Little Hops

Reluctantly heading back out into the Irish Sea in small hops, first one to Strangford, the small village opposite Portaferry in the " narrows"

Woke up in the morning to a flat calm sea, which perfectly agreed with the Beaufort scale definition for force 0 , sea like a mirror.

A short trip of about an hour or so saw Dark Tarn creeping against the last of the flood tide, past Audley roads, which we noted for a peaceful anchorage, and into Strangford. It is important to avoid the ferry which whizzes in and out on a very regular basis. We looked for the visitors mooring and were slightly shocked to see how close the ferry got to them.

The visitors mooring bouy is the little orange one to the left of the south Cardinal mark.

A decision was made to moor at the pontoon which as well as being slightly hampered by the other ferry moored alongside also had a fair bit of tide flowing against it. However a quick practise run and we docked successfully. It always takes a bit of "thinking time" before we come alongside as Dark Tarn weighs nearly ten tons, and as Lynne is usually the only shore person it can sometimes become quite hectic quite quickly! However we are getting very good at short handed stuff now.

The small bay at Strangford is quite congested with moorings and rocks around the small island in the middle. Add to that the tide running at over 6 knots in the narrows and it can be quite uncomfortable. The ferry coming and going also produces a fair bit of wash. Strangely the tide in the bay apart from an hour or so around high water runs constantly North.

The village is quite pretty but Lynne was not impressed with paying £20 for a pontoon with no facilities, the Cuan Inn who collects the fees also charge £3 for a shower, so the decision to move on was made there and then!

Had a pleasant evening in the local pub, engaged in conversation by a couple of locals and helped out with bus timetables etc. by the landlord, again we finished up being the only two people in the place as we discussed options for the winter.

In the morning I was pleased to discover the turbine generator in the narrows had been raised. It is normally submerged into the fast tidal stream. We had first come across this monster late at night and in the pitch dark so it was nice to see it in the daylight.

This is a very impressive structure and as well as being very large it also has the "Dennis the menace" colours and lights of an isolated danger. Nonetheless at least one boat has managed to run into it!

I have also been told, but as this is Ireland, I cannot swear to the truth of it, that the turbine blades are seal friendly and stop rotating when a seal swims close.

We took the ferry across to Portaferry, the wind was on the increase so I wasn't happy to go out of Strangford entrance on the ebb as it would be a wind over tide situation that causes very large over falls in winds of force 5 and over.

We had a chat with the harbourmaster at Portaferry but decided to simply move around the corner to audley roads, the rather charming anchorage we had passed yesterday. It took all of thirty minutes to move around picking up a vacant mooring opposite Audley Castle. Shortest hop yet!

Strangford Lough

Lynne had requested a bit of seclusion so we moved down the Lough, to a little inlet known as Blind sound and anchored in 5 mts.

The weather was a little changeable but later in the afternoon, the sun came out. The view was so nice I thought to take a photo with my I-Phone, as I backed up on the foredeck to frame the perfect shot I tripped over the windlass and needless to say my precious I-Phone went sailing into the drink.

I spent the next two hours on the phone to insurers, police, phone companies........it was a sad and sorry time.

After a comfortable night at anchor the world once again looked lovely, however the forcast was looking decidedly windy so a quick consult of the charts suggested that the Quoile river would be the place to spend the following night, having very good shelter from the imminent south westerly wind.

Strangford Lough is effectively a drowned glacial valley, full of drumlins, the ones above the water are islands and the ones below are known as " pladdies", most, but not all, are marked with poles or withies. Sometimes these are difficult to see, it makes pilotage interesting and it is important to be aware of your position at all times. The pilot speaking of the Quoile says this' the Quoile river is not navigable by a stranger at night', pretty succinct really. As it was afternoon Lynne and I found it fairly easy slipping past the just under the surface dangers into the very pretty river and a secure visitors mooring at the Quoile yacht club.

The rather dull weather briefly took a turn for the better in the evening.

As we settled down after a brief visit ashore we started to look up the history of where we were as there was a very prominent statue visible on a local hill, the OS map we had on board confirmed that the hill in question was known as Slieve Patrick, it turned out that the island in the above photo was the first landing place of St Patrick in Ireland, after being swept through the narrows ( we know what that feels like! ). In fact the whole area was a historical treasure chest of St Patrick history and legend, he is buried very nearby at Downpatrick in the Cathedral and his first church is at Saul about two miles away.

