A visit to the Giant’s Causeway in pictures.

On the road (and sea) again...

On Friday we caught the Ferry over from Cairnryan to Larne on the first part of our wee Irish adventure. The crossing was calm and straightforward and the clouds that greeted us at departure  soon disappeared as we hit the Irish sea!

Our choice of accommodation in Bushmills was inspired, an apartment above a pub!!!

It did not take us long to get into the spirit of things!

It was the weekend of racing from Cheltenham and two of the jockeys from an early race had made it backto watch their efforts on telly.

After an aperitif  of of Guinness we headed out for a meal and chose th the local 'Bushmills inn' where we all had a lovely meal.  

Then it was back to the pub for a little entertainment from 'Spud' the local singer who could do any genre well.

I also got a wee shot in front of the mic..

It was a fun night with some interesting and funny people and one for adults only!

Family gathering...

It was good to catch up with Richard, who is also over from France, last night in Kilmarnock along with the rest of the immediate family.

With brothers Johnny and Richard plus sister Sally. Only sibling missing was big sis Mary who we have all visited over the last couple of days.

It was great listening to stories from our past with Johnny particularly showing an excellent recollection even down to naming every neighbour on the street where we were brought up and there were many!  

Do you think these three might be brothers?

Thoughts of course also turned to absent siblings Billy and Robert and our parents. 

Last chance...

Last night was my last chance at a good sunset  photo here in Ayr as we are out with family tonight and off to Ireland on Friday. As we approached my favourite photo spot after our afternoon walk we were again too early for sunset. It was a lovely evening but we had the almost ever present cold wind blowing in from the sea.

There was also a fair bit of cloud about so I was hoping we would not get the same result as my last attempt.

I decided, although it was 45 minutes away, to sit it out and wait for the sunset while Pauline did the sensible thing and continued 'home'.

When I say 'sit it out' I sat on a bench for 15 minutes before deciding to walk more and make sure I was back in time plusget away from the wind.

I made it back in time as was rewarded with a beautiful full orange glow sunset.

A strange glow in the sky...and bright eyes!

 

Last night, after a visit to Kilmarnock, we arrived back in Ayr to a potentially lovely sunset so we timed a walk (we were actually a wee bit early) to catch it down on the beach.

The promenade was quite different to the one we experienced on Sunday, we virtually had it to ourselves. This may have been something to do with the chilly wind and approaching dark clouds but we did not let that put us off.

The setting sun gave the landscape a lovely golden glow.

After convincing Pauline to stay longer than we should have in the chilly wind I tried to catch the final sunset only to be beaten at the last minute by a line of clouds! 

Although I know you shouldn't take a shot directly into the sun, I did, with the result above.

An earlier beach walk...

We have had a lovely dry spell here in Ayr which has allowed us to go walking in our favourite spots. On Saturday we again headed for the shoreline but this time decided to walk north all the way to the small lighthouse at the end of the pier.   

This message, which I do not necessarily agree with, is scrawled on the sea facing side of the lighthouse 

This is the view looking north towards Prestwick and Troon.

Looking south along the beach.