Ireland, day 6

We started out with high ambitions on our first day in Belfast. Armed with an informational brochure on Colin Glen Forest Park, we planned to spend a few hours exploring the area and then head back to the city in the afternoon. It seemed easy enough to get to Colin Glen: walk to City Centre, hop on bus 10F, and hop off again at the park. When we double checked with the bus driver to make sure it was the right one, he gave us a curt nod.

As it turned out however, apparently something got lost in translation between American English and Irish English. We rode the bus clear out of town, and never saw the park. I knew we were in the right area, but something didn't quite match up.  When we asked the driver where we should get off, he gave us a dull look and said it was "a few stops back."

We got off, and as he drove away in an apathetical cloud of dust, we found ourselves stranded in the rural/suburban hills on the far outskirts of town. Great! We trudged uphill, tracing the bus route back along the deserted road. There were a few buildings, but they were old grubby looking apartments surrounded by walls. Finally we reached the area that we were pretty sure the bus driver had been referring to: an apartment complex called "Glen Colin." 

I thought the irony of the mix-up was hilarious, but no one else seemed to think so. We waited for another eon by the bus stop until another 10F came by, and this time showed the bus driver our brochure, and asked very clearly if he could take us there. "Oh yes!" he said, "I'll give you a shout when we're there!"

Thank goodness, too; we rode the bus back down passed the place where we got off the first time, and finally arrived at a stop clearly named "Colin Glen Forest Park." (Really, how hard was that?)

The park itself was a welcome relief from buses and roads and cities. There was a little nature center with a cafe where we bought sandwiches for lunch, and a wide variety of hiking trails to choose from throughout the narrow strip of preserve land.

The park followed the route of a small river, and had narrow pedestrian bridges crossing over it at various points.

There were also tons of birds at the park, including Wood Pigeons, a Grey Wagtail (first bird picture), Chaffinches (2nd bird), Song thrushes (3rd bird), Hooded Crows, and Great Tits.

Everything about the park was just gorgeous. Although it was surrounded by some slightly sketchy-looking residential buildings, it was a wonderful little oasis of greenery in the brown landscape.

From my research, I found that Belfast used to be the world center for linen manufacturing, of all things. The river that runs through Colin Glen was once used for the linen mills, and evidence of the mills can still be seen at the dam that runs under the Weir Bridge, above. Apparently there had also been a lot of logging on the land, but efforts in the 1990s were made to restore the habitat. I would say they've done a fine job!

It took us a good 3 hours to get through the park, but I really enjoyed the peacefulness of it, the beautiful environment, and the great scenery.