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Derry Scary Ghouls

13th October 202513th October 2025 funtime65

So how does a town of 85,000 in the north-west of Ireland become Europe’s Halloween capital… well, it’s a tale of Derry Scary Ghouls.

Derry, was, of course, catapulted into popular consciousness for those outside its famous walls by the sitcom Derry Girls.

And one of the favourite of the many iconic murals in the Town I Loved So Well now is of those Derry Girls and the ‘English boy’.

Now there would be a case for the force of nature that is Sister Michael having her special place at Samhain too.

Best bar none

Of course, Ireland, proudly claims the Halloween festival as having its origins on the island.

And that the Irish brought their traditions and customs with them across to Britain, America and the world.

Now like almost everything else Irish, Derry’s place in the story started in a pub.

Back in 1985 which makes this year’s 40th anniversary Halloween celebrations all the bigger and better.

It was then that landlord Brian Doherty threw a seasonal party in his bar, possibly to lift people’s spirits from the Troubles.

It surprised nobody that it was a huge success, spilling out on to the streets… alas, though because of a bomb scare.

Derry old time

A defiant lot though the Derry folk they would not be put off and the city council set up a small stage in Guildhall Square the next year.

With live music, marking the start of an official city-organised celebration.

Among the festivities over the four days, October 28-31, which draw tens of thousands to Derry.

Old Derry’s walls

Visitors are encouraged to follow the Awakening the Walled City Trail through six atmospheric zones to find out more about the folklore and heritage that makes this place so special.

And savour the Samhain Market or treat the kids to a Trick or Treat Trail & Kids’ Disco at the Guildhall… or hands-on workshops.

The main programme peaks with the fabulous Halloween Carnival Parade on October 31.

As thousands of costumed revellers take to the streets before the skies above the River Foyle blaze in a breathtaking Fireworks Finale.

Countries, Ireland, UK

The epic Titanic in Belfast

9th September 20249th September 2024 funtime65

It must be an Irish thing, a word that means the opposite of itself, like grand and tragic, the unique, epic Titanic in Belfast.

The workmen in the yellow-vis jackets are clanking on the gantries on the Queens Dock the day I visit.

Close your eyes and for all intents and purposes you could be back in the Belfast of 1911, only it was a bit noisier then.

And these workers are putting up offices.

Belfast’s Titanic story was, in truth, not inside but here on the docks.

Yard that built the Titanic

No passenger ever got on the Titanic in Belfast (they maybe knew better).

With Southampton the departure point for New York.

But 100,000, half the population of the city today, attended to see the ship slip into the water on its completion in 1911.

And that number and more have been coming to the Titanic Quarter, which includes a hotel, a film studios and distillery.

Since 2012 when it opened on the centenary of the pride of the White Star sinking off Canada with the loss of 1,517 lives.

Get into Titanic character

Time, cash, and a far more important appointment with an old pal precludes me.

From taking the hour and a half tour.

Which, to be fair, is award-winning, with visitors (£25pp online) invited.

To adopt the character of real-life passengers on board.

Fun for all the family then, as long as that family is not the Sunaks.

And who can forget his ill-timed visit during the election.

When his keystone policy was ‘to stop the boats’?

Hello and Welcome

The sheer scale of the Titanic is perhaps best mapped out.

By the metal posts that map out its size all the distance of the quay.

While the display boards and indexes explain who went where and who survived… First Class mainly.

And the history of Belfast as a shipbuilding and maritime hub and latter-day Game of Thrones centre.

The H and W of the yellow Harland and Woolf cranes, locally named Samson and Goliath, are an iconic reminder.

Of that yard’s place in the Belfast story.

Celebrated too by air pilots as passengers fly into Belfast.

And they announce that the H and W means Hello and Welcome.

The sight too of a Stena ship tells us that as absorbing as the epic Titanic in Belfast is this is an operational dock.

And that Michael, who helps promote my go-to ferry from Ireland to Scotland, is waiting for me in the Titanic Hotel bar.

Although at £259 per night my largesse only stretched to coffees!!!

