Tues 24^th May
I turned on my phone this morning to get a message that our latest grand daughter was born. Wow, another babe to cuddle and spoil!! Jeff rang soon afterwards. Her name is Eliya (pronounced A Leah) Bethany Nelle. We are so thrilled for Jeff and Tammy and thankful everything went well and a quick delivery.
Left County Sligo heading for Draperstown and Anne and Martin Laker.’s home. We drove to the Belleek Pottery factory where we had a tour through the whole place. It was quite interesting. Watched them making all the tiny flowers etc to go on the pieces. Jennie and I bought a few little pieces It was lovely work and very popular in Ireland.
From here we went through Eniskillen to ‘Florence Court’ which is a lovely manor and gardens owned by the National Trust. Jennie has two passes so the four of us got in for nothing. We have been to a few places over here like this.
Drove through Omagh and along the valley to get to the Lakers. Retired teachers from Trevor’s old school. We have driven through hundreds of little narrow lanes in Ireland and this was no exception. The boys like to explore the countryside. Trevor driving and Warren navigating. Us girls stuck in the back seat the whole way!!
We arrived at their home to a very warm welcome and a huge house with many bedrooms. Homes are so cheap in Ireland and they had it built recently. We were very comfortable and we were treated like royalty. We were shown our bedrooms at the opposite ends of the upstairs corridor and they were huge and very beautifully decorated. Ours was the red room and the others had the blue room. Their lovely chocolate brown Labrador, still only a large puppy was wound up by Trevor so was put in the car for a while. A place which she loves. She was called Steyning which is the name of the school they taught at!!
We went to bed pretty late after staying up talking for a long time.
Wed 25^th May
Today we drove to the Giants Causeway. It was very cold and wet so we certainly rugged right up. We looked like Michelin men with our huge bundles...Jennie described us as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee specially when sitting on the rock shaped like a boot.
We walked up on the headland as well and while at the end of the path we noticed a couple who had gone a lot further around ignoring the signs not to go any further. They had their huge back packs with them and suddenly we saw something rolling down the cliffs just below them. At first I thought it was a black sheep falling down but we soon realized that it was one of their backpacks. It went all the way down and into the see. It was a bit scary wondering what these two would do now. It would have been suicide to try and retrieve it but they stayed there for quite sometime obviously deliberating what to do. We finally left them and walked back. We did tell the coast guard once back at the Causeway but didn’t see them return. One of the guys walked back to check on them. .The backpack would have contained all his holiday belongings etc as it was quite clear they were trekking. We don‘t know what happened to them
From here we went off to the Carrick -A- Rede rope bridge down the coast road. The wind was pretty windy and we had a mile walk to get to it. I had no idea it was between the mainland and an island .The wind was up when the boys crossed and I watched Warren swaying which totally freaked me out. I had intended to go across but Jennie and I couldn’t do it with the wind going at 30 miles an hour. The boys walked around the small island while Jennie and I watched others go across. It was very unnerving.
Drove home to the Lakers a different routes across the mountains and valleys through small country lanes. The scenery was wonderful.
Had another lovely meal and chat before hitting the pillow around midnight again. I have had no time to do the journal or blog again.
Thurs 26^th May
Today the weather forecast was to be the worst day as far as wind and rain so we rugged up again and headed out for the Ulster History Folk Museum as a lot of it would be indoors. The boys again took us over the smaller country roads which took ages before we arrived at the museum. We had a cuppa in the pouring rain before we went inside. It is a very interesting place with the history of the Irish Emigration to America. Similar type of place to Sovreign Hill. We had to dart from one place to the next to avoid the rain. We all enjoyed it immensely.
It then took us another 2 hours to get home as the boys got us lost on a country road. We were on the right road but traveling in the wrong direction!!
We all went out for dinner to a place nearby. We enjoyed our time here and then drove home for a chat and bed.
Friday 28^th May
Left after a leisurely cooked breakfast. We said goodbye to Martin and Anne for their wonderful hospitality and drove to Belfast., Warren navigating all the way. We found the car park area which Anne had told us to go to fairly easily and walked to the centre of town looking for the Hop On, Hop Off bus. It was a good tour. We had to take the back seats of then open top bus as there was a cruise ship in town and the rest of the undercover seats were taken .Fortunately we had brought our hat and coats with us and the it started to rain. Many of these folks moved downstairs then but we stayed on top. It was interesting and we saw the walls and paintings of the atrocities and generally the history of what happened and it was quite sobering to see all this. The tour lasted about 1 ½ hours. We were pretty cold by then.
Found a place to have coffee and then spent the next hour wandering round the city. Met at 3 pm to head out to Troon where we have to get the ferry to Scotland. We were early so drove along the coast a bit and had a coffee on the beach front before heading back to the wharf. The sun was out and we felt a little warm for the first time in days.
Once we arrived at the docks we were told there was a delay so we sat in the car. The others read while I wrote up the journal.

We arrived in Larne after a smooth crossing and very thankful that the winds had subsided. We met an old school friend of Jennies and her husband and had coffee. Then at 10 pm we left still in daylight but it soon became dark and the rain started.  We eventually found my cousin's home in Laurieston after getting lost and it was wonderful meeting up again after 55 years.  We chatted until after 1 am. Andrew and Helen have a lovely home which is a B & B.  We slept very well in a comfortable cosy bed.

Sat 29th May

Had a lovely breakfast with Helen and Andrew and then Andrew took Warren, Jennie and me to Linlithgow Palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born.  The sun appeared and it was a bit warmer for a while until the wind came up.  It then got verychilly.  It was a lovely morning out seeing the Scottish countryside and palace. Then we walked through the village and had some lunch. The sun came out for the rest of the day which was great.