We had to rise very early this morning for a 7:00 am ferry ride back across the Irish Sea to Holyhead on Anglesey in Wales. We opted for an early morning ferry in the hope the sea might be calmer – how wrong we were.
After an interesting drive through the Dublin Docks we eventually found our terminal where we were forced to sit in the car in the rain for over an hour before boarding with 3 tired and hungry kids. There were in-car celebrations through the fogged up windows when we were called to board. With the car parked safely aboard the ferry, we climbed the steps to the upper decks to secure a table near the kids area.
The kids and I had some breakfast (Yvette can’t eat aboard a boat) and we all headed for the cinema to watch Angry Birds. Not long into the movie we all realised that this boat ride was going to be our choppiest yet. When the movie was finished, we summoned our best sea legs as the kids dragged us to the on board pantomime which was like having teeth extracted. With about an hour left we waddled our way back to the cinema to watch the end of The Secret Life of Pets which took us through to the end of the journey. I thought Yvette was going to get all Papal and kiss the ground when we docked in Wales.
Once safely on dry land we drove along the North coast of Wales back to Manchester. The drive was again lovely, especially given the weather was lovely on this side of the Irish Sea. One thing which surprised us on the journey into and out of Ireland was the lack of border control. It made us realise the the IRA peace agreements are one of the few lasting peace agreements of our time – a real tribute to both sides.
The rest of the day was uneventful with us simply driving to the hotel in Manchester which is to be our home for the next week.
Mark (on behalf of the wandering winrows)
wanderingwinrows 