Belfast to London, via Liverpool & Leeds

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This is my return journey from Belfast to London - I travelled to Belfast via Holyhead, the return leg was a slightly different route.

This time I wanted to try the daytime ferry from Belfast to Liverpool (well, Birkenhead to be precise). It also incorporated an overnight stay in Leeds because... well, no reason really. I could get used to travelling slooooow.

So! First off, a top breakfast at the lovely Tara Lodge in Belfast. This 29 room "hotel" is No. 1 on Trip Advisor, and it's easy to see why. Rooms were perfect, staff were lovely, breakfast was great. I will put a little review up seperately.

I ordered a taxi to the Port of Belfast, where my ship awaited.

LEG ONE
BELFAST to BIRKENHEAD
Stena Line
Ship: Lagan Seaways

Stena Line have only recently acquired this route from DFDS Seaways, so the ship was a strange mixture of branding.

Picture taken at Birkenhead.

Check in was one hour prior to departure and it was a sunny bright day.

To give you an idea of the size of the ship, here's the escalator from the deck to the passenger area.

The ship left on time and before long we were edging up Belfast Lough. Past the Stena Voyager - which operates from Belfast to Stranraer. It's a catamaran, and is the size of a football pitch. Very fast, but too expensive for Stena to operate. So they will be replacing this with a more traditional ferry soon.

It's a very leisurely journey up Belfast Lough. So I took some pictures of clouds and scenery.

The Copeland Islands, off the County Down coast.

But enough about the scenery, eh? What about the ship?

I have to say, it was pretty non descript. It's primarily a freight ship, with a bar and restaurant and cinema. And a little shop. Oh, and beauty treatments! I had a wander...

A long way down!

I then had lunch in the irritatingly named "Seven Sea's Restaurant". Yes. Apostrophe Fail.

Lunch was fine - by no means gourmet but filling and flavoursome. Portions were massive.

There wasn't a great deal to see to be honest, so I went to my cabin.

Surprisingly comfortable. I had a few hours sleep.

And that really summed up this journey - lots and lots of open sea. And not a lot else. However it was nice to chill out and just enjoy the moment... and the weather.

 

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We docked in Birkenhead, more or less opposite the famous seafront of Liverpool. Happy that I had travelled on a new route but one that I would not be in a hurry to repeat.

LEG TWO
Birkenhead to Leeds
Merseytravel/Transpennine Express

A taxi from Birkenhead to the towns train station, where I boarded a Merseytravel train to Liverpool. It's an underground system so no scenery of note.

Liverpool Lime Street as a station feels small compared to the likes of Manchester, but I would only be there for a about 20 minutes.

Strangely, the trainfare Birkenhead>Liverpool>Leeds is cheaper than a Liverpool>Leeds ticket. But we're used to that kind of thing with UK train fares.

I sat down in First Class, operated by Trans Pennine Express, ready to pay my Weekend First supplement.

But hooray! Because standard class is overcrowded, they've classed my carriage as standard class. But, erm, not told anyone. Apart from me.

Departure time from Belfast: 1030hrs.
Arrival time in Leeds: 2209hrs

It was off to the super Mint Hotel, Leeds... (now a Hilton)