MEET YOU ON THE SEAS

Countries, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Simple Irish message from festive Fermanagh

29th November 202329th November 2023 funtime65

Do we really need another Dawn French saccharine M&S Christmas advert… no, give us a simple Irish message from festive Fermanagh.

Enniskillen, in the north of Ireland, is seared into the international consciousness for an atrocity which befell the town.

On Remembrance Day 36 years go.

Which is marked now with a lasting memorial.

So it is reviving to see the market town now celebrated for its message of peace and brotherhood rather than decried for its darkest hour.

The unlikely heroes of this story are an old man who seeks companionship and shelter from the cold.

Charlie Bravo

Having placed flowers on a grave and having been ignored on the street he pops into Charlie’s Bar.

Where a dog sits himself opposite the old man and a couple at the bar follow their mutt to sit and sup with him.

And not a mince pie, turkey, stuffing, cracker or anything else that M&S are selling this Christmas, in sight.

Of course, the message that manageress Una Burns is sharing in the £700 video.

Which has garnered millions of views on X and 60,000 likes on TikTok is hospitality and companionship.

Which is, of course, the essence of Irishness.

Now, being a son of Irish hotel and bar people, with a sprinkling of weaver and shop people from this part of the world, I can vouch for that.

The bar is the ideal starting and finishing point on your tour of the Fermanagh Lakelands.

Where you can explore the waterways, caves and historic sites and go walking, kayaking and hydrobiking.

Of course, all of that will put a thirst on you and that is best slaked with a pint of plain as they say in these parts… the magical Guinness.

But Fermanagh also boasts a thriving gin industry too in a setting unmatched anywhere we’d wager.

Joe McGirr’s pride and joy Boatyard Distillery is on the banks of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland and can accessed by both boat and road.

And we know which one would be more fun.

Enniskillen native Joe learned his trade well in Edinburgh and in ten years at the Glenmorangie distillery in Tain in the Highlands.

Before adapting his new-found knowledge back home in Ireland.

Which we, of course, road tested instead pf working one autumn day in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

Of course our Christmas old man and his pals prefer a Guinness around the table.

And the doggie a bowl of water at Charlie’s.

But whatever your tipple the simple Irish message from festive Fermanagh is the Gaelic watchword Fáilte.

Canada, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

The Queen’s platinum destinations

6th February 20225th February 2022 funtime65

When you’ve already visited 120 countries (there are 195) then it’s difficult to choose your best… but here to mark her 70th anniversary of her coronation today, are the Queen’s platinum destinations.

But some stats before we go travelling…

Her Maj has sailed over one million miles on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Now docked along the road from Murty Palace in Leith.

And she has travelled the equivalent of 42 times around the globe (and to think My Queen has only been round once!)

All of this too without the need for a passport.

African queen

Princess Elizabeth was on her travels, naturally, when she succeeded her Dad, King George VI in 1952, in Kenya.

The 70 years actually starts from this year as that was when she was crowned.

The story goes that she was up a tree at the time with her husband, Prince Philip.

Although this was no shinnying up the bark, or a kiddies’ treehouse.

It was the three-room hotel, Treetops, built into the top of a large tree.

And only closed last October because of Covid.

And in one of the other rooms, hunter Jim Corbett stayed awake to make sure no wildlife got near.

Queen of Scots

No such problems in Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland.

It is said to be the Queen’s favourite place in the whole wide world.

It was in the Balmoral Estate (a favourite too of Queen Victoria’s) that she took refuge from the storm after Princess Diana’s death in 1997.

Of course the 54 countries of the Commonwealth have taken up most of the Queen’s time.

Canadian HRH

Loyal subjects: Canadians love the Queen

And Canada most of all where she has visited 27 times.

A favourite too of her parents.

There were in fact contingency plans in place for the Royal Family to take refuge there from the Nazis in Britain’s darkest hour.

It’s hard to imagine, of course, now but the most famous woman on the planet was once a navy officer’s wife.

Albeit that officer being a prince, Philip.

Malta monarch

And she lived on base with Philip in Malta, the jewel of the Mediterranean.

Where she is said to have loved the easier pace of life than back home.

Among other aspects of her life which are less known is that the Queen is a Francophile, a fluent Gallic speaker, and that she also likes German.

