Day 624: Eeyore’s ol’ town

10/04/2023

Monday morning while Liam was packing the car the kids kept screaming from the balcony, “Dad, behind you, watch out, DADDDD, look, not again?”, they thought it was hilarious the B&B cat kept hopping around our bags, Eloise was worried it was going to hitch a ride in the car. They enjoyed playing with the cat once they got down, Eloise decided to name it Frankie. Jamila, they always come running whenever a new Frankie snap comes through.

It is good to see Lachlan knows the drill at Costa’s now, smashing the double Oataccinos to kickstart the day.

Our ferry was not until the afternoon. We had already, albeit briefly, visited the Ulster Museum, our B&B host suggested the kids would love the Ulster Folk Museum. There were plenty of real maps at the entrance, so Eloise was all smiles.

The Ulster Folk Museum was a neat collection of olden-day Northern Ireland buildings, a walk back through time. Eloise and Lachlan enjoyed the wee buildings and uneven tight staircases, Lachlan insisted he had to walk down each one himself with no help.

There were lots for the kids to see, they liked the big tractor and print room.

There were plenty of activities to see and do and it was a beautiful day to be out and about enjoying that Northern Ireland air. The kids could not believe their luck when they stumbled upon Eeyore and his friends. Lachlan was jumping up and down in excitment wanting to pat him, Eloise was happy watching from afar.

We followed the special Easter trail set up for the children which helped the kids run along spotting the next bunnies and letters to complete their puzzle.

After exploring the olden day town we started to make our way around the old country path. The kids managed to find an egg rolling event which we were all eager to give a try, Lachlan was a natural.

Admittedly, the country path was much longer than we had bargained for. However, there was a reward at the end that powered Eloise on.

After a long hike, we arrived at the fairy buiding, Eloise and Lachlan were all ready to start fairy hunting, however it was even better, they actually had to make them.

First opened in 1964, the Ulster Folk Museum is a remarkable living museum and environmental resource situated at Cultra, three miles east of Belfast. The museum is home to a rich collection of heritage buildings and objects, which it uses to actively preserve and demonstrate traditions, stories and skills passed down through many generations of people in Ulster. The museum offers a place to think about how we, as the current generation, are still adapting to change and how we might find meaning and inspiration from the many generations before us to help build a cleaner, greener and prosperous future.

In the afternoon we were back on the mega ferry as we crossed back over the Northern Channel. Most of us were worn out, although Lachlan was buzzing about wanting to check out every corner of the ship.

We arrived back on mainland UK just after 18:00. As soon as we got in the car both the kids were out for the count, Super Mum did her best to wake them up and feed them anything she could find, however, Lachlan threw his pasta all throughout the car before nodding off again.

We all had a terrific time on what turned out to be a fairly easy-going weekend away, Northern Ireland was beautiful, you never know, we might even return. There was good news in Scotland when we returned as “Scotland’s men’s curlers are celebrating a remarkable world championship win against host nation Canada”. Perhaps Liam needs to get involved again.