Walking

By yesterday afternoon all the snow had disappeared from Portrush. It's only a few miles down the road from Coleraine, but it was like a different country.
Below is a view of the East Strand. Apparently a popular place for walking off all the Christmas excesses.


A closer look - from further down the beach - at the headland seen above.


And, coming back to the car park, this is part of Portrush.

Snowy Beach

Castlerock Beach to-day. We had more snow yesterday evening and it was cold enough for it to lie on the beach.
Above is looking towards the Barmouth.
Below, looking back towards Castlerock.

Winter

These are winter scenes taken, this afternoon, close to Englishtown Presbyterian Church, just off the Coleraine to Garvagh road.
For the last couple of days the daytime temperature has been around minus 3 or 4 Centigrade. Unusually cold for this part of the world.

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Partly Castlerock

Following on from my last photo, this one is taken a little bit to the right. Which allows Castlerock to come into view.
The church spire is the one shown in my post "Moon Rising".

Because some snow fell on Saturday night, I'm including a picture of a farm laneway taken this afternoon outside Coleraine.

A2 - updated

I did the A2 an injustice yesterday, by reducing its length considerably.

By complete coincidence I had to go to a meeting in Newry this morning. Newry is a small city right down in the south-eastern corner of Northern Ireland, about two hours drive from Coleraine.
While there, I noticed a road sign which said a certain road was the A2.

Alarm bells sounded more loudly than usual in my head (I have tinnitus, so I hear all sorts of sounds).

Yesterday's statement that the road went from Belfast to Derry was, unfortunately, an assumption. And for those who don't know the meaning of assume...it makes an ass of you and me.
So it's time to get some facts.

The A2 begins in Newry and follows the Co Down coast to Belfast before its journey to Derry. A distance, apparently, of some 239 miles.

The photo below was taken at yesterday's picnic site and shows the view to the west of Castlerock.

A2

The A2 is the main coastal road from Belfast to Derry. It runs up the east coast and then along the north, usually keeping close to the sea.
A couple of years ago, as part of their efforts to promote tourism, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board decided to re-brand the road as the Causeway Coastal Route.
Regardless of what it's called, the road does pass through some beautiful scenery. But some places get by-passed.
The little village of Castlerock is one of those places.

There is a small lay-by and picnic site which overlooks the village. I stopped to take some photos of the view - and then noticed the picnic table.
So these photos are of the table and its' plaque.

By the way, the shape of the bushes behind the table shows the strength and direction of the prevailing wind.



I don't know who Hutchy was, but he chose a good place to sit during his relatively short life.

Lifeboat

Following a training exercise on Sunday, the lifeboat manoeuvres back into position at its moorings in Portrush harbour.

Sunset across the Bay

This was taken in Portstewart, looking across the bay towards the headland behind Castlerock.
Almost the opposite view from that in my last post.
The Inishowen Peninsula in Co. Donegal can be seen to the right of the photo.