Easter Sunday on the Causeway

Easter Sunday rose clear and sunny, and I couldn't wait to get up and get going!  It was a special moment to open the van door and see the castle ruins, the beach, and the grassy cliffs.  We had a quick coffee and then walked down to the beach and up to the ruins, watched the fulmars and other cliff-nesting sea birds interact, and then returned to the van for breakfast.  

From the castle ruins looking back at Syd camouflaged in front of the house

We headed out from the van straight out to the Causeway Coastal path, and spent the next several hours walking along the stunning and incredibly gorgeous clifftop path until we got to the Giant's Causeway itself.  There were a few other people also walking the path, but it was not crowded at all. We had a lovely chat with a guy named Colin who had moved to the area 4 years ago and did a cliff walk several times a week.

After enjoying lunch out on the columnar jointed rocks, we made our way to the Visitor Center but didn't go in because we didn't want to pay £16 each! So we just sat on a bench in the sun at a very busy intersection and waited for the bus to take us back to the van. We actually didn't have much of a plan for what to do next, so it was nice to just sit and talk about options.  Once the bus came we ended up being talked to by a local guy who must have been a bit on the spectrum and was down on his luck.  And just as he seemed to be building up to asking us for money, our bus stop came up and we hopped off. Phew!

So we got back in the van and headed further west towards Portrush and Londonderry (Derry), but then we soon realized that we were in a traffic jam and so sat there in the sun crawling along for an hour before we had a chance to flip a u-ey and go a different direction.  We then gave up on going to that northwestern corner of Northern Ireland and instead head south towards Antrim and Lough Neagh so that we could find a place to stay fairly close to Belfast.  Strangely, there were not many options for campsites and we wanted to find a place that had a few more facilities than a lay-by, and due to the fact that it is Easter, nobody was answering the phone. So anyway, we found our way to a campsite in a large park, but then while Rhodri was chatting with a resident there, I found a good solution on the app and we headed out to Lisieux House where we met Edwin and his wife and their grandkids, and we parked the van in their driveway.  We started watching the film "Belfast" from the comfort of the camper van and that was the end of Easter Sunday!

Five nations roadtrip

Rhods and I have rented a campervan and are off on an adventure for a week during the Easter holiday period.  We had too much fun living and not enough time to catch up in writing and photos, so this is a retrospective post... 

We left Fri morning at 09:42 and headed up the M23 to the M25, crawled along with all the holiday traffic up to the M40 which we were going to take but changed our minds at the last minute and continued round to the M1.  We drove past Birmingham, Sheffield, York, Leeds, and all the time there were huge crazy clouds and intense rainbows!  It was so gorgeous.  

We kept going and ended the day near the Carlisle area at the England-Scotland border, and stayed at the Greyhound Inn in the car park.  There was a small car there with two large ladies and a very small dog, and they were cooking dinner on the ground.  We arrived at 7:48 pm, just in time to catch the kitchen for food before they closed at 8pm.  Fortunately we had called ahead to Derek the owner and he was going to wait for us anyway.  So we had a nice meal and then set up camp in the back of the van for our first night on the road! 

On Saturday morning we got up at 7 am and made a quick coffee, then drove to the Gretna Green service area to use the toilet and then hightail it through Scotland around the peninsula and past Dumfries, Newton Stewart, and other lovely areas all the way to Cairnryan in time for the 12 noon ferry to Larne, Northern Ireland. 

It was a calm and gorgeous crossing, and Rhods and I sat outside on a bench admiring the view, both of us bundled up against the chilly sea air.  

We drove off the ferry and stopped right away for a quick shop at ASDA, then headed out of town up the coast towards Cushendun.  We stopped for a little break at a car park next to the beach and just had a cup of tea while reading up a bit on the area.  In fact, we met an old guy on a bike who was at the campervan next to us in the Cushendun car park and talked to him for a bit, then we met Kieran and Ruth who pulled up next to us and gave us some travel advice.  It was great meeting them, listening to them talk about their travels and tips. 

Then we headed to Cushendun Caves for a look around and called by the smallest pub in Ireland (which has now been expanded) before continuing on up the Antrim Coast and glens on the east coast of Northern Ireland.  

The sun was shining and it was the most gorgeous landscape ever, with loads of new baby lambs scampering around and luminescent green green fields.  We drove up to Fair Head, which was a bit dodgy because the signs warned that it was not suitable for caravans or campervans and yet we carried on anyway.  We paid the £3 for parking in a farmer's field and walked out along the grassy plateau in the evening sun.  It was so beautiful.  