As darkness fell Slieve Patrick and its huge statue were brightly illuminated and stood out very clearly in the dark night.

The following morning was still a little windy but the sun was out, we had decided that a walk to Killyleagh in order to get access to a printer, the insurance company in its wisdom was quite happy to e-mail me a claim form but was adamant that I then needed to print it out, fill it in in biro and post it back. As Lynne said " one foot in the 21st century and the other in the 20th"

 However it was a good excuse for a walk, but first we had to plan a route, we decided to access the main road via the Delamont country park, which was just across the river so it meant rowing to the opposite shore.

Dark Tarn is above Lynnes head just to the left of the Pladdie exposed at low water.

We hauled Annandale up the rocky shore and tied her to a handy tree, this was a launch point for a canoe trail so had good access to the paths of the country park.

The Park turned out to be very scenic and we could have spent a few days exploring the myriad paths and trails. Once we had found the exit to the road it took only twenty minutes or so before we found ourselves in Killyleagh.

It turned out to be very quaint and full of little shops, also postboxes, very handy if you had an insurance form to post! It also had a very impressive castle, Disneyesque maybe but rather grand non the less.

The computers in the local library despite the best efforts of the librarian refused to print the last page of a six page PDF document, this was the all important signed part. As the staff were short handed the library closed for lunch so Lynne and I adjourned to a local chippy for lunch which we eat on the seafront.

After lunch we decided to have a look at the yacht club, we were welcomed by a couple of the members and offered a free mooring or pontoon berth. We decided that it made more sense to be closer to the fleshpots of civilisation at least until the insurance was sorted out.

As it happened a return to the library after lunch solved the printing problem, the librarian allowed me to log on to her computer thus neatly circumventing the problems with the public machines.

We walked back to our dingy Allendale and rowed back out to Dark Tarn, we were followed for most of the way by a young seal. We started the engine and quickly dropped the mooring, thirty minutes later we were approaching the pontoon belonging to Killyleagh yacht club. We berthed on the quiet water on the leeward side, a bit trickier but worth it for a "quiet boat"

We walked into the boatyard where members were busy hauling boats out foe end of season storage.

There was certainly nothing end of season about the weather. We were advised to follow the tractor as one of the members would call at number 7 just down the way to collect a visitors 'fob' to allow us access to the club showers and also operate the electric gates.

We followed ' Calypso' down the street and caused a small traffic jam as our ' fob' was retrieved.We were also given instructions to post it back through mums post box when we left. All very civilised and friendly.

We were made very welcome and popped into town to stock up on essential supplies, which seemed to consist chiefly of chocolate!

A glorious day for September, the weather warm, at least until the evening and the views across the Lough were more like the Mediterranean than Northern Ireland!

On to Strangford lough

The tides to help us on a southerly course were only starting to run down the east coast of Ireland from late in the afternoon. Initially the plan was to do a leisurely 19 miles or so and split the journey to Strangford Lough at Donagadee. However a pessimistic late forcast for the following 24 hours made me rethink and decided to take advantage of the nice weather to crack on and make Strangford in one go, this would mean a late arrival ( probably after midnight ). We left Belfast with a bit of regret as it had been a very pleasant stay, however the weather was very fine indeed and there was a lot of interest to be seen in the harbour.

We left the marina in Abercorn basin, (off to the left in the above photo) at 1.30 pm.

The port was busy but we were lucky to have an un impeded exit to Victoria channel, it was interesting to listen to all the traffic on channel 12. As soon as it was practical we left the channel and raised sail.

We laid a course towards the Mew island and the lighthouse on Lighthouse island. I had decided to try the channel between the Copland islands as the tidal stream began earlier than the inshore passage.

The weather was glorious and it was shorts and t-shirt weather, or no shirt in my case!

There were a  large number of boats out for a day sail from Bangor Marina, however as we approached the lighthouse they all faded away and the open sea beckoned, As the wind was light and off the stern quarter it seemed a good oppertunity to fly the Gennaker, I wrestled with the unfamiliar setup and soon had it up and pulling, it set beautifully even though there was barely enough wind to ruffle the ensign.

We were 'Ghosting' along at over 4 knots.

