Route 2 Bellevue Zoo – City Hall
We started
at the Zoo.
In 1914 Belfast
suffragettes burned down the tea house here but we passed through relatively
peacefully.
We struggled
uphill, through dense bushes, alongside the Zoo’s boundary fence. Things appeared to be going unusually
well. Then Ray noticed a lion on the
other side of the fence. From then on,
Darren was given the job of going on ahead and checking for holes in the wire.
We
eventually reached the safety of Cave Hill and stopped to take some
photos.
The old house at Fortwilliam
Golf Club was once the home of Edward Langtry who married Lily Langtry who,
in turn, caused a few problems with the Royal family.
Next, we
visited Cavehill Tennis & Bowling Club.
The local suffragettes also burned down the clubhouse here.
Heading down
towards Grove Park, we came across Skegoneill & Glendore Community
Garden. A group of people in the area
are doing a lot of good work to brighten up this small area. I hope we didn’t walk on any of their plants.
Brantwood
Football Club has been around for a long time, it got its name from a street
nearby. Their £3:00 admission is certainly cheap. Would that buy a programme at Arsenal?
Grove Park
was the first place in Belfast to have playing fields. It was good to be back there again, I used to
train around the grass oval area, which I think was an early cinder running or cycling
track. Almost next door is Alexandra
Park – famous for being the only public park in the world with a
peace-wall. 
Out on the
Limestone Road, Darren showed us the school where he works. The Currie Primary School building served as
a morgue during the last war and this building is also where James Galway first
learned about music.
 |
| Run over - everything's gone blue. |
Back into
town for a coffee at Cafe Nero in Great Victoria Street and that was another bus run completed. Only one more to do and then we are all abandoning healthy eating and having a celebratory bag of chips.
