Day Off Up North

I decided to take advantage of my extra day off this week to head north to Ballycastle, Ballintoy and Port Ballantrae to take a few snaps. I was blessed with some reasonable light and made my first stop in Ballycastle around 11:15. I’ve only ever been there once or twice before. Although it is fairly deserted at this time of year, I was made to feel welcome with numerous greetings from the locals. After coffee and a scone at Boyles, I headed off round the coast towards Ballintoy and crossed the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge for the first time! The steps back up the hill seemed more daunting than the bridge itself. Stopping for numerous “photo breaks”, I finally reached the car park and drove to Port Ballantrae for lunch at the Bayview Hotel. Scrumptious scampi and chunky chips!

Overall, I was very taken with that part of our shoreline. I’ll be back.

I Wish…

This is a beautiful photograph taken by Flickr member, Wiggum03.

I find that Tumbler, Flickr and a couple of other sites continually amaze me with the range of excellent pictures and fascinating subjects which inspire me to greater lengths with my photography. I wish I had the skills to take a few like this one. Must try harder!

For Sale – One Pipe Dream

For Sale – My pipe dream. I “imported” this 1981 SWB Land Rover from Kent in December 2007. I say imported because they have a separate vehicle registration system in GB based at Swansea whereas ours is in Coleraine. The story of my adventure journey is here.

I mention the difference in registration systems because this vehicle is now in the ether, so to speak, as when I tried to register it in my name, Swansea said they couldn’t do it. I haven’t got around to it yet as it was still taxed and MOT’d so I didn’t need to. To make a long story short, it doesn’t need SORN’d.

As usual, I didn’t think my desires through fully. I just imagined that I could drive this vehicle home, make a quick conversion to a pick up (known in Land Rover circles as Truck Cab) and off I would go across the fields. Reality bites rather quickly when I realised that truck cabs assemblies are rarer than hen’s teeth here in NI, and my abilities to anything other than turn the key in the ignition were totally inadequate. And that’s why I’m now selling this beautiful vehicle.

Here’s the pitch:

1981 Land Rover SWB 2295cc petrol engine. Currently without a clutch, road tax or MOT and needs a wire repaired that runs between the alternator and the battery. Body is in great shape and it has a really solid chassis. Freewheeling hubs and an overdrive are fitted and are in working order. Comes with all paperwork, a Haynes manual and a bucket of tears (mine!). It’s really fun to drive when it’s working and I can get it started OK. Most parts are in good supply – see any one of the three LR magazines on sale at your local news agent. And the good news? £800!

Would suit anyone from 17 (Xmas present, first car or project) to 70 (motor tinkerer) but would especially suit a male between 35 and 55 who is afraid of motorcycles and cannot afford a Ferrari.

For closer inspection, drop me a Tweet (@herrbenz) or a comment on this post.

Reading Time at the Zoo

Taken by surprise by equal bursts of guilt and energy (I’m off on holiday this week), I decided to tidy up my bedside table this morning. These books were either on top of the table, on the shelf below, or beside or on the floor in front of the table. I haven’t included the actual books I’m reading at the moment, so these are “next on my list”

If you can read the titles in the photo, you’ll notice the preponderance of military books. It has always been an interest of mine, particularly the Vietnam War and WWII, but lately WWI has piqued my curiosity too.

The books:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer (read a good review)

The Man Who Watched The Trains Go By – Georges Simenon (birthday gift from my brother – I enjoyed Grasset at school and thought this might be enjoyable)

Risk – Dan Gardner (Politics of fear/social history/Freakonomics type of thing)

Dispatches – Michael Herr (bought this again because I just discovered he wrote the screenplay for Apocalypse Now and I remember how much I loved it when I read it in the ’80s)

Forgotten Voices – Roderick Bailey (birthday gift from my sister in law)

Dunkirk – Hugh Sebag-Montefiore (looked good at the time in Waterstones, about two years ago!)

Churchill – Roy Jenkins (really want to find out what all the fuss over Churchill is about)

Untold Stories – Alan Bennett (I suspect, like Sedaris, it’s the author’s voice that *makes* these stories work)

The Complete Verse – Rudyard Kipling (fascinating historical character – for dipping into sometimes)

City Of Thieves – David Benioff (just bought last week – judged the book by it’s cover!)

