WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Loughstock Four Score: Mudcat Gathering and Birthday Party (Kate's 30th and Gordon's 50th)
Portaferry, Co. Down, N. Ireland.
3rd - 5th February 2005.
What the hell's a Mudcat?
It's a fish. When combined with the word café it's also an Internet (folk and blues) music forum that also hosts the Digital Tradition song database. People who frequent this discussion forum also tend to meet in real-life to play tunes, sing songs and enjoy the crack. There're gatherings held all over the place, including an annual roaming Eurogathering on the first weekend in May (date non-negotiable). This is the fourth one to be held in Portaferry, and it coincides with 2 birthdays of significance: Kate's 30th and Gordon's 50th.
What's all this about crack?
Crack, or craic, depending on your favourite etymology, means having a few jars (alcoholic beverages) and a few yarns (tales and conversations), often involving an informal get-together where people can play traditional* music or sing traditional* songs.
What if I don't like that diddly-dee music?
You heathen! You philistine! You infidel! Etc. Okay, so this year might see birthday attendees who have a mortal fear of all things fiddle-y and accordian-esque, but there are other things to do like drink Guinness, admire the scenery, or try and avoid the weekend pub fights (we will only be in nice pubs where people are far from uncouth - in fact, they're very couth indeed). There's going to be poker playing too, so start saving. It's only a hop and a skip to Belfast, so escape is simple.
Who's Kate and who's Gordon?
They are members of the aforementioned Mudcat Café. Kate (also known as Fibula Mattock, or Fibs) is a former Portaferryian and squeaky newbie fiddle player who only knows one reel. Gordon (also known as Bassic) is a kick-ass cello player from Oop North who can turn his hand to any stringed instrument and make the angels weep with glory.
And just how much will all this cost...?
Ahhh, that's the nice part. Blessed is Easyjet, purveyor of perpetually cheap flights (book early!) and blessed still is Barholm tourist hostel by the sea where beds are cheap and food is fried for your breakfast pleasure.
ACCOMMODATION
Kingdoms of Down (N. Ireland tourism) accommodation listings for Portaferry.
HOSTEL
Barholm Budget Self-catering Accommodation
11 The Strand, Portaferry, Co Down, N. Ireland, BT22 lPF
Telephone +44 (0)28 427 29598, Fax +44 (0)28 427 29784
Email
Reservations & Inquiries:
info@barholmportaferry.co.uk
£15 GBP per person per night, with double rooms at
£35 and family rooms at £40 if you want to cosy up with a
group of people.
Self-catering with fully-equipped kitchen, or
meals can also be booked with the caterers for an extra charge.
HOTELS AND GUESTHOUSES
Portafery Hotel. Dead posh.
house).
B&B
local drinking spot and scene of previous year's activities, and
they do B&B
Adair's. Very handy, and a great breakfast to boot.
SELF-CATERING
There were some rental cottages available last year in the town, but these seemed to have vanished into the ether. However, this lovely looking one is right on the seafront, handy to everything, and is feasible for a group of people to share:
Hazel's House. Two nights for 150 quid; sleeps 6.
Barr Hall Barns are an option, but a car and a designated driver would be required as they're 3 miles out of town.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Where we are:
Multimap
Portaferry is a village at the end of the Ards Peninsula, on the shores of Strangford Lough, in County Down, N. Ireland. It's about 30 miles south of Belfast, or 100 miles north of Dublin. I'm not sure of the exact distance. Your mileage may vary.
To N. Ireland from: USA, Europe, rest of the world
Fly or sail to Dublin or Belfast
- Belfast City
airport 30 miles (48Km), Belfast International airport 50 miles (80Km)
from Portaferry.
AIRLINES
Easyjet and Flybe are the cheap airlines of choice for domestic flights to Belfast. Ryanair flies to Dublin cheaply, and you can travel up from there, though it's a bit more hassle.
Other airlines to try are:
Buzz
British Airways
aer arann
BMI (Bristish Midlands)
BMI Baby
Aer Lingus
FERRIES
Ferries
Stena
Ferrybooker -
an online ferry booking company, no surprises there
DRIVING
For anyone flying into the country, car hire is a good option - Portaferry is quite isolated, and a car gives a sightseeing option to your trip too.
