Ireland day 1513. Wednesday 19 November 2025- Enterprise

Today’s summary	Got up relatively early, had a quick breakfast and caught a Dart into Connolly. From there joined the 0950 (loco hauled) Enterprise train to Belfast. Upgraded to First Class and had cooked breakfast. Arrived at the impressive new Grand Central station. Had a good look round Linenhall library and Val researched her ancestors. Had lunch in cafe there then visited St Anne’s cathedral. Caught the 1700 (DMU) Enterprise back and changed to a local train for Malahide at Drogheda. Upgraded again and had drinks on the train. Back in Malahide at about 1930 and had pop pop meals from Grand Central M&S for dinner.
Today’s weather	Cold sunny and mostly dry but with a light snow shower in the morning near Newry while on the train. Moderate north westerly wind. Appx 4c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Enterprise Grand Central and Belfast

Commentary

Today we had a Day Out. There were a couple of things we wanted to see in Belfast and moreover we wanted to take the train all the way from Connolly to see what the Enterprise service had to offer. The aim of today was, then, to try out the train and to see the things we’d missed so far in Belfast.

Because we wanted to get the “full” Enterprise experience, we decided to get up a bit earlier and go south into Connolly from Malahide and get the train from there. Rather, of course, than the more logical option of taking a local train north to Drogheda and catching the Enterprise there as it passed through.

So we had a quick breakfast and caught at Dart into town, in good time for the 0950 Belfast departure. There two types of Enterprise trains – the older but more comfortable loco hauled sets, and the newer but more bland multiple units. We were fortunate to get a loco train out, though our return was on the newer version.

Even though I (and Val as my companion) get free travel over the whole of Eire plus Belfast, you still seem to have to get tickets for the Enterprise train (though they are free – we collected them on our Dublin trip yesterday). We got on the train, discovered there were lots of spare seats in First Class, so we upgraded ourselves for the princely sum of £17 each (curiously the prices are all in Sterling).

The train journey was superb. Not fast (over 2 hours for 160km) but really comfortable, civilised and quiet. We treated ourselves to cooked breakfasts en route, which were delicious. It was nice not to be driving, so we could enjoy the excitement of the snow swirling round us on the high ground between Dundalk and Newry, without having to worry about the road.

When we arrived in Belfast, the new Grand Central station was fantastic. It’s in a completely separate site from the old Lanyon Place, and so much better in every way. From the station it was only a short – but bitterly cold – walk to Linenhall library. We had wanted to to visit ever since a friend had recommended it to us a few weeks ago.

It turned out to be a real hidden gem. Rows and rows of books on all subjects from ancient texts recording the proceedings of learned societies, to modern romantic novels. Val found some interesting genealogical texts which helped her delve deeper into to her Irish heritage. Including one record of someone from Kilkenny who died in 1616 and who may have been a distant relative.

We spent a couple of hours there, then got a light lunch in the café afterwards. Once we were fully libraried-out, we stepped back into the cold and walked down the smart Donegall Street towards St Anne’s Cathedral.

Generally speaking I find religious buildings quite interesting but I wouldn’t go to great lengths to seek them out. But I did really enjoy St Anne’s today. It felt smart and beautiful and we were still studying its interior in detail when finally it closed (at 4pm) and we had to leave. We could have spent longer.

Outside it was getting ever colder and it was almost dark, so we decided not to hang around. We just walked back to the station, and caught the 1700 Dublin-bound Enterprise.

Even though it was one of the newer multiple units, it was still quite comfortable and once again we upgraded ourselves to first class. This time, however, it only cost £10 each, as we were getting off at Drogheda and returning to Malahide by the more logical route. We treated ourselves to a glass or two of wine and the journey seemed to pass remarkably fast!

The transfer to the southbound commuter train at Drogheda was slick – only a 5 minute wait – and we completed the rest of the journey without incident. We were back in Malahide by 7:30pm.

The rest of the evening we spent watching a little TV and enjoying pop pop meals (Chinese for Val and fish pie for me) we had bought at Marks and Spencer in Grand Central.

Looking back, it was a great day out which exceeded our expectations. Belfast was looking good – at least the parts we saw did. It was clean, efficient and modern. And the Enterprise was great fun too. One of the best days out we’ve had in a long time, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Checking out the motive power at Grand Central station	Concourse of the new station. It’s impressive

On the threshold	In the library. It’s very relaxed – you can take books off the shelves and settled back in any of the numerous seats to read them. There’s a good café too, if you run out of steam

Belfast city hall	Slightly out of sequence here – but this was a fleeting view of the back side of the Cooleys as we trundled between Dundalk and Newry. If you look carefully you might be able to see the masts on the top of Black Mountain (Clermont Cairn), which we have climbed several times over the past few years. All dusted with snow today, too

Inside St Anne’s cathedral. Construction took over 100 years, with the last part (the spire) only being added as recently as 2007