As we entered the race known as the " Ram race" the largish waves knocked some of the wind out of our sails but I struggled on, determined to learn how best to trim the monster! As the wind came more on the beam our speed dropped, I pulled down on the tack and sheeted in and voila! Over 4 knots again. We sailed on into the evening, it was over 20 miles to the entrance to Strangford and as we approached the Skulmartin buoy the wind headed us and we dropped the Gennaker and rehoisted the Genoa. From being on a very broad reach we were now close hauled.

The wind continued to be light, and as the light faded we were given an amazing sunset which began as a rose tint and finished in gold flames.

The night deepened into inky black, and as we passed the fishing port of Portavogie we were forced to thread our way through a small fishing fleet who seemed hell bent on ignoring the Colregs. Not for the first time our AIS system proved invaluable. Fishermen, the taxi drivers of the sea!

We made good time to get down past the south rock and eventually the fairway buoy was abeam and we could turn for the run in to the narrow entrance, this was agin a buoy hopping exercise but made quite stressful by the pitch black moonless night and the fact that with the tide going with us we were doing over 9 knots over the ground! The huge boils and tidal surges were grabbing Dark Tarn and spinning her around like a toy. I was having to make big correction with the tiller to compensate while trying to keep oriented with the lights. We passed Portaferry and Strangford just as the ferry crossed, as the tide carried us further on any possibility of spending the night on a pontoon there was lost. We sped on  following the main marked channel and decided to try and find Ringhaddy sound. Unfortunately the actual channel is unlit, it's also absolutely chock full of moorings, a careful approach and a last minute detour to avoid the unlit ( and in the morning all too obvious ) spit sticking out halfway across the channel, we found a vacant mooring and after the second attempt picked it up and secured Dark Tarn for the night. We retired to the cockpit for a celebratory nightcap and then away to bed, it was after 2 am in the morning.

In the morning it was decided to vacate the mooring we had purloined and move on to Down cruising club.

This meant a short but intricate journey through the hemispherical islands and avoiding the underwater drumlins known as " pladdies", as we approached the channel separating Rainey island and Skeltrick Island the tide was running at about 3 knots, this made the approach to the pontoon fairly tricky but Lynne did a superb job of stepping off and quickly attaching a bow line while I ferry glided her in using the engine to hold her steady. All done with no drama and as usual when we pull things off perfectly no audience!

The club is famous for having as their clubhouse the lightship Petrel.

It certainly is an unusual place to house the usual 'facility's'.......

So all tucked up and comfortable, it felt a long way from the City we had recently been in!

We also were now back in a cash economy, I hadn't thought of that, it looked like a long walk to an ATM was going to be on the agenda for the afternoon.

Walk done a good six miles to the nearest ATM and shop at Balloo, however what a shop it is, an unassuming exterior hides a rabbit warren hiding a butchers an iron mongers, supermarket, stationers, newsagents and a coffee shop, it's brilliant. I managed to buy a couple of yachting magazines ( Lynne calls them my 'comics' ) I was unable to buy in Belfast. Long walk up a not particularly safe country road, if we had been patient the berthing officer for the sailing club would have given us a lift.On the way back we had to stop off at Daft Eddys on Sketrick Island for an ice cream before going back to the Lightship.

Oh and it really does light up at night!

Ripples

A bit of history, in 1969 I was 12 years old, this was the year that saw the start of "the troubles". They continued on and off until very recently, it could be argued that the good Friday agreement in 1999 saw the beginning of the end.

Lynn and I have spent more than a month in this beautiful part of the world and I have to say I have been very pleasantly surprised at the marvellous progress that seems to have been made.

When we were still on the north coast , possibly Rathlin, we heard the news that Ian Paisley had died.

Like him or loath him he got me thinking about the process that had enabled me to sail around this coastline and eventually right into the centre of Belfast without fear or threat. Everywhere we have been in Northern Ireland Lynne and I have never had anything less than a warm welcome, in fact in most cases people have fallen over themselves to be helpful and kind.

I normally am fairly cynical about politics but in this instance it would appear to have performed a minor miracle.

Today Lynne and I visited the Botanical gardens in Belfast, we walked across town, possibly a  couple of miles. We took a small diversion to visit the Victoria Square Dome. This is a remarkable thing, a glass dome in the sky with astonishing views over the city.

It's a fair walk up the steps if you choose to avoid the escalators!

We looked back towards where Dark Tarn was moored, close by the two great cranes at the Harland and Woolf yards, it was a fabulous view.

