We love to bike in the area between Harpenden, Luton, and Whitwell. It's mostly agricultural, with some small villages. The roads are often only one lane, with occasional pullouts to let cars pass each other. Hedges often run alongside the lanes, hiding whatever is on the other side - usually a field. When there is a break in a hedge, you're often treated to -- what to me is -- an embodiment of what William Blake meant when he wrote of "England's green and pleasant land."

Anyway, to get to this area we have to cross the River Lea. It's a small river here, and is only 42 miles long, but it punches above its weight. It rises in the Chiltern Hills, a chalk escarpment northwest of London. The river's Wikipedia page states that it is a major source of drinking water for London, and its origin in the Chilterns contributes to the extreme hardness (high mineral content) of London tap water (and ours too I'm sure). The river has been used as a political boundary since the Iron Age. It flows into London and joins the Thames, and the two rivers are treated as London's major internal barriers when the powers that be review the boundaries of London's parliamentary constituencies. Izaak Walton, author of the classic The Compleat Angler, fished in the Lea, and the river is featured in the book.

With that introduction, here is the Lea. The video was taken from a bridge in the village of East Hyde, during a bike ride.

Video of the River Lea

The local archery club was at the gathering, and for £3 you could get a quick archery lesson. Neither of us had done any archery since we were kids at camp, so it was a good opportunity to brush up on our skills. My instructor has been an archer since the '70s!

Ellen didn't hesitate to get it on video.

Archery lesson

One of the last events was open to the public: Haggis hurling. Haggis is a Scottish "savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach" (Wikipedia). Evidently, you either love it or hate it. I tried it once, and a bite was all I could manage. There is more than one way to hurl a haggis, but I won't go there.

In this event, the contestants threw a frozen haggis, wrapped in some kind of tape, for distance. The contestant must stand on top of barrel, and is disqualified if he falls off while hurling. For the men, the frozen haggis was maybe 5 pounds, and oblong, maybe 4 inches by 6 inches.

"Less is more" as I should know by now. I should have focused more on form and less on power, but I didn't, and the result was more a shank than a hurl. Ellen preserved it for posterity: Haggis shanking

The main reason I go to Scottish festivals is to hear the bagpipes. There were 6 bands at this gathering:
- Harpenden Pipes and Drums
- Bedford Pipe Band
- Epping Forest Pipe Band
- Milton Keynes Pipe Band
- Nene Valley Pipe Band
- City of Norwich Pipe Band

We live in Harpenden, and were glad to learn that there's a pipe and drum band based here. My parents loved the bagpipes and my dad had a set (which I have now) and played them when I was very young. Mom never failed to go to any Scottish festival that was within driving distance.

When I was in high school, as a school project, I starting learning to play the bagpipes. The experiment came to an end when the instrument I was learning on disappeared from my locker. Several years ago, I told Ellen that I'd learn the bagpipes when I retired. If I'm going to make good on that statement, now is the time.

Ellen played percussion in school and in the military. She's not looking for ways to spend her time, but -- seeing how she actually knows how to play her instrument -- would fit in much more quickly than I would.

We tracked down the drum major of the Harpenden band. It turns out that he teaches pipe and drums, and that the band is open to newcomers. So, I guess I need to decide if I want to pursue this...

Video of all 6 of the bands
Video of the Harpenden band

The last thing we did in Belfast, just before going to the airport, was to take a taxi tour. We'd seen good reviews. Ellen's meetings were over, so we went together. A taxi picks you up and takes you around the city, showing you the sites you're interested in. We were interested in the history of The Troubles. Our driver, Joe, knew his subject, and basically gave us a lecture. Both sides, he said, were responsible for the violence. He was less sanguine about the current state of affairs than the young taxi driver who drove us into Belfast from the airport at the start of our visit. Joe is a Catholic native of Belfast who lived through The Troubles. He told us that he made his first Protestant friend only a few years ago. (Thinking about it now, I'm not sure if I should be happy that he has a Protestant friend, or sad that it took him so long.) The walls that were built during The Troubles to separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods are still up, and the gates in them are still closed nightly. Joe says it's good that they are. If there were to be an incident, he said, there would be “guns in the streets.” Granted that I only spent a few days there and didn't do a lot of mingling, but Belfast didn't seem like a powder-keg or a war zone. It's been 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement which brought an end to The Troubles, but unfortunately there is still some violence.

Belfast has public murals and other commemorations of The Troubles. Joe took us to a street corner where a pub once stood, until it was destroyed by a bomb. The bombers killed their target, but they also killed innocent bystanders, including children. A memorial has been set up at the site.

We also stopped at a mural of Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army. He was imprisoned by the British for his activities. He considered himself a political prisoner, but they considered him a terrorist. He went on a hunger strike in protest, and died.

We also stopped in a Catholic neighborhood at the mural shown in the video below. The mural expresses support for the Palestinians. The support is given because Catholics in Northern Ireland see similarities in their situations – both living as second-class citizens in their own homelands. We drove a few blocks to a Protestant neighborhood, and there was another wall with murals on it, but these expressed support for Israel.

Catholic support for Palestinians on YouTube

The Crumlin Road Gaol (the British spelling of "jail") is another tourist attraction in Belfast. I spent a morning there. It didn't hold my attention as well as the Titanic museum did, but I'm glad I went. I was expecting to be presented with a lot of information about The Troubles. There was some, but it was not the primary focus. The gaol was built in the mid-1800s and was used until it was finally closed in 1996. If you follow the link above, and look at the website, you'll see that the jail is available as a venue for conferences, events, fundraisers, and even weddings! Forgive me, but it's the last place I would choose for a wedding.

According the Wikipedia, the gaol is "it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland." It incarcerated men, women, and children. If I remember correctly, kids could get sent to prison for playing football (soccer) in the street! I'm glad that law has been taken off the books.

The gaol is directly across Crumlin Road from the courthouse, which is also retired, but, sadly, is in much worse shape than the gaol is.

The gaol and the courthouse on YouTube