BELVOIR PARK FOREST – MAY 2021

My word, a Bank Holiday where the weather is nice. Might as well make the most of this.

Normally, I would go on a hike on a Saturday morning, but with this being a three day weekend, I decided to do things differently and go out on the Monday. Knowing that the weather was going to be good on all three days, I wasn’t taking a gamble.

Even better that there would be no rain preceding my visit, meaning no mud.

There was a specific reason why I didn’t go out for a ramble on the Saturday morning. You see, Linfield were playing Cliftonville, and there is a walking route I do on the morning of the match which guarantees a Linfield win. I’m not saying where in case somebody tries to sabotage it by getting part of it closed.

If you’re wondering about the 4-3 defeat in January, that was a midweek game and I was working so I couldn’t get out to do my walk.

Even though it didn’t matter in terms of the final League positions, you don’t want to end the season with one win from the last six League games.

Whilst I was on that walk, I did a Charity Shop Rummage, my first for a long time, picking up a book, The Best Of Smash Hits, from 1985 for just £2. It was compiled by one of their Journalists called Neil Tennant. Whatever happened to him?

Anyway, back to Belvoir, and this was going to be next on my Merry Go Round Of Walks.

As mentioned earlier, the weather was perfect for phototaking, something I bemoaned during my visits to Belvoir Park Forest after rediscovering it in late 2020, so I made sure I was up early.

Belvoir Park Forest, like most of Belfast, doesn’t have a Train Station anywhere near it. Which was handy, as seeing my timeline on Twitter fill up with updates from Translink about trains being full gives me a worry ahead of my proposed day trip to Whitehead. I’ll touch on that later.

This wasn’t the first time visiting Belvoir Park Forest this month.

A few weeks ago, there was a Saturday morning with a rainstorm. Not the weather for the bike or a walk, I headed to Tesco for a few things to get my step count up. By the time I got out, the rain had stopped, so I headed to Belvoir Park Forest for a quick stroll.

Not for long though, as the rain quickly returned. so I headed back to my car.

Despite the short timeframe, I discovered a few new routes that I checked out when I made this return visit.

One of those new routes I discovered was a lake surrounded by trees.

I made a mental note of that, believing that it would make a great photo, but it didn’t really turn out as I hoped whenever I returned with my camera.

Somehow, I managed to get lost, despite being, by now, familiar with my surroundings. Thankfully, I made it to Lagan Meadows Park, a small grassy area within Belvoir Park Forest, a real hidden gem.

I wasn’t that big a fan of getting some spray when walking through the wet grass. but a price worth paying.

After that, was a trip through the woods on my return to the car park.

An enjoyable day and some decent photos. One advantage of getting out early was avoiding the crowds. There was barely anybody else about.

Over the next few weeks, i’ll be taking some Annual Leave from work. Use it or lose it, and I prefer to use it.

Obviously, a lot of the places I want to visit will be a lot less busy on weekdays, let’s hope I get the weather I desire.

My hitlist includes Blackmountain, Whitehead, Colin Glen Forest Park, Mourne Mountains and North Down Coastal Path.

Not much.

Although, seeing reports of overcrowded trains makes me slightly worried regarding Whitehead. Hopefully, just an anomaly due to today being a Bank Holiday.

Regular readers will know I have Bray and Brighton planned in my head.

Still no definite update, but I am leaning towards going to Bray at the end of the month. I have a hotel booked but with late cancellation so a decision will have to be made soon.

Until the next walking adventure.

Photo Album

Belvoir Park Forest – April 2021