Monday, 10 Aug: I decided to spend a few days in southwest Scotland first, and took the train to Dumfries on Sunday. Ive been to Dumfries many times because my son lives near there, but I had never explored the small towns west of Dumfries. I cycled through several interesting and unusual things along the way, my favourite was a sculpture of a Belted Galloway cow. At night I stayed in Newton Stewart, which had a community-operated cinema, so I went in and watched the latest Spiderman movie. I’ve pretty much given up on commercial cinema chains, but the community cinema was nice.

Tuesday, 11 Aug: I stayed a second night in Newton Stewart, which is a nice town with some lovely areas. During the day I cycled to the Galloway International Dark Skies Park, which is a remote area with dark skies for stargazing. My wife has talked about going here, so I decided to check it out (in the day, not at night). Very pretty with minimal light pollution, so I picked up info on local accomodation in case we decide to visit for a few nights. Of course the danger is that it would be cloudy (this is Scotland, after all), but maybe worth a try!

Wednesday, 12 Aug: I cycled to the ferry port at Cairnryan, and took the ferry to Larne in Northern Ireland. Along the way I passed some windfarms. I know some people object to windfarms, but we need clean energy and I also think its pretty neat to see a field of windmills in the Scottish countryside! The ferry ride was just two hours, on a boat where cyclists were clearly an afterthought (they told me to put my bike on a bus, which drove onto the ferry; always before I’ve just ridden or walked my bike onto a ferry). Cairnryan is one of the main ferry ports connecting Northern Ireland to the rest of UK, and most of the traffic is lorries (trucks) carrying goods.

Thursday, 13 Aug: My first day in Northern Ireland! I cycled north from Larne along the Antrim coast, which was absolutely stunning. The UK Met Office had issued a bad weather alert for Thursday afternoon, so after lunch I put my bike on a train to Derry. Which was much more peaceful than the 1980s, I did not see a single soldier! I visited the Museum of Free Derry, which gave the “Catholic” perspective on the Troubles, which was pretty similar to what my Irish friends told me when I lived in Cork in the 1980s. On Monday (see below) I got the “Protestant” perspective from a different museum in Derry.

Friday, 14 Aug: My former PhD student Craig Thomson lives in a small town south of Derry, and I cycled to his house to visit for the weekend. I took a route which crossed the border (between UK and Republic of Ireland) several times, and the border was completely invisible. There were signs saying “Welcome to [Town]”, but no signs saying “Welcome to UK” or “Welcome to Ireland”. The only difference was that the road signs switched from miles to km, and the currency switched from pounds to euros. The people I met also completely ignored the border. Indeed some lived in the Republic and worked in UK or vice-versa. The most surprising event was meeting a cyclist who knew me! Turned out he was retired faculty at Aberdeen University and was also doing a cycling holiday in the area. Small world…

Saturday, 15 Aug: I hung out with Craig, his wife Louise, and their dog Freddie. We went to the Marble Arch Cave, which was very impressive. We travelled by boat part of the way in the cave, which I have not done before. Afterward we visited a castle and history museum in the nearby town of Enniskillen. The history museum had loads of material on early, medieval, Victorian, etc, but said absolutely nothing about the Troubles, despite the fact that some pretty horrific events happened in this area. Which seemed somewhat bizarre, but I guess recent history (within living memory) can be difficult for some people. But anyways at night we watched the TV sitcom Derry Girls (mentioned above), which describes life in Derry during the Troubles.

Sunday, 16 Aug: I spent another day with Craig, Louise, and Freddy, in part because of weather concerns. We visited the Ulster-Americal Folk Park, which was a “living history” museum where volunteers and staff role-played people who lived in the region and moved to USA. It was really interesting to me, in part because my own ancestors moved to the US from Eastern Europe, and a lot of what I saw in this museum would have also applied to them. Incidentally, while huge numbers of people emigrated from Ireland to USA in the 1700s and 1800s, in 2026 there are more Americans moving to the Irish Republic than vice-versa (BBC news); shows how the world has changed!

Monday, 17 Aug: I said goodbye to Craig, Louise, and Freddy, and cycled back to Derry, in miserable weather – it took around 3 hours, and it rained for the entire period. I don’t mind a bit of rain, its part of the cycling “experience”, but non-stop rain is no fun. I decided to go no further, and visited the Apprentice Boys Museum in Derry, which gives a “Protestant” perspective on recent history and the Troubles; very different from the “Catholic” museum I visited on Friday! Anyways, I guess it was good to see both museums. Derry also has a very impressive pedestrian “Peace Bridge” over the river, which I hung out on when the rain stopped for a bit.

Tuesday, 18 Aug: Weather was good in the morning so I cycled north along the coast of Donegal (Republic) and then took a ferry back to UK; again the border was completely invisible. I cycled along the coast, which was popular with families going to the beach (I had lunch in the cafe of a family beach resort). Really impressive scenery the whole way, its a beautiful part of the world. However I was not impressed with Google Maps when it suggested that I cycle along a road which was part of a military training area… Forecast for afternoon was poor, so I got a train to Belfast.

Wednesday, 19 Aug: Poor weather forecast so I stayed in Belfast and looked at museums. The most impressive was the Titanic Museum. It didn’t just talk about the ship, there also was a lot about the shipyards and indeed Belfast at the time the Titanic was built. I also visited the Ulster Museum, which tried to give a more balanced perspective on the Troubles (as opposed to the two partisan museums I visited in Derry), along with further back history. This museum also reinforced my impression that Northern Ireland had changed less since the 1980s than the Republic. The Republic in 2026 has made huge economic and social progress since the 1980s, which was gratifying for me to see. Northern Ireland has also evolved, but at a slower pace. Of course the Troubles have ended, which is a huge change for the better, but echoes of them persist, as seen in a poster I saw by the university

Thursday, 20 Aug: Weather was better so I got the train back to the north coast (near where I picked it up on Tuesday) and continued cycling along the coast. As part of this I visited the Giant’s Causeway, which is a bizarre geological formation which looks like the start of a bridge to Scotland (which according to legend was built by an Irish Giant that wanted to cross to Scotland so that he could fight a Scottish Giant). Anyways, it was amazing scenery along the coast (not just the Giant’s Causeway), and indeed also at the country guesthouse I spent the night in.

Friday, 21 Aug: I cycled along the coast back to Larne, where I got the ferry back to Scotland. Again the coastal scenery was incredible. The coastal road was also fairly quiet despite the fact that it was a major “A” road. I like to cycle on quiet roads which often means potholed lanes that meander around the countryside, so really nice to cycle on a quiet road with excellent surface and a direct route! At one stop, I mentioned to a local couple that I was from Scotland, and they pointed across the water to some distant hills and told me this was Scotland. I looked at a map and realised I was only 20-30km from Scotland, I had not realised that Scotland was so close to Northern Ireland