AA routefinder used to give directions; alas,
Portaferry no longer exists according to their clever software. If
anyone wants to try and find online directions, the postcode of the hostel is BT22 1PF.
Belfast to Portaferry
Follow the A20 through Newtownards, Greyabbey, Kircubbin
then Portaferry.
Dublin to Portaferry
Follow signs for The North/Newry, then through Downpatrick
to Strangford - a 5 minute ferry crossing then takes you to
Portaferry.
Ferry Crossings from Strangford - a half-hourly
service runs every day, except Christmas Day - only very extreme
weather conditions affect crossings.
Times are as follows: - for
departures from Portaferry ADD 15 minutes.
First Sailing - Mon-Fri
07:30 Sat 08:00 Sun 09:30
Last Sailing - Mon-Fri 22:30 Sat 23:00
Sun 22:30
TRAINS
There
aren't any trains. N.Ireland has about 2 train tracks. Neither go anywhere
near the Ards Peninsula.
BUSES
Translink, the main (or rather, the only) transport
company in N.I. runs Ulsterbus, the N.I. bus company:
timetables
Belfast has 2 main bus stations: Europa (Glengall
Street) and Laganside (Donegall Quay). To the best of my knowledge,
Laganside is still the one that serves Portaferry. Price is probably around 5 quid for a single ticket
from Belfast - Portaferry.
Airports to Belfast
Buses from each airport will probably go to the Europa bus station, but you need to
catch the bus to Portaferry from Laganside. There may be a linking bus
between the two bus stations, but it's not that far - it can be
walked.
- International Airport
Buses are every 20 or 30 minutes and it is a journey of around 30-45 minutes to Belfast:
International Airport travel information.
- City (Harbour) Airport
Belfast City airport is only
10 minutes from the city centre:
City Airport travel information.
Belfast to Portaferry
The best bus route is probably the
Belfast - Newtownards - Portaferry bus route, the one which goes via
Kircubbin (NOT the one via Portavogie as that takes you right over to
the other side of the peninsula).
The bus service to
Portaferry is not good. Very not good. But there are buses, and
that's the main thing. It takes about an hour or more to go the 30
miles from Belfast by the direct route. I think it's probably 1hr15
mins, and more than likely 1hr30mins given the state of the roads once
past Kircubbin (local village where tarmac seems to stop).
The
indirect route (serves the other side of the peninsula) takes a good
bit longer.
As far as I know, these buses leave Belfast from
Laganside bus station on Donegall Quay (NOT Europa bus station on Glengall Street).
When getting the Portaferry bus at Laganside, try to
get the more direct one - the one that goes via Kircubbin, rather than
the long, windy, tedious one that goes via Portavogie or
Ballywalter. Also, ask if you need to change at Newtownards (or in
"Ards", as the town is also known). I think there should be direct
buses via Kircubbin, but Newtownards is the biggest town along the
way, and there's a bus station there that the bus might stop in for a
while.
In Portaferry, the bus will drive into the town and
will come to The Square - identifiable from the shape and the big
Market House and a bus shelter. From there, walk behind the Market
House and take the road that goes off to the right, downhill towards
the sea and the castle (it will be signposted either "Castle Street"
or "The Shambles"). Follow it down to the seafront and turn
right. Barholm is on the right just past the lifeboat boathouse.
Dublin to Portaferry
From Dublin, it's probably easier to get to
Belfast first, and then go to Portaferry, although it's
theoretically possible to go Dublin --> Newry --> Newcastle
(where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea) --> Downpatrick
--> Strangford --> ferry boat (takes 10 mins) to Portaferry. The
hardest part there is probably the very poor Downpatrick to Strangford
bus service.
THE AREA
(more of a tourism twist)
info
MESSAGE ABOUT INSTRUMENTS
Easyjet's policy is that musical instruments
can be taken on board but they must fit into the overhead luggage bins.
The measurements are: 40cm x 127cm x 48cm. They prefer you to
leave a 10cm gap all round. Check with your airline before flying, yadda yadda yadda.
