Forestside - City Hall

Route 6

Forestside to City Hall

This is becoming a grand tour of Belfast’s graveyards.  With our pending demises in mind, Brian and I are looking for suitable resting places.  Anyway, there was still a flicker of life left in us as we slowly plodded around Newtownbreda Cemetery and then over to the old Belvoir Graveyard. 

Newtownbreda Cemetery

Belvoir Graveyard

Did you know that Belvoir Estate was the home of the Duke of Wellington’s mum?  I assume that he gave his name to Wellington Place, Wellington College and the Welly Park.  His mother Anne gave her name to Annadale Striders (a big local running club of about 30 years ago).  The Duke was born in Dublin and he famously said: “Not everybody born in a stable is a horse”.  

We pressed onwards seeking the way over the fields towards Annadale Embankment.  When I lived in Stranmillis, I used to run through this wilderness every night but the place has now got even worse. The going got a bit difficult at times, we were lucky to survive.  After this escapade, there'll be no more complaining from us about the Thomas Patton

parkrun course.

Brian and I eventually emerged and headed for Queens PE Centre for a well earned cup of tea. If you ever want to discover what it feels like to be old, mix with students. From our prospective, everybody else in the cafe looked about 12 years old.  There was snooker on TV but no sign of our hero Darren Moffet. 

I like it in here - dry, warm and plenty of headroom.

We quickly drank our tea and left to do a tour of Botanic Park and Queens University (a good place to run out of the rain) before finishing, as usual, at the City Hall.  

Brian and a banana tree.

Checking out ideas for Valentines Day 2015.

Running gets you into some odd places - this is a QUB art exhibit.

Mossley West - City Hall

Bus Route 1

The Sunday morning bus to Mossley can never have been this busy before.  Eight of us bus-runners piled on-board.  Only three paid their fare which is a good indication of how old we all were.

John Glover wisely opts out of the first photo.

After half an hour going uphill by bus, I knew that this run was going to be wee buns.   We started at Mossley West railway station.

For half an hour, we ran continuously downhill through the excellent new Newtownabbey Way.  A footpath that originally was going to be called the Millennium Way but things ran a bit behind schedule and they had to change its name.  Never mind, it was well worth the wait.

A brief stop was made when we reached Glen Park.  Here we took photos of the impressive railway  

viaduct (am I getting old or can a concrete bridge look beautiful?).

I tried to scare the others with the story of Patricia Curran’s 1952 murder in the woods here.  The book Blue Tango by Eoin McNamee is a brilliant story based upon the incident.  I challenge anybody to read it and then go for a walk up the glen on a dark winters night.

LVAC stalwart unsportingly shoulder-charges passing girl off the path.

We reached the coast at Whiteabbey and a girl sped past us on the coast path.  Was she quick or were we slow?

Brian spots a pub on Duncrue Street.

The fun continued along Duncrue St and into the city via the paths at Clarendon Dock.   

Darren, who had been lying at the back of the group for most of the way, then made an impressive dash through the field on Oxford St to be first to reach the finish at St Georges Market.  Another win for the promising young Orangegrove AC star; I bet that goes down in his running diary.

A post-run snack.