No Teuton gags here or it will be oaf with der head!

Friend of Ireland

Her Maj has naturally been a regular visitor to Northern Ireland.

But it was only in 2011 that she set foot in the south of the island.

Where she was an instant hit, not least when she blethered with a stall holder in the English Market in Cork.

The Royal Bucket List

That leaves just 75 countries for Queenie to visit too (and she won’t let her 95 years put her off).

Among them Greece, where Philip had some unresolved issues, Madagascar, Cuba, Israel and Peru.

And that leaves the rest of us in the ha’penny place (her head was on that too) when it comes to the Queen’s platinum destinations.

And as the gratitudes are handed out over the course of the year, what most people will be glad of, is the four bank holidays Britons are getting this year.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Flying turtles to the Canaries

15th September 202115th September 2021 funtime65

And let’s not be shellfish here that someone else is getting abroad, that Aer Lingus is flying turtles to the Canaries.

No lateral flow tests, no 72-hour PCR test, no passenger locator forms…

Well, this turtle is Canarian.

Julius Caesar (stay with me here) has been kicking his stubby feet in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, for the best part of a year and a half.

The loggerhead sea turtle washed ashore in 2019.

Hail Caesar

Crate expectations: JC gets the deluxe treatment

Julius Caesar, thus named by the Donegal family who found him because of his fighting spirit, has been recuperating in Down.

At the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry where they have put the poor fella back together again.

JC was just three months old when he was swept along the current (and who hasn’t been there).

And he was carried along the Gulf Stream to Co. Donegal.

Donegal diver

Just the ticket: And it’s Turtle luxury on Aer Lingus

The poor wee thing was underweight, just under a few hundred grammes, and suffering from hypothermia.

So it was just as well that it was Donegal where he was found.

Because Ireland’s most northern county boasts the warmest people in the world.

OK I’m biased as my Dear Old Mum and her people are daughter and sons of the sod.

The Ulster folk are famous for their hospitality as anyone who has enjoyed their ‘wee’ Ulster Fry will testify.

Turtle’s Ulster Fry

Turtle loving care: And the crew is besotted

So it’s no surprise Donegal’s fellow Ulsterians filled JC up.

Those pounds piled up on a diet of fish mixture, squid and gel.

Just a thought here but I might just have been a turtle in a previous life.

As I’ve got on famously with them in Barbados and in the Maldives.

Well, after 20 months being pampered in Ireland the day finally came today for JC to head home to the Canaries.

And when you travel from Ireland you need to promote the national airline carrier.

And of course Aer Lingus was only too happy to fly JC on the EI 782 to veterinarian Pascual Calabuig at the Tarifa Wildlife Recovery Centre on Gran Canaria.

Turtle on board

It’ll take longer: The swim back to the Canaries

JC’s minder Portia Simpson is going along for the company.

Our turtle, now weighing 25kg, is protected in a specially designed waterproof crate.

I can only say the best things about Aer Lingus’s flight experience… and the same can be said for turtles.

JC is not the first turtle that Aer Lingus has repatriated.

Another rogue loggerhead turtle, Leona, was found in Co. Clare in 2013 and transported to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria by Aer Lingus in December 2014.

This is your pilot speaking

Next time I’m flying: And i’ll choose Aer Lingus

Pilot Captain Peter Lumsden introduced the VIP to the passengers.

‘It is our pleasure to welcome aboard a very special passenger today and to ensure the safe transportation of JC the Turtle to Gran Canaria.

‘Keeping the turtle’s temperature above 19 degrees is critical to his wellbeing and he requires regular monitoring and shell lubrication so placing him in the aircraft hold was not an option.

‘Like all of us on the flight today, I’m sure he is looking forward to the warmer climate upon landing.’

Turtle minder

And so say all of me. The Canaries are a pleasure any time of the year, but especially in the late summer after a year in cold storage.

So the next time Portia needs a hand, then I’d be happy to fly turtles to the Canaries.

Countries, Deals, Ireland, UK

Fifty years of Belfast’s Europa Hotel

7th September 20217th September 2021 funtime65

Once the world’s most bombed hotel, after being targeted 33 times, it’s metamorphosed in the Fifty years of Belfast’s Europa Hotel.

