Last weekend my son Neil was over visiting me from Leicester and we had a drive around the Province (Northern Ireland) to visit some of the beautiful parts of the country that he hadn’t been to since childhood. One of these areas is the southern parts Counties Down and Armagh. We went to look at a beach on Carlingford Lough and discovered that there was a ferry service between Greencastle (Co,Down) and Gweedore In Co. Louth (Irish Republic), something I was unaware of. We decided to take it, it cost £13 for car and two passengers, because it saved us the road journey around Carlingford Lough through, Warrenpoint and Newry ....around forty miles. The beautiful town of Carlingford was our ultimate destination anyway, it is only about 5 miles from where the ferry disembarked us, and nestles on the Cooley peninsula with the Cooley Hills behind and the ruins of an 11th century castle and priory overlooking the harbour. It is one of my favourite spots in the whole of the island of Ireland, and their annual Oyster festival was taking place...so Guinness and oysters was the order of the day! It was a marvellous day out, and having my son on his own, without wife and children made it extra special for me.
Now, you may be wondering what the point of me posting all this is....and it’s this. When Neil and I were on the ferry for the ten or fifteen minutes that it took to cross over, we had the realisation that after 31st October, that little ferry which could probably carry eight or ten vehicles will become an international crossing between the UK and the EU, and that just struck us as bonkers! We just drove onto the ferry and they came round and collected our fare, it was so easy, no paperwork or passports needed, a mixture of cars and passengers from both sides of the border, an English carload of visitors, and two French bikers on our trip. Let us hope against all hope that we manage to prevent us leaving on this date, as the perfect equilibrium of this crossing last week is a great metaphor for the calm before the storm that will descend on us with a no deal Brexit.
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Sofabeast
Level 7
Aug 15, 2019
0
Just outside Londonderry on the road along Lough Foyle to Moville and Greencastle....been on it many times.
@Marionville I just had to visit and a pint of the black stuff in the Squealing Pig
@Sofabeast I hope you enjoyed!
@Marionville Indeed I did.
Yes, bonkers. And I am still hopeful that some kind of cross-party alliance will find a way to stop it. They came a small step closer today but Swinson and Corbyn are jockey-ing for advantage. Give it s few more days and we might just see Clarke or Harman step in for a time-limited period, in order to kill off the madness.
I enjyed reading your description of your favourite spots in N.I. by the way. Thanks for that.
Red_Cat
Level 7
Aug 15, 2019
1
Glad you enjoyed !
@Marionville Maybe I should take that trip before my passport expires...NO, I will not look on the dark side.
I think a lot of ordinary people are still thinking 'This is so mad it can't possibly happen'. It looks as if it will keep running until the very last minute but I feel anything could happen just through people being silly and not wanting to lose face. I'm trying not to think about it and concentrating on other things.
CeliaVL
Level 7
Aug 15, 2019
1
Harder for me when actually seeing the reality of the border and what the repercussions may be!
Oh my god,that would be tragic. I lived for many years in the Isle Of Wight in East Cowes and the chain ferry links East and West.
Although not the same in size I guess, I can totally understand how awful that outcome would be as if it were East and West Cowes the border impact would be intensely challenging for the locals and the peace and quiet.
Let’s hope it all stays sensible.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Aug 15, 2019
1
Its not looking good I’m afraid. I think Boris is hell bent on taking us out without a deal.
@Marionville So what? So was Canute with the sea going backwards.
@Mcflewster I don’t quite understand what you mean.
@Marionville We just hear what amounts to commands from Boris with no hint of what is going to change to bring about this Brexit. "It will happen on Halloween!" ; "Abolish Backstop!"
@Mcflewster Oh...right I understand the reference to Canute now! Sorry was being a bit dense earlier! Yes...the master puppeteer Dominic Cummings is behind Boris now....the master strategist of the Brexit campaign...they have decided to go full out for a no deal Brexit, and today’s Corbyn proposal for the opposition parties to back him in a no confidence vote and install him in No.10 temporarily is playing straight into Boris’s hand...the only thing that everyone will agree on, including the Labour backbench, especially the Labour backbench! Is that the one person they do not prefer to be PM is Corbyn. The Tory rebels who want to stop a no deal Brexit will never back Corbyn, they’d probably rather stick pins in their eyes or commit suicide.
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