Day 1 still in the UK !

                         A housewarming party with the boys from the rugby club and girls from the outdoor swimming group wasn't the best preparation for a drive to Stranraer for the ferry to Belfast , It was always going  to be a struggle getting out of bed , double coffee before getting dressed and final packing ( travel mug for more coffee Gaviscon and a big bottle of water required en route ) ,
       

    the drive time should take around 2hr 30min and we need to be at the ferry terminal an hour before our sailing , I've done this crossing countless times on both the big ferry and the fast catamaran , the coolest time was when I went over on the motorbikes for the NW200 with the lads , I will never forget that roar of the motorbike engines as the doors of the ferry opened slowly in Belfast harbour
 

      and this time i was lucky enough to be right at the front of the cars behind all the bikes as the doors opened and we were heading out with the roar of the engines , I've been up the Antrim coast a few times before and its a beautiful part of the world , it was great touring this area on the motorbikes with my buddies , we were there for the NW200 motorbike racing and chance would happen it was this weekend it was on again i panicked a bit thinking of road closures and how busy it was but we were arriving the Sunday as it finished so all the traffic was heading in the opposite direction ! this heading up this way we will be taking it easy in the wee bongo its a different kind of touring  from my biker days entirely this was much more relaxed , we made a small navigation error to begin with and ended up back in Belfast it cost us an hour or so but these these things happen
 

            the rest of the drive up to ballycastle went smooth enough its a lovely road and it brought back lots of happy memories of previous trips up here for me , we had been up since 9 and travelling all day after a late night and didn't arrive in ballycastle until 8 pm ! we then spent 40 mins trying to work out where to park up for the night , as our original campsite sheila had researched we couldn't find ( turns out it was a lot further out of town than we thought ) we settled on a wild camp in a lay-by behind the gold course facing the sea , it was a lovely spot and would have been perfect had it not been such shit weather ,
       

     The walk into town from the van was along the beach and it was lovely a shame it was raining , we had a look along the sea front for somewhere to eat and drink but the options were limited so we walked up to the town centre and found a bar called central bar which looked lovely it was 21:10 they stopped serving food at 9 ! we asked the barman if there was anywhere else and he said nowhere but if we wanted chinese or chippy here is the telephone numbers phone them order it and you can eat it at your bar seats ! PERFECT fish and chips at our bar stools was ideal with some nice ales
     

    the walk back to the van in the rain with my head torch on along the beach front was pleasant but we were the last people to leave the central bar after midnight , yet again disorganised but happy to get to sleep . i had a disturbed sleep as my imagination ran wild with the sound of the surf hitting the beach big waves and wind and rain , made me keep thinking the walls of the beach parking area were going to get breached ! silly thing is there was no chance of that happening it was just an overactive imagination ruining what could have been a great sleep
         

     hopefully i will get started cycling tomorrow my only concern is my knee , at present I've got a mortons neuroma on my left foot and an upper IT band strain on my right hip , but the worst is my bakers cyst a ball of fluid behind my right knee , I've not trained properly due to these injuries but hoping they will get better along the way with extra stretching and plenty rest breaks , i certainly won't be breaking any records
       

   
             because Northern Ireland is still the UK I've checked on line to see the difference in fuel price between north and south . unlike on previous driving visits to Ireland, when I had to be sure to fill up with gas before leaving the UK for the south .  I've found out that the excise rate in the Republic was 13% lower than in Northern Ireland for petrol and almost 30% lower for diesel.Forecourt prices in the Republic for petrol averaged £1.13 per litre last year, 9.5p cheaper than in Northern Ireland, and diesel averaged 95p in the south, 27p lower , its a shame the bongo is a petrol as that's a great fuel cost saving,  so I shall be keeping the bongo tank empty until we are out the UK tomorrow , so i need to put a wee drop petrol in the tank in the morning to see us over the border