Posts In The “Europe” Category
While in Falmouth, we made a day-trip to Plymouth to visit our friends Jean and Matt Findlay and tour the town. We first met Jean and Matt in 2014 on their Beneteau 57 Superted V on Stewart Island in southern New Zealand and crossed paths an amazing number of times after, but haven’t seen them…
We crossed 9,500 hours our John Deere 6068AFM75 main engine on the 243nm run from Dublin, Ireland to Falmouth, UK. This run would take us past the strong and sometimes dangerous currents off the most western tip of the UK at Land’s End, so we we left just before midnight to catch favourable tides. Conditions…
Two massive piers, built in the early 1800s, create a huge 250-acre (101-hectare) sheltered harbour at Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary) near Dublin. Dun Laoghaire Marina is a large, 820-boat marina behind a second set of breakwaters within that protected harbour. Although the marina is outside Dublin proper, it has convenient train access to the…
While in Dublin, we made a short return trip the US to attend the Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference, held annually in Las Vegas. We arrived into San Francisco, where we spent two nights and attended an NHL (ice hockey) and an NFL (football) game, before continuing on to Las Vegas. Most of the week…
The cliff walk along Howth Head Peninsula gives sweeping views south into Dublin Bay and the town of Howth. We could see Baily Lighthouse, on Howth Head Peninsula, from Dun Laoghaire and were eager to take in the view the other way. An easy direct train ride from Dun Laoghaire brought us to Howth, where…
Trinity College, in the middle of downtown Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I. In 1661 it became home to The Book of Kells, a lavishly illustrated Gospel manuscript and one of the oldest books in the world. The book was produced in the 9th century at the Iona Abbey in southwest Scotland, that…
We’d been monitoring our fuel levels with the hopes of waiting until we return to Ireland in November to refuel since the prices are better there. We succeeded, and arrived at Dun Laoghaire with only 310 total gallons (1,178L) of fuel on board and needing 1,438 gallons (5,443L). Dun Laoghaire Marina has an easy-to-use fuel…
We spent our first couple of days in Dun Laoghaire exploring the area, including a visit to the nearby National Maritime Museum of Ireland and a late-afternoon walk around downtown Dublin. We strolled along statue-filled O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare, and along the River Liffey that runs through town, where the many bridges are beautifully…
We returned to the Republic of Ireland at Dublin after four months in the UK. Conditions on the overnight run from Liverpool were rougher than predicted, with winds blowing 30-40 kts on the bow and a maximum pitch of 21.9°. But the winds eventually settled down and we had calm weather for the last part…
Liverpool Marina was a great base for exploring the city and surrounding area—it’s an easy easy walk from the marina to the waterfront attractions at Royal Albert Dock and downtown. We spent nearly two weeks there, enjoying beautiful Liverpool and particularly the spectacular Bonfire Night fireworks display. Liverpool also is the home of KVH Media…
York Minster, built mainly between 1220 and 1480, is one of the largest medieval cathedrals in Northern Europe and among the most beautiful Gothic buildings in the world. While it is a real highlight of a visit to York, the city has a number of other attractions, including the superb National Railway Museum, the largest…
Liverpool Cathedral is the largest church in Britain, and the fifth largest in the world. Construction began in 1904, funded largely through private donations from wealthy Liverpool residents during the height of the city’s commercial shipping success. Everything about it is on a massive scale: the central aisle height is 166ft (35m) and the internal…
Liverpool is perhaps best known as the hometown of the Beatles, but that’s only a small part of the city’s heritage. It has been a major shipping center since the 1700s and by the early 19th century 40% of the world’s trade passed through its ports. The entire downtown Liverpool waterfront is a series of…
Manchester has been a major manufacturing center since the Industrial Revolution. Many things were made there, including Jennifer. She was born in Manchester on October 31st and we made an overnight trip there from Liverpool on Halloween to celebrate her birthday. The trip highlight was tickets at the famous O2 Apollo theater for Kaleo, a…
We reached the mouth of the River Mersey late in the afternoon of October 30th, 2017 following an easy 150-mile overnight run from Belfast. Night fell as we ran the last 15 miles upriver to Liverpool, and it was completely dark when we reached the city. The River Mersey has a tidal range of 33ft…
Belfast Harbour Marina opened in 2009 in the city’s rejuvinated Titanic Quarter and provides an excellent base for accessing the city. The marina is the first we’ve been to that is completely self-serve: moorage can’t be reserved in advance and is paid daily through a ticket machine similar to that in a car park. We…
In several days of touring around Belfast we’d seen no signs of the violence, known as “The Troubles”, that once made it among the world’s most dangerous cities. Of the 1,541 killings there, most ocurred north and west of the city and it is in West Belfast that evidence of the conflict is still prominent….
Belfast’s Titanic Quarter stands on part of the shipyard where the ill-fated vessel was built and is one of the world’s largest urban-waterfront regeneration projects. The 185-acre (75 hectare) site includes Titanic Studios, Belfast Harbour Marina, and hotel, office, education, retail and apartment complexes. The district also is home to a number of excellent nautical…