Belfast; Sunday, 02 August, 2009

With my bags safely stowed in the hotels luggage room I wandered across the road to the bus station to head south to the Mourne Mountains

I didn’t have very much time as I had an early evening flight so it was only going to be a quick touring visit. From Belfast I caught the bus out to Newcastle, down quite close to the border with the republic. There I picked up the summer only Mourne Rambler bus which went up into the hills and mountains.

Whilst mostly designed as a way for walkers to get into the mountains to start their hikes, you can just sit on the bus and go once round its circular route back to Newcastle through some of the most stunning scenery in Northern Ireland.

Having made it back to Newcastle I hopped back on the bus to Belfast and then onto one of the Open-Top tours of the city to take in some of the sights.

By the time I got back to the centre of Belfast it was fast approaching the time to head off to the airport, but there was just time to go into the new shopping centre and take the lift to its viewing dome at the very top of the building to take in some of the views over the city.

Then it was back to ground level, over to the hotel to grab my luggage and back to the bus station to catch the airport bus and start my journey home.