*sniff* it’s all over, I’m now on the last few hours before I return to real life and the horrible four letter word that is work.

We spent the last day of our staycation at the medieval and game fair at Shanes Castle.

We had a very wet start to the day, but by early morning the weather had settled down to be a dry day. There were plenty of things to see and do at the game fair. One of the activities we tried was archery. I really enjoyed this but have a bruised arm for my trouble!

Do you sense a recurring theme for my staycation this week? We’ve beento a fair few castles and monuments! Very educational I have to admit, but equally as enjoyable!

This is a picture of an old torpedo testing platform, which lies just off the Antrim lough shore on Lough Neagh.
The old platform is now a protected breeding ground for wildlife.

So thta’s it for now. I’ll be back to normal next week with all my usual boring bits!

So off we went this morning with no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. Not the ideal start to
a day out you might think, but we’ve had some of our best days out this way!

So here’s where we ended up

Dunluce Castle, another location that hubby and I have been past many times over the years but never visited. We had an absolutely glorious day, blazing sunshine and very little breeze.

We also ventured into Portstewart where we had lunch, before doubling back round the coast road to end up in Ballycastle before returning home.

The picture below is one of my favourite ones taken today:

The picture doesn’t do the scene much justice, if you looked at the water today it was so blue and clear that you’d have been forgiven for thinking you were in the Mediterranean!

This picture was taken from the mainland, its of Rathlin Island. Another place on my list that I have yet to visit.

And this last picture was taken almost half a mile away from the Carrick A Rede rope bridge!

Not bad for my wee camera!

So that’s it, all my summer holidays are over, *sniff* back to work next week. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.

Well I’m on holidays this week and we are being eco friendly and holidaying at home!
So off we trotted on our travels today and after lunch, this is the view I had……

I visited Scrabo Tower today and this is the view from the top of Scrabo Hill, BEFORE you climb up the tower!! The houses in the picture are in a relatively large housing estate, so it gives you an idea of the trot up we had.

This is the view from the top of the tower. The viewing area is reached by climbing 122 stone steps in a spiral staircase. It’s not too bad as there are some rooms on the way up to break the climb. These house exhibits relating to the tower and its history.

The black line to the 11 o’clock in the photo above is in fact a small airstrip in Newtownards. At one point today there was a small aircraft which took off and we were higher than it was, that gives you an idea of the height.
A view of Scrabo golf course from the top of the tower.
And lastly the tower itself.

During our visit, we discovered that the tower actually had some residents until 1966. The McKay family were caretakers of the tower from it was built and the first caretaker, Mr McKay worked in Scrabo quarry, which used to be alongside the tower site.

Mr Millen brought up a family of 8 while he lived here and the last of the family, his 3 grand-daughters, finally handed back the keys to the Tower in 1966 to the Londonderry Estate.

I have lived in Northern Ireland all my life and have driven past this wonderful monument many times, but I had never visited until today. As my husband remarked “many tourists come here and see more in a week of holidays than we do living here for a lifetime” How true that is!

There’s actually very little historical information about the tower, which I think is a real shame. However I managed to find this article online which you might like to read further if you’re interested.