Belfast with Iwan

On the 21st of August, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the Northern Ireland Rural Affairs trip with the Wales YFC international programme. A group of six of us flew over to Belfast City for what turned out to be an unforgettable few days.

We stayed at the Malone Hotel, which I’d highly recommend to anyone visiting Belfast—it felt pretty posh for a YFC member like myself 😂. After dropping our bags off, we jumped straight onto a city tour bus to explore Belfast and learn about its rich history. It was quite eerie seeing how the Belfast walls and gates are still a work in progress today.

We then made our way to the Titanic Museum, where we had a walk around and learned how much wealth shipbuilding brought to the city, and how it all came crashing down with the tragedy of the Titanic. After that, we headed back to the hotel, stopping off along the way to sample some of Ireland’s best-known drinks… cough Guinness. That evening, we went out for food and then explored a few pubs around the city.

On the 22nd, we started the day with a proper Irish breakfast before heading off on a bus trip to the Giant’s Causeway. On the way, we did some “window farming” and couldn’t help but feel jealous of how green the fields were and how much grass they had! When we arrived, our tour guide told us the story behind the Causeway—and even shared a handy trick to bypass the National Trust fee. The Causeway itself was class to see, especially how it’s been shaped by the sea over time.

Afterwards, we headed back to Belfast for lunch and a bit more sightseeing.

On the 23rd, we visited Long Meadow Cider Farm, where we got to see how cider is made and learn about orchard management. Of course, we also got to taste it. I’m not usually a cider drinker, but it was honestly the best cider I’ve had—so we ended up buying a couple of crates for later!

That afternoon, we went on a beer bike ride through Belfast, singing Calon Lân, which went down a treat—the Northern Irish really do love the Welsh. After that, we carried on with a bar crawl well into the night.

On the final day, we (slightly regrettably) decided to take on a treetop adventure course. Feeling a bit worse for wear, it was definitely more entertaining for the instructors than for us—but still a great laugh to end the trip.