out for Black Mountain. The GPS wouldn’t recognise it so I put in Black Mountain primary school. I ended up in suburbia opposite a heavily fortified police station.
Divis gave a better result but when I got there I couldn’t see the city.

I made my way south along Lough Neath towards Armagh. The main reason for visiting Armagh was that my Creasy ancestors settled in Armagh in South Australia. That’s probably where the similarities end. I did find a lovely park with Priory ruins.

This time I new the exact moment I crossed the border, mainly as there was a grey line on the GPS. Before I crossed that line I saw signs for Customs and Excise and also money exchange. There was no signs saying you are now leaving NI or entering Ireland and I was on a major road. Just a sign welcoming me to County Louth. A lot of the talk in Belfast on the news is how Brexit will effect the Northern Ireland/Ireland Border as there are so many crossing and some woman near Londonderry has her house in one country and her veggie patch in the other. No one seems to have come up with a solution yet.

As I headed further south it got wetter and wetter. The scenery is still stunning though with all the autumn colours. One area I came across was full of apple orchards, it’s obviously picking time.

I’m in Navan tonight so I can explore the ancient sites in the area tomorrow. Tomorrow’s my last day, I fly out on Sunday.Les mer