As we left the city centre and ventured further south moving towards the university and residential quarters,on one of the roads we passed a memorial to five people murdered by the UFF, a loyalist terrorist group. It was another reminder that the troubles had only ended very recently.

The botanical gardens were the venue for a horticultural show, Lynne and I walked around dodging the face painted children happily struggling through the obstacle course, families were out in the sun enjoying the displays and wandering through the hot house palms. As we were starving we bought a bag of fresh doughnuts, they were delicious, the bag at the end had enough sugar left to take home!

The sun was shining and everyone was happy and simply enjoying the day. I weakened and bought some fresh honey from a stall manned by the Ulster beekeepers Group, luckily Lynne is not a fan of honey, this stuff however was serious honey ,like fairys dancing on your tounge and leaving surgery sweet footprints.

We wandered through the gardens and eventually found ourselves outside the Ulster Museum.

This is a wonderful experience, the building itself is worthy of note, the old and the new blend (at least to my eye) seamlessly to form an harmonious whole.

Inside are an quite astonishing variety of exhibits. Off to one side was an exibition simply titled the troubles. They never seem to be too far away, seemingly just bubbling away under the surface, they are there to be sure but they are also becoming history. As we studied the collection of photos on several interactive screens there was Ian Paisley again but in one photo he was seen laughing with Martin McGuiness in the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont, laughing with the IRA! The politics of religios intolerance would see this image as one of a traitor to the cause of nationalism, I however chose to see what was there, two men sharing an amusement together, a human interaction, for the moment politics forgotten. In that image you could see the beginning of the end.

Another image was of a mound of floral tributes on a street, it took a minute to sink in but that was the road Lynne and I had walked up, twenty years ago it had seen an act of violence that resulted in five murders, our journey at that time wouldn't have been possible due to no-go areas and army road blocks. Outside it was still a beautiful day, as we walked towards the bustop I couldn't help thinking and hoping that the peace process would continue and the images and memory's of the troubles would fade. I think that this troubled land has made a fantastic amount of progress and I wish it well for the future, I know that this won't be the last time we visit.

Reflections

This post could just as easily be called headwinds and the law of sod!

Having been sailing now for a few months I thought it would be useful to reflect on one or two aspects of life as it has changed for Lynne and I.

I suppose the first thing we have learned is to slow down, rather than rush on to the next port of call we will stay awhile and explore, we have found so much more by doing this. The danger is sometimes in never leaving at all!

The weather is obviously the ultimate arbiter and we have seen other sailors leaving early and in unsuitable conditions ( unsuitable for us that is). We have also seen people who have motored all day and we have ourselves on a couple of occasions. However with the luxury of time we only really feel that is appropriate if we get a double benefit, in other words we are seeking a safe haven or are meeting a deadline.

This year the weather has been rather mixed, the spring was delightful and warm with gentle winds, unfortunately we spent too much of it in the boatyard making extensive modifications to the boat and doing essential maintainance to Dark Tarn, next winter as we will be living aboard we should be able to make better use of time through the winter months and schedule jobs better. Hopefully this all give us a head start next spring. The summer was very windy, winds were consistently at force 5 or above and the late summer and autumn has seen a round of consistent easterlies, hoh hum........

As to all the modifications, everything is still working, we had a small blip when the cockpit display for the NMEA system (repeater) seemed to have a failed backlight for an hour or two, just as I had arranged a replacement from Garmin the damn thing fixed itself and has worked ever since!

All the other electronics have functioned well. Of particular note is the AIS system which not only informs other shipping we are there it also tells us who else is around (big boats) as a fringe benefit , or rather curse, all our friends can track us via the internet which has several sites with this ability. We then gets texts along the lines of " my mother got married in that church over there" or " 5.9 knots, don't you think it's time to put the spinnaker up? " all very amusing of course.

The wind instrument is a godsend, giving a variety of real time information, we also have a barometer and can also monitor air and water temperature, which would be handy if I was searching for the Gulf Stream or Agulas current but at the moment just says it's OK to swim today.

The new sails are just wonderful, the boat is faster, more weatherly and they are a lot easier to hand and reef, fabulous, John has done a wonderful job.

The new rigid vang has meant a lot less of the boom crashing down over the companionway hatch and complements the quick drop main system really well, ditto the five full length battens.

The genoa is noticeably easier to reef, especially now we have 10 mm halliards and sheaves.

