A post from a new late twenties boy

I'm 26! Last Wednesday I turned 26!! If you are 1 of the many feeling an upsurge of guilt for not remembering, don't worry, I'll probably (if not already) forget yours too :-) Some may remember, I went away for a Team Workshop a few weeks back. I came back from that thinking that I wish I knew how to play the guitar because we had lots of fun singing along to our guitar rockstars from the team. So, my first present from Bex was Guitar Lessons from the Waltons Music School!! And just when I got worried about not having a guitar, later on that day I got more presents including a guitar, a badhran (an Irish drum like instrument) & tab-music from some fantastic friends at the New World Chinese Restaurant where we had a HUGE meal. I was absolutely speechless with all my brand new musical instruments!! This birthday shall be remembered as the Musical Birthday :-)



From Thursday ~ Sunday we travelled up to Northern Ireland with Rebecca's parents. We planned most of our traveling to be along the coast to soak in the that lovely scenery. Our base was in Ballycastle where Steve's friend Karen & Gerry lives. From there we explored East to Cushendun & Cushendall, West to Lough Foyle where you can catch the car ferry across to Donegal & almost everything in between.

Click here to read more about it

Carrick-a-rede
Carrick-a-rede has a rope bridge which is fantastic for testing your gutts. Its apparently erected each year for the fishing in the Summer. In winter the weather makes it too dangerous to cross. There is a nice foot-track which leads onto the bridge. From there you have quite a good view out into the North Channel across to Scotland.



Torr, Cushenden & Cushendall
Beautiful beaches along the top East side of the Northern Ireland. Its is from around here that Ireland is closest with Scotland (some 14miles?). Its so close you can look across the channel and see a farm of Windmills. Once again, you have an eye-full of rolling hills & dramatic scenery from here.



Mussenden Temple
Not too sure about the history of this one, but it has a stand-alone libary which stands ontop of a cliff overlooking the ocean and long stretches of sandy beach on either side. Location, Location, Location!!



Michael & Ursula
We met up with Michael, Ursula & their new addition Molly and had a nice picnic at the Martello Tower at Magilligan on Lough Foyle. We were lucky as Michael had access to the key of the tower - usually only open to school & historical trips.



Giants Causeway
Not as giant as it says. Its still pretty cool tho. Caused by lava slowly hardening & thousands of years of movements in the Earth, this is a sight that is not seen in many places (Not many, if any!).



Noel the Squadron Leader
We stopped by on the way home in Belfast to visit Noel. Through Christine's work or tracing Charlie's experiences in WWII, we got to meet Noel who was Charlie's squadron leader. It was absolutely amazing, and a priviledge to hear the stories Noel had to tell about the people he knew, about Charlie & the poem he wrote.