Rewinding back through the last week of summer with a few end of summer days of brightness bringing the opportunity to escape to the hills for some fresh air time.
Ridge Trail at Black Mountain
The ridge trail is a (slightly over) 4 mile route from and back to the cafe. Leaving the cafe past the wildlife garden and through the gates, you can follow the Ridge Trail sign and turn right, off the road and onto the rocky trail. It’s as simple as following this trail, over the hills and round corners to reach the top of Black Mountain to enjoy the views over the city. At the minute it’s an experience as you pass cattle grazing on the trail. They raise their heads to keep an eye on you as you pass through their hilltop territory. The views over the city are just stunning… Go and enjoy. 
Hairspray at the Grand Opera House
We love Hairspray! It’s a beautiful message of equality, body positivity, love and the joy of great music. I’ll not lie… I did feel a little emotional at the amount of love up there on stage. The cast were fantastic, it was probably our favourite out of the 4 times we’ve seen the musical over the years. The story had been tweaked slightly to include even more equality, but it reminded me that sometimes you can’t achieve something on your own, and bit of extra help from friends or colleagues helps to nudge things on a little.
A Cathedral Quarter night out
Standing outdoors on a mild night in Commercial Court, the most photographed street in the City is always an experience. There was a steady flow of tourists passing the end of the lane stopping to take a snap and get a photo to remember their night out.
Cathedral Quarter continues to evolve with new places to go to, new restaurants popping up, new hotels opening their doors and new bars ready to provide tourists with their pints. The whole area was buzzing!
Fred Olsen Bolette
We were invited on to the Bolette cruise ship when it was docked in Belfast. Cruise season is edging closer to the final ships of the year, with a little over a dozen ships left to arrive filled with tourists eager to see the city.
What did we think of it? Well, it’s an older ship with an older clientele, traditional decor and a traditional way about it, but a vibe that felt homely and cosy… and we loved that about it. The crew were a delight with the biggest smiles and a warmest welcome. We definitely felt at home.
A world cruise is on our radar in the future, and the Bolette route for the world cruise is probably our favourite we’ve seen. It’s a small ship with around 1100 passengers, so it gets into smaller ports and it visits some of our bucket list destinations. Should we? Our biggest dilemma is what do we do with our cat for 3 months!
Back to the market
Friday saw us book a spot to trade in St George’s Market for our first Friday in 3 years. It’s changed, the clientele has changed and it’s much more tourist focussed. It’s great to see so many tourists falling for the charms of StG. Then Saturday and Sunday we moved our stall to the other end of the market for our permanent spot behind the pharmacy and opposite the crazy busy Belfast Bap Co.
My Friday experience reintroduced me to some new traders I hadn’t seen in a while. And I ended up buying fudge from I Love Fudge, Moroccan Pate and some bread from Tom & Ollie and I ordered a vegan cheesecake from the Belfast Cheesecake stall. It was clearly treat day after the run on Black Mountain.
Belfast Times
I’ve been busy updating the website this last week, with a rebrand for the Autumn, adding lots of new content and generally getting ready for Autumn and Christmas.
New on the website this week:
- Read about Vacant to Vibrant and the St George’s Market trader journey here.
- A feature on Sugarhouse Entry here.
- And much more!
Have a great new week
Jeff