Part of the fixtures and fittings of the daycent old town they call Belfast.

It has been a favoured hangout for journos all that time.

Back in the day the Irish Times Belfast office relocated there (to work!) after their offices were gutted following a car bomb.

While there have been a pantheon of celebrated journalists who have frequented the Europa.

And those who reported on The Troubles are Trevor McDonald, Kate Adie and John Sergeant.

And yours truly and a group of journos from south of the Border.

Your only man

The Penthouse Poppets: Belfast’s bunny girls

We got bombed too (drinks!).

And don’t get all PC on me as our Nordie pals are all about the gallows humour.

The night was a Van Morrison cabaret dinner and the drink was flowing.

While there was also the obligatory stumble across to Belfast institution the Crown for a nightcap or two.

In this instant orange stout, and I kid you not.

The Europa has been owned by the inimitable Hastings family for the past 30 years..

And as you would expect they’re laying out the red carpet for the big 50th anniversary celebrations.

Hastings the last word

Former US President, Bill Clinton with concierge Martin Mulholland.

They have invested over £40m in renovations and have added 88 new luxurious bedrooms to the existing 184.

A new renovation programme is currently underway.

It will see the 90 front-facing superior bedrooms, 85 classic bedrooms and six suites redesigned and upgraded.

Of course, there will always be some rooms which are kept for Presidents (and Travel Editors of the Year).

Clinton fits the bill

And as well as yours truly, Bill Clinton has been a visitor, in 1995.

He booked 110 rooms for his entourage. He returned to stay in 1998.

The Europa story was told in a book published ten years ago called In The Headlines because it always was.

Julie noted

And CEO Julie Hastings proudly recalled: ‘My father had the courage and optimism to buy it when nobody else wanted to.

‘He invested heavily at the time despite the bombings that followed over the next three years.

‘It was his confidence and that of many others that led to Belfast, and Northern Ireland, to begin its journey, to become the well-loved tourist destination that it is today.’

The Europa has launched a Golden Moments package from £115 per room which includes a plush stay, full Irish, signature cocktail in the Piano Lounge, signature truffles and exclusive golden Hastings duck.

And for those of you who haven’t stayed in a Hastings hotel, and if not why not, then you’ll know that rubber ducks are their signature.

Eider expect Julie will have one lined up with a typically punny name to join the likes of her others in the past such as Rory Quackilroy.

America, Countries, Europe, Sport

Open again for golf

15th July 202115th July 2021 funtime65

A lot has happened in the last two years since I sat drenched on the banks of the Royal Portrush greens but now we’re Open again for golf,

It is doubtful whether the demure folk of Royal St George’s in Sandwuch, Kent on the English south coast will holler their man home.

The way the Northern Irish did County Offaly’s Shane Lowry on that deluge of a day in County Antrim.

Champion Golfer

Shane has been a unique Champion Golfer of the Year in that his reign has spanned two years.

After last year’s tournament was cancelled because of Covid.

A bit like your Travel Editor of the Year who was honoured by Irish Travel as their Travel Editor of the Year in 2019 before the world shut down.

And is yet to truly open again.

Ben Sayers outside my house in North Berwick

Golfers have, of course, been waiting excitedly to get their clubs packed again for foreign trips.

Shane knows he has little to worry from this direction as I usually stick to the driving range.

But here’s a mixed bag of my golfing misadventures abroad. Fore!

Quatre en France

The Old Course, Cannes, France: And continental Europe’s oldest course is where to play with Cannes’ Fast Set.

You’ll even have la joie of traversing a small stream between holes on a boat.

But be sure to remember the international language of golf when slicing your shot.

As I was reminded by the match behind to shout Fore. Needless to say it wasn’t Bryson DeChambeau!

My Ryder

Quinta do Lago, Portugal: Word had obviously reached Paul McGinley and his Golf Academy in the Algarve.

That I was open for golf again.

My driving was better than my riding with me going off road on our cycle and almost ending up with the spoonbill birds.

Another round in Vegas

Topgolf, Las Vegas: And in Vegas the pitchers are the jugs of booze.

They come to your golf range table with chicken wings and dips. And it helps with your golf driving.

