Timmy Mallett enjoys a great couple of days in Derry as he completes epic cycle

The 1980s TV star arrived in a very wet Derry on Monday and shared his experiences of the city on his X account.

"I'm at the top of Fountain Hill overlooking what Bill Clinton described as ‘the gleaming city on the Foyle’. It's my destination tonight. The Maiden City. If I look wet that's because I am,” he said after making his way to the city from Strabane.

Timmy, who famously topped the charts with a cover of ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ in 1990, checked in at the luxury Bishop’s Gate Hotel where he was greeted with a welcome plate and a ‘lovely little message’ and enjoyed a stay in the penthouse suite.

“Wow! This is something else,” he said.

“Now it feels like a really old hotel but it isn't. It has in fact been a hotel for just eight years. This was a gentleman's club for many years and the judges would get changed here before going to the courthouse next door.

"It is said that WB Yeats stayed here, Churchill [Winston], Montgomery [Field Marshall Bernard] who, of course, was born just a mile or so from here so it has got a really lovely pedigree and now as a hotel I'm in the penthouse,” he told his followers.

During his visit he was ‘delighted to make it to Brandywell Stadium, home of Derry City FC (the Candystripes)’ and the Ferry Clever store where he picked up some Derry Girls cards and a pair of Derry City socks – ‘what every cyclist should wear!’

A keen painter Timmy shared some brilliant paintings of the Foyle Marina and a view of the city and Peace Bridge from Ebrington Square that he sketched during his stopover.

“The Peace Bridge weaves its magic along the Foyle. I'm drawn to this iconic view and pleased to share my experience with the watercolours,” he said.

Originals and limited prints are available from Mallet Fine Art at https://www.mallettspallette.co.uk/shop/p/walledcity

He was a little bewildered as he got to grips with Derry’s idiosyncratic geography down by the Foyle Marina and Council offices.

“I'm looking one way to the Foyle Bridge and this way to the Peace Bridge and up on the hill is St. Columb's Cathedral.

“Now I'm on this cycleway and there is a lovely Irish enigma about this ride that anywhere from Derry heading out along this you are never more than three miles away from the border but if you head this way - northwards - you are going south!

“You head this way - southwards - and you are going north! Really? Well what happens if you go east - then you go north, and if you go behind here - westwards - you are going south. Hahaha! Only in Northern Ireland. I love it!”

Timmy’s epic cycle continues. Follow the adventure at: https://twitter.com/TimmyMallett

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