Are you for the bridge?

Well I had a lovely weekend. Thanks for asking. The long wait at Gatwick resulted in a rather late arrival in the Belfast. But I got there eventually. My rather splendid M had sorted everything out including nice apartment, teeny hire car, maps for adventures and cheese sandwiches necessities.

Saturday began with a bit of a lazy loll in bed with this very belated birthday present. Oh my goodness, I can barely contain myself. What state of purgatory is this to have a new cake book and be away from home, baking cupboard and Aga for another two weeks? There's gonna be a cake fest when I get home.

Then Saturday afternoon was spent on a tour of some of the northern sights. The rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede was originally used to access salmon grounds. Well, not this one, but a precursor. The National Trust have made it all rather safe. But the weather was a little wild and it was all quite atmospheric.

Next the Giant's Causeway. Which is a lot smaller than on the telly. This could have done with a lot more crashing waves, but we had some fun making up pseudo-scientific reasons for exactly how the rock got to be the way it is.

Sunday was reserved for an assault on the highest peak in N Ireland. This is a slightly ridiculous ploy of M's that involves climbing the highest peak in somewhere on or around his birthday. So far we have done Scotland, England, Wales and southern Ireland. You will see that this is going to turn into a progressively bigger undertaking as the years go on.

It felt like everyone on the whole island of Ireland was climbing Slieve Donard today. You can't blame them. There are fantastic views of the Mountains of Mourne and the Scottish islands from the top.