No Report This Week

I took the direct bus (Antrim Coaster) both there and back.

The Mulberry

Horrible wet day (St John's Eve). The bus was a fancy double decker, we got a top front seat, but it was too wet to see anything. Our visit coincided with World Food Week (or something), so there was quite an extensive menu. Tables closely arranged leaving little room for our bags, but then this wouldn't bother most customers (shoppers taking a break). We had a mug of coffee each, E had a scone and I (slightly hungover) had an Ulster fry, the smaller one as this item came in two sizes - a brilliant idea. Very good value at under a fiver. Nice clean toilet.

Country Kitchen

Got off bus (long bendy one) in bus station, not very sure of our bearings. We thought there might be a coffee to be had in the nearby Co-op but no joy. We wandered through what would be best described as the arse-end of town (flyovers and car parks), past a small vintage motor bike gathering and on towards a shopping precinct. We spotted a StrEat chain cafe in the distance, but our route around the motorbikes took us near the Country Kitchen. By this time we only had enough for a quick coffee each, and were not really taking notes, so we will have to return.

As the bus loops around the town a bit before terminating, it would be better to get off before the bus station, and drop straight down to the main street.

Our old car....

..is now a metal cube somewhere in the wasteland of Belfast harbour.

The car was mainly used for taking us from Belfast up to Glenarm, where we have a small cottage (a.k.a concrete tent) we use as a bolthole. Otherwise the machine tended to sit outside the house all week - I can cycle to work and no-one else drives.

So we thought we would try living with public transport for a while. Belfast to Glenarm is about 30 miles or so, and while there is a direct bus service, its more usual to break the journey at Larne. The handiest route on Saturdays is the 10:30 Express which gets into Larne about 11:10, with the next Belfast-Cushendun bus leaving at 12:00.

This leave just enough time for a coffee and and a bite to eat, so to add a bit of excitement to the proceedings, we thought we'd sample all the cafes in town and report our findings to the world at large.......