Faced with a rare sunny day yesterday, I had to make the most of it. I didn't have a hike planned, so decided to do a little sightseeing around Belfast instead.
I headed down to the St George's markets, which are on every Saturday. When we first came to Belfast I used to go to these almost every weekend, but I am usually off hiking early on Saturday these days, so I hadn't been for a while. Its a great place for brunch, but I had a quick breakfast before heading down so that I wouldn't be tempted by too much. There is always live music and a buzzing atmosphere, as well as lovely food and gifts on offer. I grabbed up a coffee and had a look around, trying to select something for lunch. The fist thing I picked up was a loaf of wheaten bread, the traditional Northern Irish whole wheat bread which is leavened 
with baking soda rather than yeast. Next, I was tempted by one of the cheese stalls, and procured myself two small slices of local artisan cheese: "smoked drumlin", a delicious unpasturised cows milk cheese with a strong smokey flavour and an edible rind; and the other "Kilcummin" an extremely pungent unpasturised cows milk cheese with a divine spiciness. Finally I selected some deliciously sweet Aegean prunes to go with it all.
With my lunch stored safely in my bag, I headed out of the markets to the River Lagan and crossed over to the East bank. It was a pleasant stroll along the towpath, and there were lots of families out enjoying the unusually warm weather. The path took me past Belfast Weir and the Odyssey 
Arena. The £100 million centre was opened in 2001. It contains an arena, exhibition centre, imax theatre, bowling alley, bars and restaurants and was one of Europe's biggest millennium projects. Just past the arena, the towpath ended, and I turned away from the water, and continue up an empty road towards the Titanic Quarter and Samson & Goliath, the two huge yellow shipbuilding cranes which dominate the Belfast skyline. With construction sites on both sides there wasn't much to see, but I kept on and eventually reached the old Harland and Wolffe headquarters. The building is rundown and closed to the public. Behind the building is the slipway on which the RMS Titanic was built, which is also closed to the public. I peered through the iron fence, but there wasn't much to see - just an concrete area with weeds poking through. I walked a while longer, but there was nothing of interest, and the road never got any closer to the water so I eventually turned around and started to head back.
As I neared the Harland and Wolffe headquarters a bus pulled up. The passengers all alighted and I noticed that they were being let into the building. I had a quick chat with the bus driver, who said I was welcome to join them, so I headed inside for a look at this historic building. The inside was fairly derelict, and it is only safe to enter into a couple of rooms. One was the old drafting room, and the other was the boardroom where the directors of Harland and Wolffe would hold their meetings. The boardroom was a rather dull, but the drafting room was beautiful, if rundown. The sun streamed through the may windows and skylights lighting up the huge room. The walls were crumbly, but there were some pictures of the Titanic on the walls. The tour group then headed outside to the slipway, and curiosity got the better of 
me so I followed along. There isn't much to see, just two concrete berths - one where the Titanic was built and the other where here sister ships the Olympic and Britannic were constructed. The area where the tarmac would originally have sloped down to the water was concreted over to be made into a carpark, but there are now plans to excavate it to its original shape. There is much construction going on in this area, as the Titanic Quarter is being refurbished and will be reopened in 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the launching of the ship.
Only the bare hull of the Titanic was launched here, as it would have been too heavy once it was furnished. Even so, they had to use hydraulic rams and 23 tons of tallow, soap and oil smeared across the slipway to launch the world's biggest ship. The launch itself took 62 seconds, and the vessel reached a speed of 12.5 knots (just over 23km/h) by the time she hit the water. After launching, Titanic was then taken further down Belfast Lough to be outfitted. As I chatted with the tour guide, the tour group got back on the bus. The guide invited me to join them for the rest of the tour and I agreed without hesitation. We hopped on the bus, which had now parked at the top of the slipway. The bus then "launched" itself along the path that the Titanic had taken, speeding towards the water before stopping abruptly before we plunged in.
The bus drove on to the pump house and graving dock where the Titanic had her final fitting out. The graving dock is a deep basin. A boat enters the basin and the caisson is closed. The water is then pumped out of the basin, leaving the boat out of the water so that the hull can be cleaned and work can be carried out. Walking the length of the graving dock gives one an impressive idea of the size of the Titanic. The tour ended here, and the bus took us back to the centre of the city. I walked back to the river and stopped for my lunch (it was now after 4 in the afternoon, so I was running a little late!) before walking back home along the West bank of the river.
