Today I went to Holywood - yes, with one L not two. Holywood lies on the shore of Belfast Lough, hafway between Belfast and Bangor. My reason for being there was I arrived in Bangor yesterday evening, and took the train to explore the area today. Last night I went out for a Chinese with my Irish family (mum's cousin, her daughter & son-in-law). Great fun.

Bangor has a very lovely yacht club, the Royal Ulster. Excellent food which I enjoyed tonight. Pictures show the building and their view of the sunset from the lawn.

I stopped off on my train trip to go to the Ulster Transport Museum. This caravan was still lived when I was born, and at the same time just a few miles away Shorts were testing the first vertical take-off jets. Bit of a contrast. Reminded me of the stone huts in the Outer Hebrides that I saw last month, and which were also still in use until the mid 50s.

Anyway, for those who are interested, I last updated this blog from a completely artificial place called Portavadie. The next day we went to the Isle of Arran, which couldn't have been more of a contrast. Peace and seclusion. We were content to just stay in Loch Ranza and look at the imaginatively-named village of Lochranza from the boat, but went ashore next morning for a bit of a stroll and to explore the castle.

On Tuesday we moved on to Ardossan on the mainland. It was handy for the train to Glasgow so Janet could get to the airport on Wednesday morning, and had a pretty good bistro just over the road. The marina was Ok but Ardrossan town was a bit of a post-industrial shock, albeit one that boasts no less than three railway stations.

You can see above that there has been some redevelopment around the old docks but this is the town centre on a normal weekday around noon - not exactly throbbing:

This  butcher's shop, contrary to all the photographic evidence, was actually open and serving. The window display, hard to see behind the grilles, consisted of 6 potato cakes and about 8 rolls. The actual meat was kept very much under the counter at the back of the shop. One was left with the feeling that theft was top of the proprietor's worry list.

By contrast, just 25 miles down the coast was a place called Girvan, where I stayed on Wednesday night. Here you can see shops actually open and in business even at 7 pm. They have quite a thriving business in lifeboat maintenance there too.

The book says that yachts lie against the wall in Girvan but as with most places on this trip this is no longer the case. New pontoons have been installed in the last 12 months. It is run by the council, which meant no-one on duty when I arrived or left so unfortunately I was unable to pay.

The short trip to Girvan was remarkable for the complete absence of wind or wave. I have never been on a flatter sea. Normally there is some swell from somewhere, even in the absence of wind. The canals were bumpier. The only disturbance here is that made by Jojac.

There were hundreds if not thousands of jellyfish just beneath the surface, each the size of a dinner plate and with very thin tentacles a couple of feet long.

The weather the next day for the trip to Bangor was a bit different. Forecast to be force 4, it turned into a 7 which is less like fun. It got better, but I could never see more than a couple of miles. This evening I could see the Scottish coast from here with no trouble. Another strong wind warning for tomorrow so I shall probably stay put in Bangor.