As I also found on a Liverpool course as a guest of Irish Ferries and Jameson Whiskey where a drinks trolley would come round every few holes.

What a Player

Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, Wirral: The north-west of England rivals Scotland as Golfland and where I wrote a golf column.

And where I got the tip that a Japanese TV station were filming a round with Gary Player and would I like to join them.

While I channeled my inner Gary at the Press round before an Open and putted back off the clubhouse wall as Gary did in ‘74.

Turk that

Turkish Airlines Lounge, Istanbul Airport: And the dream of golf nuts who will find every opportunity to play…

An airport lounge driving range on the way back from Istanbul.

Just go easy on the cornucopia of food and drink at the TA lounge or you’ll follow through.

So we’re Open for golf again and there’s an Open invitation to you all to come and see us in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland.

Although my cousin Greg is still avoiding me after he stood too close to me on the tee box at North Berwick Golf Club

When we were kids and I clunked him on the head. Fore!

Countries, Culture, Ireland, Music, UK

Song for Ulster

12th July 202112th July 2021 funtime65

The 12th of July means something in Northern Ireland and its hinterland so today it’s Rainy Days and Songdays Song for Ulster.

No, not the songs you would hear on the marches and matches but the best of Ulster from the charts.

Alternative

SLF: Belfast bravado. http://www.imdb.com

Stiff Little Fingers (Alternative Ulster): And first up is the pride of Ulster punk.

Belfast boys SLF used the backdrop of The Troubles for material and recorded the first single Suspect Device disguised as a suspect bomb.

The producer thought it was real and contacted the band for a real one. Instead we give you the brilliant Alternative Ulster.

Get your kicks

Call them up on the telephone: The Undertones

The Undertones (Teenage Kicks): It is the stuff of punk legend that SLF and Derry’s finest The Undertones did not get on.

The Undertones accused SLF of sensationalising The Troubles and the violence.

Teenage Kicks famously initially had the line: ‘I wanna hold it, hold it tight’.

An Ode to Derry

Phil Coulter (The Town I Loved So Well): When a composer speaks with honesty and experience about his world (Derry)then the results are memorable.

Phil, of course, had musical pedigree before this, his signature song, having written Eurovision classics Congratulations and Puppet On A String.

Comedy classic

The Divine Comedy (National Express): And you’ve got to love a band with a lyric: ‘And it’s hard to get by/when your arse is the size of a small country.

Derry’s Neil Harmon also penned an album The Duckworth Lewis Method. Geinius.

Van the Belfast Man

Van Morrison (Madame George): The poet laureate of Belfast, Van may be a grumpy old sod but he’s never forgotten his roots.

You can still see him at one of his legendary cabarets at the Europa Hotel although, alas, characters like Madame George are long gone,

And a special mention too to the three Ulster counties in the Republic of Ireland…

The Republic Counties

Donegal and Clannad and Harry’s Game over Daniel O’Donnell.

Hipsters Cavan and The Strypes and Blue Collar Jane.

And Monaghan with their history of Country music and ‘Big Tom’ McBride and his Gentle Mother. And my Country Roads.

Raff, you handsome prince

Can I be in your band: Michael and Travel set

But the last word goes to the North’s finest… my pal Michael Rafferty who has been playing covers of our favourites every night through lockdown.

And Michael is locking it down, deservedly at 500.

Check out his Handsome Princes and Michael tells me he’s the handsomest of them all.

It’s my Rainy Days and Songdays Song for Ulster.

Countries, Culture, Ireland, UK

H is for Hastings Hotels in Belfast

17th June 202117th June 2021 funtime65

Say Hastings in Belfast and, sucking with diesel, you’ll be steered towards its hotels. Yes, H is for Hastings Hotels in Belfast.

For those who have been living under a rock (Ted) Hastings is also the Head Honcho of TV’s Line of Duty.

And we all know that suspicion fell on Adrian Dunbar’s character.

Thar he could be the ringleader of a cop corruption circle.

Tour de Force

All of which you can see on the walls and in the language of the locals

And this is where our friends at Hastings Hotels ramp it up.

Hastings and McCombs Coaches have launched the first Line of Duty Experience around the Northern Irish capital.