The Great War For Civilisation – Robert Fisk (recommended by everyone – BIG book to start – currently working up to it)

Berlin – Anthony Beevor (loved Stalingrad. My cousin swears this is as good – had it for two years now)

Tommy’s War – Thomas Livingstone (£3 in a sale in work – if I don’t like it, my uncle will)

Stephen Fry in America – Stephen Fry (preparing a US road trip myself in due course)

Seven WWI Osprey Titles – Various (fantastic detail)

Sahara – Michael Palin (liked the DVDs and saw this one cheap in work)

Railway Posters 1923 – 1947 – Cole/Durack (love all things railway, but especially in this period)

The Wire, Guide to – Raphael Alvarez (for when I re-watch The Wire in full, for the fourth time)

That should keep me going for some time, but I cannot control myself in bookshops, so I expect the pile to grow.

When I took a month off the internet in September, I started to read again and thankfully I’ve been able to keep it up. I’m currently reading Starting Over by Tony Parsons in bed and Men From Boys by John Harvey in the car (while waiting outside schools, workplaces, etc.

I tend to ‘freecycle’ my books so watch out for these at Open Coffee Belfast or elsewhere in the coming months if you’re interested in any of them.

Roughing It

This was our home from Thursday morning until Sunday night last week. It’s a 2003 Fiat Ducato Carioca 10 motor-home which was a gift to me and my siblings from our dad. In this picture, the night-blinds are still up and we’re plugged in so that we can have a cuppa as we couldn’t figure out how to work the gas!

It’s not much fun to drive, at least not for six hours on the trot. I had quite a few nervous moments on some bends when I thought I might not be able to keep her upright due to her height. Still, very little damage was done over the four day trip. When we arrived at Cong, I was shocked to see the size of some of the other motor-homes, two of which towed trailers with small cars on board. One had a smaller version of a Smart Car and the other, a 2CV. Having a runabout is sensible when using a motor-home, to save you having to put everything away and disconnect as well, just for a run to the shop etc.

On the way south, I opted for the GoogleMaps suggested route – Bangor – Belfast – Dungannon – Enniskillen – Sligo – Charlestown – Claremorris – Ballinarobe – Cong. This was a reasonably quick and interesting journey. Being the cleverdick I am, I decided to travel a more direct way home, however. BIG mistake.

In order to have an almost diagonal line across the middle of Ireland, I ended up zigzagging and adding needless miles. Cong – Ballinarobe – Claremorris – Ballyhaunis – Roscommon – Longford – Cavan – Clones – Monaghan – Armagh – M1…and it felt as long as it sounds!

It didn’t seem to faze Sophie much though. She was kept amused by DVDs and my iPod and seemed oblivious to the journey.

On the plus side, there were many positives – as I said in my previous post, we got to see part of Ireland I’ve never seen before. The driving position allows for great views. The “stop anywhere and brew up” aspect of these vehicles is fantastic and the ingenuity of the internal design is superb.

I’m looking forward to my next outing which may well be on my own. The van will be very handy for extended photo-walk weekends – once I figure out how to used the damned gas.

Visiting Cong

This is the Fish House, part of Cong Abbey, which is in Cong, Co. Mayo. This structure was built by the monks from the abbey in the river below the abbey to provide shelter while fishing. A hole in the floor allowed a net to be dropped, into which fish could be extracted, while the monks were kept warm by the fire in the hearth – ingenious.

We travelled down to Cong recently for a long weekend using the camper van for the first time. I “discovered” Cong by accident. Originally we wanted to go to Galway, however, when researching available campsites around Galway, most had just closed following the summer season. The nearest that I could find (I didn’t look very hard!) was in Cong, somewhere I hadn’t heard of before. Apart from the unusual name, the extremely pleasant and welcoming voice on the telephone from Margaret, the Cong Caravan & Camping Park (link below) owner, helped me decide to make it at least a first night stop on our first camper van outing. And we stayed for all three nights!

We arrived in Cong around 2030 on Thursday evening. It was getting dark but just one quick drive around the village looking for the campsite showed me it was somewhere rather special. Friendly help from a  young lady standing in the doorway of Pat Cohan’s pub pointed us in the right direction.

Next day, as soon as breakfast was sorted out, we were off into Cong. It was a nice sunny morning and it was long until I realised why the monks had settled in Cong in the 12th century. The confluence of rivers flowing into Lough Corrib and the natural defensive position of being surrounded by water gives Cong Abbey an undisturbed air. It’s a really beautiful magical place and we were all fairly impressed.

Despite my father having a touring caravan when we were kids, I don’t believe we ever visited counties Mayo or Galway. While it was an almost six hour drive in the van, I didn’t regret my choice. It seemed like every tenth field had some sort of historical attachment –  a stone circle, a Norman Keep, a fantastic view, etc.

As I’m spending a lot of time taking photographs at the moment, it was only with some determination that I was able to keep driving without stopping between the major towns. More on the trip soon, and links to my Mayo/Galway Flickr set below:

Galway & Mayo Pictures

Cong Campsite