Bangor - 54° 39' 54" N 05° 40' 24" W

Wow!  A photo with the two of us. Thanks Eyvan.
(notice the four fully-functional knees)

After a glorious sail from The Isle of man, disaster struck when we arrived in Bangor.   An ill-timed leap, a wobbly pontoon and funny landing resulted in Sean damaging his knee.  Unable to weight-bear, he bravely crawled to secure the stern line.  Eyvan secured the bowline and the boat was safe.  Only then, was there any sympathy for the damaged knee.

Off to the minor Injuries Unit.  Very conveniently, the marina has a wheelchair!

Vicky at the marina was wonderful.  Not only did she produce a wheel chair and order a taxi, she recommended we go to the Minor Injuries Unit at the Ulster Hospital rather than Accident and Emergency (A&E).  Wait times at the A&E can run into double digits.  Thanks to her local insight, we were back on the boat, x-rayed, braced and sporting crutches and drugs.  Nothing broken and, following a visit to the physio, nothing torn, ripped or otherwise detached.  Phew!

Lesson learned - don't leap off the boat onto the pontoon!!

With Sean non-weight-bearing and on rest for a few days, our time in Bangor took on a different flavour.  Taking advantage of Eyvan's small stature and mechanical bent, the engine had a full service - oil, filters, impeller - under Sean's guidance.   

...while you're down there!

Kate took part in her first Park Run and managed to get around the course without too much pain and ran her Park Run PB to boot!!

Our time was very social.  It was helped by enjoying some gloriously sunny days complete with plenty of cockpit time. We meet the lasses off SV Salty Lass who have a YouTube channel.  They had us in stitches and gave some excellent advice on anchorages, timing with the tides and the local tipples.

Partway through our stop here, Eyvan left us to catch the ferry to Edinburgh.

Thanks for all your work on Chinook, your company and for helping take care of your injured dad. Hurry back and share your stories. We'll miss you!

Bye, bye Eyvan.  It's been a blast!

All too soon, it was time to farewell Eyvan.  We all caught the train into Belfast.  Eyvan headed to the ferry while we went to the Titanic Museum.  Sean used the services of the museum wheel chair which made negotiating the school groups like parting the Red Sea. It was a fantastic museum.  

Cranes, appropriately named Samson and Goliath, at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard. 
At the time the Titanic was built, H&W were the largest shipbuilders in the world. 
The cranes, however,  date from more contemporary times, commissioned in 1969 and 1974. 

It took us through the pivotal role that the linen industry played in Belfast's ship building future.  The factory-base linen industry provided a ready pool of both skilled and unskilled labour.  Many of the skills developed to build and maintain the equipment to process linen were transferable to ship building. Who would ever have imagined that Granny's embroidered linen doilies played a role in building the Titanic?

The museum is on the location of the dry dock where the Titanic was built.  As you go through the exhibition (over a number of floors), there are views out over the dock and the river Lagan where she was launched.  The museum includes The Shipyard Ride which was amazing.  A chairlift ride that takes you through the 'shipyard' with lots of banging and heat to give you some idea on what it must have been like. 

Hard to photograph, but there are amazing exhibits on how the cabins were set up for various classes. samples of dinnerware and luggage and clothing and menus. Projections of period characters playing different roles explaining what their roles was on the ship and gave an insight into their daily duties. It was very well done.  You could amble along the promenade deck with views out to the ocean and sounds of the engine.  And have your photo taken on a replica of the staircase. What a magnificent ship it was!

A replica of the first class cabin.

The section dealing with the launch was spectacular.  Basically they just 'knocked' out the blocks in a certain order and the whole ship slid into the river - without its propellors.  They were installed post-launch. And from this part of the museum, you could look out the windows directly down the dry dock to the river.  Very cool. 

The sinking and the aftermath was respectful and haunting.  There was an underwater projection on the walls as you descended down a staircase to the storey below, its glass floor looking onto a flyover of the wreck. Relics retrieved, such as Wallace Hartley's violin (remember those haunting scenes from the movie as the band played while to ship slipped below the water) and a deck chair were on display around the space.

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We also went aboard the tender they used in Cherbourg to transport the passengers out to the ship.  All in all, the museum was amazing and we recommend a visit when in Belfast.

A cool sculpture - a model of the Titanic, done up like the plastic replica kits
of the kind Sean used to build as a kid.

Walking along the River Lagan

One of the many installations of leaded stained glass we saw.

More street art along the River Lagan under threatening skies.  No one else seemed concerned.

After hours and hours in the museum, we wandered into the city and sheltered from the rain in a pub.  That Guinness slid down a treat!

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A proud dad and his kiddo.  Safe travels!

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