Today was a travel day in the truest sense of the word. We left our hotel at 10:15 following a late breakfast for the short trip to the ferry. We were riding the ferry from Belfast to Carinryan, Scotland. It was to be about a 2.5 hour ferry ride.
This ferry was nothing like any of the ferries we are used to. This ferry was enormous! We were traveling aboard the Stena Ferry line. The ship holds cars, trucks, buses, motor homes, and tractor trailers. There are 10 decks. We were parked on deck 5 and the first bus in with at least 5 buses behind us. Up to 1,200 passengers can be In addition to 230 cars, the ferry can also carry 300 freight vehicles.
These ferries have restaurants, a movie theater, a massage parlor, a nail salon, a gift shop, and just about anything else you could want. We were on deck 7 nearest the restaurant. There was also a door to the open deck.
Typically Im not a fan of boats as I get sea sickness. I took a non drowsy Dramamine and hoped that would go the trick. Our guide
told us you would never notice the movement of the ship!!! I noticed!!! BUT I didnt get sick. I walked around outside a couple times, Read a book, and just enjoyed the trip.
Once we exited the ship we drove about an hour and stopped in the village of Alloyway in South Ayrshire, Scotland, located on the River Doon. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns and the setting for his poem Tam o Shanter. We stopped at the Burns visitors center and had the opportunity to Walk around town and see the sites. We took in Burns birthplace, his gardens, and the church were his father was buried.
One spot of note was a bridge that crossed the Doon River. In Scottish it was called The Brig ‘o Doon. Now one of my favorite musicals is Brigadoon by Lerner and Lowe. One of the stories about how it was named is it was named for the Brig ‘o Doon. I liked that!!
Once we left there we traveled to our home for the night at Glasgow. We were treated to dinner at the hotel. It was raining pretty hard, the first rain of
any amount weve had since we left the United States on July 3rd. We were grateful we didnt have to be out in the rain.
