The Irish Adventure: Part 3 27/04/14

Sunday dawned, and we enjoyed the bit of a lie-in we had (well your blogmaster certainly did!). After the hospitality of the previous night, where we had got to know so many people, it was going to be a really emotional to leave it all behind. Reflecting on the previous evening's entertainment, as the night had worn on, the lads had grouped together in one corner of the dining room with myself, Paul G, and Alex listening to hotel owner Jimmy tell us more about Belfast, and showing us card tricks as the alcohol flowed, while the ladies grouped in another corner with Jimmy's wife Alison having a general girly chit-chat and a lot of laughs over a bottle of wine, and winding down after what for some of the girls had been a stressful day. These were some truly amazing people and I was still overwhelmed - still am - by their kindness and how we had all banded together to become friends.

We enjoyed another Ulster Fry, and as we ate, we discussed how we could ever repay the kindess of these wonderful people at The Gregory, that had itself only been open for three weeks. The old cliche enter as a stranger, leave as a friend was never more appropriate than here, and to know they had built it all up in such a short timeframe was remarkable! I can't remember how the conversation got around to it, but Paul W suddenly had a lightbulb moment. We had previously discussed period advertising for the rear of 2599 once it was complete, and it was suggested that we design a suitable advert for The Gregory to apply to the rear of the bus and raise awareness of this fantastic little guesthouse. I can recall members of the guesthouse were delighted when we suggested the idea, and don't worry folks, it will happen.

The time came to make that emotional journey to check-out, and after several more laughs and many photographs, we said our emotional goodbyes to the folks at the Gregory, owner Jimmy, his wife Alison, and their sons James and David, who had made our stay in Northern Ireland something special, wishing them all the best with their new venture. We also bade farewell to Alex, our new friend from Canada who was stopping in Belfast for a while with his work, wishing him all the best, an even more emotional goodbye to Stephanie and her mother from the US who unfortunately I hadn't had as much time to get to know as some of the others (thankfully Stephanie and I still keep in touch), and to Maria and her friend who were returning to Dublin later that day.

From here, we pressed on. At the previous day's ITT rally the Ards Bus Preservation lads had kindly arranged to show us around their vast collection of vehicles, so we pressed on towards their premises, stopping off briefly to photograph the Belfast University buildings, admire one of the murals on the Newtownards Road, and for refreshments at the magnificent Stormont Hall. We met up with Robert Nogues in a lay-by near the exact location of the collection, and followed him in. On our arrival, we were greeted with the sight of Ulsterbus Leyland Leopard 1886 (OSJ620R), which Phil and Richard had been doing some work on. While we talked, Robert opened the doors to the shed and our jaws dropped at the vast collection of gems inside. Bristol RE's, Leyland Leopards, Tigers, a Lynx, a Mercedes Minicoach, there was something for everyone! For more information about the Ards collection, visit their page at http://ardsbuspreservationgroup.weebly.com/

Robert gave us the grand tour, showing us around much of the collection, and giving us a little bit of history about each vehicle, which was most interesting, many of the vehicles here being buses that you would not see back home on English soil. We were also blown away by the collection of parts the group had built up, just about everything you could need in the world of bus preservation! It was also an excellent opportunity to take some key measurements from Citybus RE 2446 that would come in useful in the restoration of our own 2599.

After our tour, we talked some more with the lads, at which point Phil offered us a short trip out in 1886, on which they had been working upon our arrival. Even better, we got the full effects of the engine with the floor traps up, and video footage does exist of this short trip. Our grins just got wider and wider with each gearchange. We returned to the shed and talking some more said our farewells to Richard, Phil and another gentleman whose name escapes me right now. Robert showed us to the local KFC where we said our goodbyes and enjoyed a quick snack before our mad dash to the ferry terminal for the long journey home.

Our Irish adventure was coming to an end, and we had so many fond memories of it all. We rolled onto the ferry at around 1930hrs, and after a chill out on the ferry and a visit to the hotel bar for your blogmaster, we set sail for Scottish shores and the long drive back to the East Midlands that lay ahead...