Winter job is to replace main halliard sheaves as well.

The two new Andersen 40 secondary winches have proven invaluable and more than man enough for the job, they are in fact a little OTT for a yacht of Dark Tarns size but the crew appreciates the extra grunt, as does the skipper when squeezing the last bit of luff tension from the main!

the Aries works, it has not been used much this year but should become invaluable for longer voyages, the tiller pilot is still used a lot for coastal work primarily because it is so easy to adjust on the fly.

The two plotters work well particularly having one mounted in the companionway that can be seen from the helm position, however as the particular model cannot be effectively networked it means paying for two sets of upgraded charts, something I will need to look into and consider over winter. On the subject of digital charts, one plotter is more up to date than the other and we have noticed a big difference between the two, on one there are no charts at all for Loch Tarbert on Jura, and even the dock we are in at the moment doesnt show the correct pontoons on one plotter ( Belfast Dock ), one plotter is 2013.5 and the older one is updated to 2013. So six months apart, it's a little disturbing to think that so much can change in such a short time. We also carry good old paper charts and assume that they are out of date as soon as we buy them. Of course realistically common sense sorts most things out.

The Navtex receiver is another electronic instrument that has proved invaluable and is never switched off.

Towing a dingy is not the pain everyone told us it would be, to be fair this was mainly coming from people who didn't tow one. It took a little rediscovering of lost arts but especially after I fitted a bow fender to her in Ardfern Allandale has been towed through conditions where the sceptics assured us she would sink! We tow two waves back and pull her up as we enter marinas, she tucks in nicely under the stern or bow quarter if we are on a pontoon and up to now no one has said we need to pay extra, in fact usually we are shown somewhere she can be parked for free out if the way. The old axiom still seems to apply " if she rows well she will tow well"

The DAB radio is a favourite with Lynne ( radio four addict ) winter job is to fit an FM arial for when DAB reception isn't available.

Ditto TV. We have managed to watch one box set of Hamish McBeth in four months and other than downloading the new series of Dr Who on my Ipad that's about it for TV, we tend to mostly read. winter job fit an omnidirectional arial.

The new wind generator has also been a real boon, it's self monitoring of the batteries works well and seems more than up to the job of keeping the fridge going, in fact the fridge has never been off. He, the wind generator, now has a name and is known as Billy Wizz.

The replacement locker in the cockpit has never given cause for worry, I think it will outlast me and looks really well, only I know the amount of work it took to make! Solid Iroko, lovely.

The boat as a whole has been superb, never giving us cause for worry. Most systems work well and the fact we have a steel hull means we care not a jot for the odd bump.

She has always got us where we need to be safely and without fuss. With the new sails and a clean hull she is no slouch either. A great boat.

What have we learned about other stuff?

We buy books in charity shops and donate them to charity shops down the road, 50p would be the average we would pay.

We even bought warm clothes from a charity shop when we were caught Inappropriately dressed at an Airshow, very useful places.

We buy a lot of stuff when we find it cheap, and do without when it's too expensive.

We will anchor more in future, it's often preferable to picking up a visitors mooring and being charged £10-15 for the privilege of having a steel can banging on the boat all night.

Marina berths are worth paying for if you need a quiet night, get a free electric hook up, there are often deals to be had for longer stays, on Islay, Ballycastle and Coleraine we got deals that meant we were paying less than £15 a night.Belfast was £16 with the exception of Port Ellen on Islay all the others offered free laundry facilities, godsend!

Showers, we could probably write a book on these. However if your thinking of opening a marina anytime here are some things to. Think about.

DONT, get a designer to design them, Crinan canal got this wrong, frosted glass panels and a wet room affair, nowhere to hang your clothes, nowhere to keep anything dry and no way to preserve your modesty. No mirrors either, now I can just about shave without one but ladies need them.

DONT think that those stupid push in and get 30 seconds of lukewarm water, then have to push it in again things are a good idea, ditto any thing that needs a constant supply of coinage.

DO, provide somewhere to hang your clothes up, somewhere to keep things dry, hair driers are nice as are heaters and somewhere to sit, basins with hot water and mirrors are also appreciated. Showers that are hot and just work without needing a degree in electrical engineering also good.

Top marks here to Ballycastle and Belfast an honourable mention must also go to Rathlin.

Nothing tastes quite as good as fish you have caught yourself.

A close second is fish that someone else has caught and given you.

