2/1 – Prologue

Posted bySean DrysdalePosted inPart 2 - Canada & USA

As detailed elsewhere on this site (coming soon) Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike was conceived in the early 1980s as a one-off trip from Belfast in South Africa to my hometown of Belfast in N Ireland. This was completed between March 2019 and March 2020, aboard my 1974 Honda CB750 K2, which I had rebuilt in the two years preceding my departure.

Somewhere along he way, I decided it would be a great idea to visit all he places on the planet named Belfast. With the long history of emigration from Ireland this turned out to be a bit more than I expected.

I set about finding all these places called Belfast, and was amazed to discover how many there actually were and how widely dispersed. The majority were in N America, and when I found the two in Canada, this brought the total to 20!

They stretched from Prince Edward Island in the Northeast all the way across to Washington in the Northwest and down to Georgia in the Southeast, so this was not going to be a 2-week summer holiday, but rather a major expedition. 🙂

I did some research on each one and didn’t find too much available information; additionally no-one had published anything recounting the story of how exactly the name spread to where it has.

It is now February 2024 and, after a 12-month delay caused by some difficulty getting a US visa, I am in the final stages of preparing a 6-month odyssey across Canada and the USA. I have organised, or identified:

  1. Visas for Canada and US
  2. How to ship myself and the bike to Halifax, Nova Scotia, my chosen starting point.
  3. What is required to import the bike to both countries.
  4. How to insure for bike.
  5. How much health insurance is going to cost (a lot!)

Due to a problem with burning oil, I had to rebuild the top end of the bike’s engine, and this has just been completed. I have had a few test runs, and all seems well, so we are set!

I have a flight booked from Dublin to Halifax on 15th April, and the bike has to be delivered to the shipping agent at London Heathrow, by 5th April. Some expediency is now required.

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