Fun piers still have their appeal don’t they?

In my childhood it was Manly Fun Pier that was the place to go on the weekend; it was (it is still there I assume…) situated right on the waterfront at Manly where the ferries come and go and my memories are of sunshine, the ‘octopus’ ride and the ghost train ride that took the carriage car out over the water before going back inside again…scary stuff believe me!

Here in Northern Ireland they have ‘Barrys’ at Portrush. In keeping with the British fun pier experience it was blowing a gale, raining and freezing cold when we visited there two weeks ago. Note the photo: I am wearing two layers of clothing under that bulky coat, and don’t let the sunglasses fool you either – they were purely to keep the wind out of my eyes.

Fortunately alot of Barrys is located indoors and we had a lot of fun that day; the cha-cha ride was operated by a sporting type of fellow who took me up on it when I challenged him to make it go as fast as he could…and did he ever. I am not one for roller coasters but I felt confident going with the kids on the kiddies caterpillar ride…and then still had to suppress the urge to scream when it rolled down the first shallow slope.

These places always bring out the kid in me and despite the terrible weather we had a great day out – and the kids even managed to keep the ice-creams down!

Related link: Cool Irish Gifts