Part III: Irish Adventures

We went to stay with our flatmate Cenza. She lives just south of Belfast in an old mill…literally. She lives in what would have been the main house, there are two cottages on their property, plus the actual mill building and, just to make it more awesome, a WWII ammunition building. Yes, I am not kidding. In addition to all of that, her family was amazing to us and she has a whole hoard of animals, including a dog named Jack who loved cuddles.

It is also worth mentioning that Holly and I got to stay in one of the cottages. It was right next to their house and it was amazing. It had basically two rooms, the main room and the bedroom, except we just slept in the main room because there was a fireplace so we got to fall asleep next to the fire every night. It was wonderful.

On our first morning there we went to aqua-aerobics in Newcastle. It was a bunch of fun and the village was gorgeous. When we got back we had lunch and then went for a walk in Cenza’s back yard because she basically lives in faerie land. It was stunning and so much fun just to go explore. We also got to do a bit of a mountain walk and a visit to Rostrevor. Holly and I also introduced Cenza’s family to Butter-tarts. I used golden syrup though which gave it a sort of toffee-like taste. Holly also had a bit of a birthday celebration which was lovely.

We went to Belfast an evening early because it was Cenza’s friend’s birthday. The next morning we caught the ferry back and made our way home to Aberdeen.

Overall, this break was maybe the most amazing of my life. Sometimes it was hectic and frightening but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I navigated ferries, fed sheep, climbed the highest hill on Iona, went to the Spanish mountains and Africa, ate a king prawn, swam in the Mediterranean, found a faerie glen, climbed a bit of a mountain, and so much more. It also made me appreciate Aberdeen even more. Every time we came back Holly and I said that it was good to be home. That’s a simultaneously amazing and scary thing. I’m glad that’s how I see it now but boy, is it ever going to be hard to say good-bye properly. Ah well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

This was the fireplace we slept by every night.

The walk to the faerie glen.

Jack!

The old mill behind her house.

Ammunition's factory.

A place we found on one of our climbs.

A dolmen.

A traffic jam in rural Ireland.