The only photo I seem to have taken on this leg, oops. Robbo ancestral grounds, just passed through on the train, but it did stop there.
Well, the decision to catch the Stena lina ferry from Belfast to Stranraer was not the greatest in the end but as I have been reminded recently that which does not kill you makes you stronger.
Ok, so enough testing and time for a holiday I say.
So I got a cab from my hotel to the ferry port and was there in good time to be told that the ferry was running on time for 12.20, to board at 12.00. Ok, fine. So I go up to the waiting area, no security - ie bags no scanned, no metal detectors. It is about half full, but it's only 11.00.
The hall fills up, lots of kids and is getting quite warm. No sign of incoming ferry... then at 11.55 in the distant rainy haze the behemoth appears. It is the Stena HSS to Stranraer.
It is some time before boarding and even longer to depart - half an hour late... in the teaming rain I am on a massive boat which the locally call a ferry full of restaurants, bars, pokies and screaming red-haired children with parents who say 'aye' a whole lot. But this is only the beginning.
As we approach Stranraer port and are informed that the connecting trains might not be there but buses will replace I join the masses of foot passengers waiting to disembark. The crush is crazy, tempered only I think by the fact that there are stairs for half the way to be managed.
So I break free and get to the baggage carousel room. It is packed. With lots of half-drunk men who are fired up post July 12 celebrations. And babies, and eventually a very large dog.
It is impossible to get close to the conveyor belt for the masses crowded close by. The carousel is not designed for such a crowd. And the crowd is clearly not schooled in the basic tenets of baggage carousel etiquette. Namely:
1. No pushing.
2. No shoving.
3. No climbing on/over the carousel to get your bag.
4. No shouting/screaming:
(i) at your mates
(ii) at strangers
(iii) racial abuse at anyone.
5. No dropping beer bottles on the floor, creating a beer puddle.
[is that a prize winning entry in a legislative drafting comp??? ha ha ha]
Oh, yeah, it was charming.
Then I catch my bag out of the corner of my eye, of course I have buckleys of catching it so I let it go, through the gate and out into the rainy scottish afternoon (the carousel is half outside you see - for loading purposes and I wonder if that has something to do with it periodically stopping).
I manage to reclaim my bag after at least 20 mins in the baggage reclaim from hell, set to the sweet music of screaming yobs and barking police dogs.
Out into the rain to find my railbus - destination Ayr. A long bus ride (2 hours instead of the half hour train for the leg) delightfully punctuated by the man sitting behind me vomiting, at least four times, and eating lollies in between spews. And hitting my head on the window next to me when I kept drifting off to sleep, God knows how many brain cells I killed but it hurt. On the upside I got to see parts of Scotland I otherwise wouldn't have, namely lots of sheep and wonderful domestic gardens filled with hydrangeas of all colours, roses and many other blooms.
Finally get to Ayr (sth Scotland). Queue up to check if I need a ticket, but my Britrail pass is all I need. Board the train, bound for Glasgow. The racial hate abuser from the ferry is in my carriage, great. Fortunately there is a young (white) guy next to him who he can talk to.
Get to Glasgow, don't follow locals advice and change to queen st but instead run to platform 7 for train from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley. Get excited when I find Scotland St, Edinburgh on map - thinking of making it a McCall Smith pilgrimmage now. As I am getting off train these 2 guys are talking and one their phones rings, the other says 'it's the president', the the receiver says 'This is Jack Bauer and this is the longest day of my life', and I'm thinking, mine too, then I get it - it's a 24 reference, d'oh, lucky I kept me gob shut - that could have been an embarassing intro to the locals. Get to Waverley just before 7pm. Get a cab to guesthouse and check in. I have arrived.
