27th Birthday

After a delicious lie-in and a quick breakfast, Lou and I took off along the Causeway coastal route towards Glenarm. It was a glorious summers day in spring and the morning was heating up nicely.

The route took us past old family haunts where our folks would take us on warm sunny Sundays and they would relax with other parents whilst Keith and went crazy on the swings and roundabouts before munching down on ice-creams or lollies.

Glenarm claims to be the oldest town in Ulster, having been granted a charter in the 12th century. The park is an 800-acre nature preserve once part of the demesne of Glenarm Castle, but now dedicated for public use as a peaceful woodland trail. There are three paths to take and we took the longest 2 mile trail and as you can see it was perfectly tranquil and we only passed two other couples on our way around so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.


After building up a hunger for lunch, we went in search of a pub to rest and relax. However, after enquiring in one bar we were told that no pubs in Glenarm serve lunch which is rather odd. However, since Glenarm is only the first of the nine Glens of Antrim, we drove a little way round the coast to the second glen, Carnlough, and had lunch in the Londonderry Arms Hotel which was formally owned by Winston Churchill. I ordered the crispy cod which was delicious and highly recommend it.


After driving home along a different coastal route through Carrickfergus, we attempted to chill out with a beer in the back garden but it was just too hot and we had to retreat indoors for a game of Wii bowling. After a quick wardrobe change, we jumped in a taxi and headed for the Spaniard which was quite empty and we sat down to some tapas food which was just the thing after a large lunch, all washed down by a bottle of red wine. Delicious.

We attempted to gain entry into the all but empty Cloth Ear for drinks but the bouncers deemed Keith's attire unsuitable so we shunned the vacuous excuses put forward and made our way to the Northern Whig for cocktails. It was the perfect way to finish a great day although my head is full of cobwebs today!

We're off to the Waterfront Hall tonight for Duke Special and The Ulster Orchestra opening the first night of concerts for Belfast's Cathedral Quarter festival so tune in tomorrow for a full report.