After we got our eyes full of the view, we returned to the car and drove round the coast to find a place to stay overnight.  Thanks to the app "Park4Night", I found the most beautiful, brilliant parking place directly adjacent to the Dunseverick Castle.  

Our trip is off to a very good start!

Visitors

This week we had the pleasure of hosting the niece of my friend Suzi, Tess, and Tess's friend Shelbee for a few nights.  In fact, they were our first real visitors to stay in a long while! It was fun to show them the sights and do slightly more special things in the evenings than we normally would in midweek late March.

We don't have a lot of interaction with university students these days (though we will fairly soon since Rhiannon is graduating in May from high school), and it was fun to talk about current events and their perceptions of the world, British v American stuff and all that.  Hope to see one or both of them some time in the future!

Rain and suicidal ants

 It has been relentlessly rainy this winter, and even now that it is technically spring, it is still rainy.  To make matters worse, our village has had an intermittent internet problem.  That is to say, we have intermittently been without internet.  The fix-it people have been called in numerous times and have now established that the local ants are building nests inside the junction box and secreting ant poo onto the circuit boards which shorts them out!  And by 'them' I mean both the circuit boards and the ants.  Its kind of funny, but its also not funny!  Here is a photo of the said junction box which is full of ants and shorted circuit boards. 

A flurry of activity

As March winds up, we've had quite a few things happening! After returning from Leeds, I went into London for an evening webinar on Thursday night (21st), then out to dinner and a comedy club show at Komedia Brighton with Cat, Emma and Fraggle (which was super fun), then to Tim and Heather's combined 100 year birthday at a really cool venue in Haywards Heath on Saturday night, then a bit of recovery on Sunday (which included the weekly tour of the Ashdown forest with Emma and our respective dogs). 

It's fun when there are lots of things going on, and excuses to get out of the house.  And now that it is finally spring, hopefully soon things will come to life!

Simunye continued

By all accounts it seems as though our girl is having quite an amazing time in South Africa!

Univ of Leeds reunion

This was an amazing week. I took the train up to Leeds on Monday and had the most fabulous reunion with Caroline and Locko! 

On Tuesday I spent the whole day on campus, getting a tour of the geothermal drilling sites as the team in the Earth Science department works to explore solutions for converting the campus to geothermal heating and cooling.  

We had a lovely dinner party with Roger and his wife over at Caro and Locko's house on Tuesday night, and then I took the train back on Wednesday.  It was an amazing stretch of hours, reflecting on the 29 years that had elapsed since we last saw each other and looking at old photos from Stromboli in 1995.

Cat's birthday at TM

This weekend is Cat's birthday so we had a bit of a gathering on Saturday with an expanded group of dippers over at Tide Mills for our weekly sea swim.

Here are Scarlett, Cat, Fraggle, me, Sasha, Joelle, Emma and Leigh. Sunshine! Quite chilly but still great!

A moment of bliss

This morning was a bit rainy and the boys were at rugby, so I did a workout and then made myself the most beautiful breakfast burrito, and took it with me for some delicious munching as I took Annie on a walk. Normally these Sunday morning dog walks I do with Emma and Una, but they are away this weekend so it was just "the A-dog" and me.

Simunye Trip begins

 Meanwhile, as Rhodri and I were in London and Tryfan out doing his DoE thing, Rhiannon traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa to start the 2.5 week volunteering trip known as Simunye.  Here are some of the photos that were posted as they arrived and started organizing the donations.

Duke of Edinburgh practice walk

 Today Tryfan and some of his buddies did their DoE Silver practice walk, and it happened to take them right past our house!  So they came in to use the facilities and then left again, but not before I was able to take a photo of them looking tough.

20 Year seniority dinner

While my boss's boss has been here in London for the road trip to Cambridge etc, he also took the opportunity to have my 20 year seniority dinner at Harry's Dulce Vita in London.

Here is Irlan, Hans, Benoit, Mark, Rhodri and me.

It was a small gathering and a very enjoyable evening where I felt special.  I do love the tradition that spouses are also celebrated at this anniversary because they normally have to put up with a lot.  I feel like I've gotten off pretty lightly really in my 20 years with SLB, and although I was apprehensive and even resentful back in 2004 when AGO was acquired by them, I've come to really appreciate and even like this company and the people in it.