Ireno Day 7: The Bridge

Kit and Ric arrived in Derry late this morning, and there was a bit of a surprise waiting.

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On the way to Derry this morning with Ric’s wife, Dusty, she told me another friend from the ship, Cyndi, was on her way too. “She is?!” I said. First I had heard about it. Her apartment roommate, Deborah, too.

Deborah messaged me a little while later to say she was on the way. Suspecting she didn’t really know where to go (Derry is the 5th largest city on the island of Ireland), I messaged back: the Peace Bridge, and I was expecting around 11:00. She replied to say Mike and Amy were with them too. It’s gonna be a party!

We arrived with enough time to spare that we stopped for coffee, and I checked to see where the Peace Bridge is: the bus station where we arrived is about as close as one could be. The train station is on the other side of the river and down maybe a half mile. Cyndi and crew were coming in on the train.

We had a little time to kill, so we took a quick spin to the wall: “Derry is the only remaining completely intact walled city in Ireland, and one of the finest examples of a walled city in Europe,” says Wikipedia. “The walls constitute the largest monument in State care in Northern Ireland and, as part of the last walled city to be built in Europe, stand as the most complete and spectacular.”

Walking ’round the entire wall is a little less than a mile’s stroll, but it’s on a hillside, and some of it is pretty steep. We didn’t have time for the full walk, but I wanted a particular photo:

“I find it fascinating that they have a cannon pointed at that church,” I said to another tourist taking photos. “I know!!” she laughed. Her accent was definitely American. Turns out it’s not a church: it’s essentially city hall — the seat of the local government. Of course, the building wasn’t there when the wall was built in the 16th century. The land in front of the wall is fill: the river came almost to the wall.

We needed to get to the bridge but I spotted this monument on the wall, and it stopped me in my tracks. I’ve never heard of any city with a monument like this, and it’s pretty stunning in its self-awareness.

“In Memory of All Those from Within the Derry City and Stradane District Council Area Who Have Lost Their Lives as a Result of War and Conflict” reads the older one. That’s not the one I mean.

It’s the newer one that I found so stunning: “In Memory of all those killed by weapon systems produced within this City & District.”

Chilling.

Off to Meet Kit and Ric

They started, as noted in the previous report, near Ardmore: Kit had grown up in Ardmore — Oklahoma — and she wanted to breeze by this one. Done!

It’s not a long walk from there: around 2 hours. Dusty and I used up that time with our coffee break and quick look at the wall, and headed for the bridge. On arrival I checked the map to see where Kit was. Outskirts of the city. Knowing Cyndi and the others were coming on the train, we walked to the other side of the bridge — Kit was coming from that direction too.

Then my phone rang — an Irish phone number. Hmm… before I went to bed last night I had alerted a couple more press contacts. Sure enough, so a quick detour to…

Media

The call was from Brendan at the Derry News, saying that he was walking toward us. He arrived before Kit and Ric, and recorded a lengthy interview with me while we waited. He didn’t use much from my comments: Kit and Ric were more interesting.

He was also quicker than I was to get his report posted at the multi-paper Ireland Now site:

• American cruise passengers complete their Belfast to Derry walk while docked in Northern Ireland.

I had dubbed the walk the Ireno, after Kit’s walks on the well known Camino de Santiago. Reporter Brendan McGilligan (a fine Irish name!) one-upped that, dubbing it (take a deep breath) the Camino de Irelanda del Norte. Just watch: with two sources now online, someone will carve a path from church to church from Belfast to Derry and make it an official pilgrimage! We may not live to see it, but hopefully future historians will find this post and know how it started. And I’m mostly serious….

All of us went to lunch after the interviews were over, and Kit took a call — the Belfast Telegraph wanted to do a follow-up on their earlier story about the start of the walk, which update has also already been published:

• Friends who met on stuck cruise make it to Maiden City after ‘wonderful’ 70-mile trek from Belfast to Londonderry.

Last, while the rest of the crew headed back to Belfast, Kit and I wanted some quality time in Derry, and checked into a hotel within the walled city. We agreed to the rate, and Kit asked the clerk if she had heard of the people who walked to town from Belfast. No, she said, but she did know about the ship in Belfast that couldn’t leave. When she put 2 and 2 together, she asked us to excuse her for a moment and ran to the office. She came back saying the manager had upgraded us to a suite. Just another example of the serendipity of this journey. Thanks, Maldron Hotel!

Once settled into the room I got a message: a reporter from the Ireland bureau of the Sunday Times wanted an interview. That story is still pending: it’s not Sunday yet!

The Arrival

OK, so the above was a spoiler, but let’s back up a touch. First, of course Kit and Ric arrived OK! The reporter speaking with me switched to Kit while Ric enjoyed seeing our other friends. After a bit he switched to Ric for even more.

Then off to lunch, and then the others headed back to Belfast while Kit and I strolled the city together. Yep: she actually had plenty of energy for it! So why not have a few more pics?

Last, we ate so much for lunch we had no appetite for dinner. Kit wanted gelato, but we had to settle for home-made ice cream instead. Good enough! Interesting slogan. We opted for “cone” bowls, which were so stale as to be inedible, but the ice cream was good.

Total Mileage Today: 7.2*. Previous subtotal: 59.2. Running Total: 66.4**

*Plus about 2 miles as Kit and I walked around the walled city this evening.
**More for Ric, as noted in yesterday’s report.Last Updated September 21, 2024 Originally Published September 19, 2024