We arrived at Belfast Port well ahead of schedule as the roads were quiet because it is Sunday and also a public holiday. We should have been on our usual overnight ferry back to Birkenhead but this was cancelled due to the 12th of July ‘celebrations’. Apparently there has been fighting on the ferry in previous years. I am quite glad to be escaping the festivities: there are Unionist flags everywhere, bonfires scheduled for tonight and marching bands tomorrow. It does give us the chance to vary our route home and so we are enroute to Cairnryan with an overnight stop in Wigtown, Scotland’s Hay on Wye. We sat watching the boats coming into the port for a while.

Our ferry came in and off it came several buses from Scotland: Glasgow, Falkirk, Motherwell and Airdrie. One had a poster, ‘The Pride of Govan Flute Band’ on the side. There were a dozen in total and it must be the only time you see a Union Jack on a Scottish bus. As we slid out of the harbour into Belfast Lough, an announcement was made regarding the therapies on offer during our sailing. I prefer to save my cash for the bookshops tomorrow. Ahead of us, the sky looks lighter and more promising for tomorrows ferreting around in bookshops.