We now try to read a paper every day, in England and Scotland it would be the I, in Ireland the I isn't available so we resorted to the Times, as a counterpoint we also occasionally took The Record.

We try to carry cash and pay on card, cash back is more available than ATMs in the western isles.

Internet access is becoming increasingly essential, wi-fi is worth seeking out rather than woefully slow mobile connections. I have joined quite a few library's on this trip! As we do most of our banking etc. online we really do rely on it.

iPads and iPhones are bloody marvellous, make sure to buy the wi-fi and cellular models as then you can navigate quite effectively with one. You can also write up your blog and Facebook as well as a million other things limited only by your imagination, technical manuals, recipes for John Dory, video editing, need I go on? Apple has now seen fit to drop the ipod classic so if like us you have a large music collection buy one now!

Ditto kindles, Lynn is a recent convert, the paper white means she can read in our book with its backlight without disturbing sleepy me.

Lastly make sure you get on and never let the sun set on an argument.

It's a great life, looking forward to learning some more useful skills and meeting more interesting people as the journey goes on..........

Towards Belfast

Another misty start to the day saw Dark Tarn motoring out to sea in an almost complete flat calm.

The sea was glassy and smooth and visibility was poor.

As we approached the port of Larne the AIS alarm went off not for the first time that day!

 The ferry from Stranraer was followed shortly by the Express fast cat which produced the biggest waves of the day.

This photo shows one of Antrims first tourist attractions "the Gobbins" path, a rather alarming series of ladders and rope bridges going out to the caves that can be seen in the photo. Very popular in the early part of this century and now sadly fallen into disrepair. There is talk of resurrecting the attraction, I believe funding was found in 2013 however at the moment it requires climbing skills and swimming to complete the trip along the cliffs. We saw several pods of porpoise as we meandered along the coast of Island Magee. Lynne is getting very good at spotting them now.

Soon the Whitehead lighthouse was abeam and we were in Belfast Lough proper having come about 20 miles or so from Glenarm. We stayed on the north side of the Lough in order to leave the dredged channel clear for the many ships entering and leaving the Victoria channel. We had to turn off the AIS alarm as it was driving us daft!

 

As we approached the number 5 marker we contacted Belfast port radio to get permission to enter the channel, and continue to Abercorn Basin.

As we were now official, we had the same priority as the other traffic, and were featured on port advisories on the VHF as variously yacht Dark Tarn or pleasure vessel. At one point we had to allow a large transport ferry to pass us and then were asked to hold station while she turned around in the turning basin. All very exiting.

Soon the large yellow cranes of the Harland and Wolff yard ( Samson and Goliath ) were in sight and we passed H.M.S. Caroline and the slipways where the Titanic and Olympic were built.

  

As we turned into the Abercorn Basin made a final call to port control and looked for a vacant berth in the marina I think we were both a bit culture shocked to find ourselves in such a busy place right in the heart of a major city.

The Marina is in a splendid location in the Titanic quarter and remarkably cheap considering it is virtually in the city centre.

 

Time to explore again!

Glenarm Forest

As time was pressing in Glenarm, (we had decided to take advantage of the established high pressure system and favourable tides to continue on down the East Coast) we took Billy the harbourmasters advice and after looking through the town wandered into Glenarm Forest.

This was no great stretch of the legs as it is just at the end of the Main Street.

We were soon enveloped in a leafy cocoon with tall ivy covered trees on both side, it made a bit of a change from the heathland of Rathlin.

We soon came upon the first of the sculptures which are a feature of the forest, Billy told us that they were all done with a chainsaw, they are very skilled carvings.

Not always as easy to find as this fella!

As time was pressing we decided to do a truncated walk by dropping down to a return path along the river. The forest extends for several kilometres up the beautiful Glenn of Glenarm. Unfortunately we weren't going to have time to explore properly.

The woodland really was delightful reminding Lynne of some areas round our home near the west Pennines moors.

I felt sure some of this scenery must have featured in "game of thrones" a TV series filmed in Northern Ireland. I shall study the box set when we can get around to watching it!

Lynne is very fond of owls....

This was the first fish we had come across for a while that we hadn't eaten!

As we rejoined the main path towards town, I reflected on the fact that we hadn't really had the opportunity to explore the Glens of Antrim more thoroughly. A lovely part of the world right enough!

Very grateful to Billy for the heads up.