Spring in our step!

Yesterday's walk to Barrou and back let us know spring has welland truly arrived!

Not as pretty as the summer sunflowers but the colour is appreciated!

A view of  friends' house across the river. 

Some benches from our Irish road-trip...in Portrush.

On our recent visit to Portrush while in Ireland we had a variety of benches available to us as we walked around the town. The ones above on the 'Ramore Head' peninsula were positioned such as to give you views to the north and the south. 

Ballina's murals...Hi Jack bye Biden

 

When in Ballina I was impressed by the number and quality of murals I spotted around the town, one big surprise was a large mural of Jack Charlton I spotted out of the window of the Ballina Manor Hotel while having lunch. I then remembered that he is probably now an adopted son after his very successful 10 year spell as manager of the Republic of Ireland national side.

It is amazing what can be done on the side of a building!

One of the town's most famous murals has now however has been painted over, probably why I couldn't find it! Ex-President Biden, due to his ancestral connection to the town had been honoured with a mural on a wall in Market Square in the town but when his views on Palestine where aired a petition was raised to have it removed!

St.Patrick's day parade in Ballina led by astronaut!

When we were in Ballina in County Mayo it coincided with St. Patrick's Day and the town had their annual parade through its streets. After the local dignitaries got settled in the parade started with commentary and we were surprised to hear that leading the parade was someone who is destined to become Ireland's first astronaut! Norah Patten is a native of the town and has worked hard to put herself in a position to travel to space on a future research spaceflight with Virgin Galactic.   

The theme for this year's parade was, not surprisingly 'Shoot for the stars' which was confirmed on the back of a skip!

Some of the floats had an obvious connection, others less so!

Winners of best dressed went to the couple above.

2nd prize!

Ballina...back to Pauline and Eileen's Irish roots.

On Monday as part of our Irish road-trip we visited Ballina a town in north County Mayo as it was here, in a farm just outside the town that Pauline's great grandparents lived. 

The town sits on the River Moy.

After settling into our rented apartment we took a walk around the town crossing over the river Moy and along its banks.

We asked a local to recommend somewhere for lunch to which he replied the 'Ballina Manor Hotel'. When we told him we had tried it but there was a note on the door saying 'Residents and reservations only' he said that it had been there for years and we should just ignore it.

We returned and sure enough it was not a problem with the charming lady who welcomed us explaining that it was only put there to keep out the 'undesirables' and she was sure we were ok!!

BTW that's Jack Charlton painted on the wall on the other side of the river!

After a good lunch we headed into the centre of town to watch the St Patrick's Day Parade, will post more on that later.

We headed back into town to sample St.Pat's celebrations but the pubs were either too busy or too full of peeps who already were spent having had a day of it. We had some entertainment provided by a group of seasoned veterans but slipped out and found a quite pub and toasted Pauline and Eileens ancestors.  

Then it was out into a lovely evening and a walk back to our apartment. 

The next morning we headed 10 minutes out of town to area known as 'Corrimbla North' where I tried to find what I thought was the  farm where their ancestors had lived but as it was a small dirt road took them past it. We had only been minutes away! but by the power of t'internet I tracked it down, you can just see the house through the trees below!

The benches of Rozelle Park in Ayr, Scotland.

One of our favourite walks while visiting Ayr is through the delightful Rozelle Park which reveals a surprisingly diverse choice of benches.