HOMEWARD BOUND
8 p.m. We make it back to Timo’s parents house on Loch Neagh just in time to scoff down one of Anne Mullen’s finest Shepherds Pies, served up with hot baked beans, sausages and a Pavlova (with ice cream) for dessert.
The whole trip was almost worth it for that meal alone!
12 p.m. Back on the Stena Ferry, this time poised for a calmer crossing and hopefully a decent night’s kip. It’s Timo’s birthday, we’ve scored a pretty heavy session and there’s beer on board. Even though I’m trying to cut back on my intake, it seems rude not to celebrate.
8 a.m. Back into Liverpool as the sun comes up, with just another five hours on the motorway before we’ll be in Southampton. There is a temptation to head to the east coast to check out the aftermath of the storm, but dropping winds seem inevitable and the option of three hours less diving wins the vote.
12 p.m. Today’s headlines are a split between the death of Nelson Mandela and the massive storm and associated tidal surge. The floods that hit the east coast were reported as the most serious in the past 60 years, with thousands forced to abandon their homes, while seven cliff-top houses collapsed into the sea in Norfolk. Meanwhile, wind of up to 140 mph was reported up in the Scottish Highlands causing more havoc and chaos on the roads. Somehow we had managed to thread our way through the carnage and make it back-and-forth to Ireland with barely any disruption.
4 p.m. Timo drops me at the railway station at Southampton airport en-route to Poole, leaving just a train, bus, ferry, two more buses and a walk and I’ll be back at home! Since the final decision was made to head to Ireland, it’s now a total of 54 hours travel in exchange for four or five hours at the beach. The trip was definitely an adventure and, somewhere in my mind I have an awful premonition that I’m going to have to do it all over again in order to catch this place on its day. My gut instinct tells me that this Point Break could be insane and, knowing Timo and Finn, they’ll want to ride it again in the not-so-distant future.
6.30 p.m. I drag my bags through the front door. Seconds later the phone rings. It’s Timo “JC, East Coast looks on tomorrow …” After a moment’s hesitation, I reply: “Oh Jesus Christ – what time do we have to leave?”
THANKS TO: Stena Line ferries // www.stenaline.co.uk
