This is a great Belfast walk from the gentle elegance of Stranmillis to the Titanic Centre and the old industrial heart of the city.  It is 11.8 kilometres in length, there and back and easy.  For a more detailed map and statistics go to https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=16919538

Start the walk at the car park at Cutters Warf, Stranmillis and follow the towpath and then the Ormeau Embankment towards the city centre.

At Albert Bridge, cross East Bridge Street and follow Laganbank Road, pass the Waterfront Hall, Queen’s Bridge and the Big Fish.  Cross the river on the footbridge, pass SSE Arena and followed the signs to the Titanic Centre.

The Titanic Centre is well worth a visit but I found the SS Nomadic equally interesting.  The Nomadic transported 274 passengers to RMS Titanic for the liner’s maiden voyage, including Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, Denver millionairess Margaret Brown and industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim.  On board the Nomadic you can walk in their footsteps and in the interior touch what they touched and see exactly what they saw. Surely there must be some traces,  especially in view of that fateful night shortly to come, a glimpse of a top hat across a crowded room or a whiff of an expensive Edwardian perfume.

With these thoughts in mind, I made the painting shown below.  It is a watercolour 50×70 centimetres and shows not only the  Titanic Centre with a couple of modern-day tourists taking a selfie but also, in the background, the RMS Titanic at full steam with either signal flares or fireworks illuminating the sky, an Edwardian couple boarding the Nomadic and the captain of RMS Titanic, Edward J. Smith and his first officer standing in the stern.  I am sure they are all there if only we had eyes to see.