Church of Ireland

Back with the same cherry tree.
This time the photo was taken from Hanover Place on the other side of the river.

The church is commonly known as Killowen Parish Church. It belongs to the Church of Ireland and is properly known as St John the Evangelist. The Church of Ireland is "a province of the Anglican Communion".

The top row of houses in the background are part of a large estate built by the local council in the late 1950's. The lower houses were built in the 1960's. This estate is known as 'The Heights'.

Pink Cherry Blossom

This blog began life in Christie Park, Coleraine.
To-day I've gone back there to celebrate Spring. I couldn't let the season pass without at least one photo of pink cherry blossom.

The photo below is the same tree, taken from further down the park. There are a number of similar trees, but this one stands out best.

Pink cherry blossom is linked to a childhood memory of mine.
I was brought up in the country, on a farm. When I was at primary school, one of the highlights of the year was having a day off to accompany my parents to the main agricultural show in Northern Ireland. This was the Balmoral Show held in Belfast in the second half of May.
We always parked our car in the streets behind the showgrounds. This was a well-to-do area of Belfast, with large houses which had really big gardens. Many of the gardens had pink cherry trees just past full bloom. Cherry blossom blew along the footpaths and the roads.
The trees impressed me because, at home, no-one had trees like this. Such frivolous things had no place in our lives.

I've never planted a cherry tree in my own garden. But I admire them when they bloom in parks, or other people's gardens.....earlier each year, it seems.

Beach and Barmouth

If you move out from my last photo and turn left, this is the view. Castlerock beach stretches out before you for close on a mile.
The village lies around five miles north-west of Coleraine. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,336. More houses and apartments have been built since then, but many of them are holiday homes. So the population probably hasn't changed much, although the village is now really a small town.
This beach ends at the rocks in the distance. Another one begins when you go round the headland.

If you turn right, the beach ends in a very short distance at the Barmouth. This is where the Bann runs into the ocean.
Castlerock Beach is really a continuation of Portstewart Strand - interrupted only by the river reaching the sea.
The Barmouth is at the far end of the Strand in the photo I posted on 8th April.

My next couple of posts will see me back in Coleraine, but I'll return to Castlerock shortly...

View

Walk between the dunes shown in yesterday's photo and this is the view.

Castlerock beach and the Atlantic Ocean, with the Inishowen peninsula, in Co Donegal, in the background.

Blue Sky

If you drop in here regularily, you'll know that the Bann is the river which flows through Coleraine.
To-day's photo was taken close to where the Bann reaches the sea. If you go up from the edge of the river, through the sandhills, you find yourself on Castlerock beach. But not to-day...

Old Bridge

To-day was that rare thing, a dry Bank Holiday. So we went for a walk round part of the Roe Valley Country Park, near Limavady.

The photos are of a bridge which crosses the River Roe.

My father got out of hospital on Good Friday, so there may be more time for blogging.

Beach

A quick shot of Portstewart Strand, taken during a brief walk last Sunday.

My father has been in hospital since early last week, so not much time for photos or blogging.