You’ll kick off your tour with brekkie (make it a Full Irish) in the iconic Grand Central Hotel’s Grand Cafe.

Location, location, location

Before you’re taken around locations you’ll recognise from the show.

And finish it all off in the highest cocktail bar in Ireland, the Observatory.

With an AC12 cocktail or Wee Donkey mocktail.

The GCH is the place to stay in Belfast and I always take my friends.

To which they’ve naturally added this year The Line of Duty Duck.

Caroline McComb from McComb’s Coach Travel and Cáelán McVeigh from Grnnd Central

That’s my duckies from around the world among them the famously themed Hastings quackers.

Diesel Duck

Or to put my take on it ‘Diesel’ Duck.

And Duckie will also boast some of Northern Ireland’s best-known sayings.

Go on yersel’ Julie Hastings, Marketing Director of Hastings Hotels.

She said: ‘This is a unique tour which takes in some of the most exciting filming locations across Belfast City Centre.

‘And while you may not float up the Lagan in a bubble, you will certainly enjoy the best views of Belfast and beyond.’

The tour starts at Grand Central Hotel in Bedford Street, next to the Invest NI building, AC-12’s HQ.

The Line of Duty Experience packs in a lot for your £49pp.

If we say you’ll channel the scenes where Kate Fleming shot Ryan Pilkington, Kate (again) shot Dot Cotton’s car killing him you’ll get the idea.

The Line of Duty Experience takes place on July 3, 17 and 31, August 14 and 28 and September 11 and 25.

Sign me up for H is for Hastings Hotels in Belfast.

Countries, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

A wee Irish breakfast?

6th June 20216th June 2021 funtime65

It’s the question every Irish guest house landlady or hotel waitress will ask you… a wee Irish breakfast?

Of course no Full Irish breakfast is ever anything like wee.

So to celebrate the reopening of Irish guest houses and breakfasts this week on top of hotels last week a celebration of The Wee Irish.

And a Sunday confession from where they do it best… Northern Ireland.

Tis Grand

The Grand Central Hotel Belfast puts on one of the best breakfasts you’ll find anywhere on the island. Or anywhere anywhere.

Alas the Observatory Bar with the best views of Belfast does the best cocktails too.

The wine flows like water at the Europa Hotel.

Where if you’re lucky you can take in a cabaret dinner watching Van Morrison and his jazz pal Joey DeFrancesco at the Europa Hotel.

While the combination of two Scotsmen abroad finishing off with an orange stout nightcap in the iconic Crown Bar…

Full Irish

And so when the Full Irish arrived the next morning my eyes quickly sent a message to my belly.

And I could touch neither pork sausages, crispy bacon, scrambled or poached sausages or black pudding and mushrooms.

All of which nearly saved me for my reunion with The Son and Heir at his digs and a walk around town and through the Botanical Gardens.

Now while the Grand Central offers up an Irish Breakfast for inclusivity, a couple of words more here on The Ulster Fry.

The Ulster Fry

The Hairy Bikers point us in the right direction.

And for those who want to know how an Ulster Fry might deviate from a Full English, well…

Potato farls anyone? Well they’re a delicious potato and flour flat fried savoury cake.

Soda bread? And there was always this slice of Ireland on our breakfast table in our Scots-Irish house growing up.

It’s pretty much as it says on the packet, if the packet is in the shape of a wee Ulster mammy, of which my Dear Wee Mum is one.

The Nine Counties

Belfast boys: With the Son and Heir in Belfast

The secret ingredient is, of course, magic Ulster fairy dust.

More too here on Ulster and I’m not being political here but the province is bigger than the country Northern Ireland.

So that’s the six counties of the North, Armagh, Antrim, Down, Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

And the three from the South, Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, with my Mum’s county Donegal in the South but further North.

Irish logic

Well, that’s Irish logic for you.

Only to mention this because I did manage to get my Ulster Fries of my Donegal youth.

And when on best behaviour with the Scary One elsewhere in the Northern Irish capital, and in Monaghan.

So a wee Irish breakfast anyone?

Well, yes, but watch out for the wee night out the night before and the invitation for a wee drink?