Free day HF gives you a day off from hiking, that being today. Me being me, I covered a lot of ground, starting with a Neolithic stone circle. At 5,000 years old, it's about 1,000 years older than its Bronze Age cousins. Read more here. I gave a
Glenderaterra Valley Whenever I look at Derwent Water, I think of Yeats' poem about low sounds lapping by the shore. Anyway, today I did the medium walk, 10.5 miles. "Walk from the village of Threlkeld into the lonely valley of Glenderaterra Beck (sic). We follow a terraced path high
Catbells Terrace Before I did the Catbells Terrace hike, I went down to the lake to enjoy the morning version of this idyll. A family of swans was also enjoying the morning. I took hike 1, the shortest, to see how my Achilles got on, with its padded inserts. Trip description: "
Old boots I am writing from aboard a Stena ferry. We are just pulling out of Belfast port. The downside of being in perpetual motion is I never catch up. On anything. Perfect example is my hiking boots. I bought them two years ago in Wales when my old boots failed the
Overdrive, part two Another week of foot-to-the-floor activity. During the day Mon-Thur, I struggled through a 32 page paper on the private debt market, arguing with the author over what should and should not be in the executive summary. Fun times. I played social golf after work Monday and in a foursomes competition
Overdrive This week has been a bit nuts. I attribute it to summertime – there's a lot on and I can't resist the buffet of options. Work has been busy so having something after work every day has left me a bit tapped out. Monday was book club
Borris, part three On the morning before we left, I took a few photos of lovely Inistioge. We visited a few neighbouring towns on the way home last night – each one charming. I like the man and his dog on the window of the local pub. A lovely rose garden along the side
Borris, part two The reason for the road trip was the Borris Festival of Books and Ideas. I've always wanted to go and jumped at the chance when Ann invited me. This meant I missed Lady Captain's Day at Shandon, most important day on the golf calendar. But you
Borris, part one On Friday I headed to Inistioge in County Kilkenny with Ann O'Dwyer and her friend Susan (roughly three hours south of Belfast). First stop was Altamont Garden not too far from our BnB. Lots and lots of lovely roses. There was a lake covered with lily pads, a
Nina Wednesday was the Pro Bono Choir at Stormont, made up of members of the Northern Ireland bar and legal society. Thursday was golf at Belvoir Park, where I did the women into golf programme in 2017-2019. I had never played the full 18 holes until today b/c I was
1 for 3 Friday was my first round of the McKee Cup – a five-round competition that I won last year. My opponent had a much higher handicap so I had to give her 18 shots, meaning I had to be in the hole in two shots less than her to win a hole.
Golf X Four Instead of just the Tuesday weekly competition at my golf club, this week it was Tuesday and Thursday. My goal last year was to have a round of under 100. My lowest was 102. This year I've been hitting more like 110-115. However Tuesday I played a blinder
Sheina is a swing dancer The title is my lame play on a song title: "Sheena is a punk rocker." My friend Sheina turned 60 recently and Saturday night was her birthday party. I know her from swing dance, from which I've been absent for about four years, but they were
The Challenging Cup Saturday was the match against Rockmount--the Challenge Cup. I didn't play well on Friday so went to a driving range Saturday morning. Then the match at 4 pm. We had three matches at Shandon and two at Rockmount. I was off first this year b/c I had
Lists This weekend was the second four-day weekend in a row, due to Monday government holidays and my usual Fridays off. It was a lost opportunity to get away somewhere (Donegal? Budapest?) but I stayed rooted because I had a lot to do. Here's my weekend list (there'
The Class of 62 Me trying to be funny--I was born in 1962 and my birthday is 27 April. So I worked Thursday (my birthday), fourth editing round of Robeco's net-zero case study. Thursday evening collected co-editor Rachael, who traveled from Edinburgh by train/bus/ferry. We had dinner at Common Market
The Class of ‘81 Friday went to see a play called Billy Boy about a bonfire builder. I so dislike bonfires that I thought I might benefit from understanding this subculture. My takeaway was it is an outlet for testosterone- and alcohol-laden lads more than anything political or sectarian. But of course the drug
Agreement, Part Two Monday night was book club, where we discussed the excellent Andrea Levy book The Long Song about slavery in Jamaica. I spent Tuesday at Queen's, which hosted three days of events related to the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. Monday's events featured the Clintons, Tony
Bleakley Salver Given I had a match on Sunday, there was a lot of golf on Friday and Saturday in preparation. On the day itself, Cathal and I played decently, we came second with 32 points. I learned during the drinking session afterward we would have won but for the 7th hole,
Agreement Last weekend (1-2 April) was not remarked. Cleaning house, walking dog, playing golf are the constants. Easter weekend kicked off brilliantly Thursday night at the Lyric Theatre with the play Agreement, looking at the seven central figures involved in the Good Friday Agreement, Gerry Adams and David Trimble (representing Nationalism
Imagine! Imagine Belfast is an annual festival of ideas, with panels, films, performances exploring all kinds of issues. I went to six events. First on Monday was comparing the peace in Northern Ireland to the peace brokered in the Balkans, where the civil war was ended just a few years earlier.
Top of the world Friday morning, St. Paddy's day, I took my own wee saint Paddy to Helen's Bay for a swim. I'd say 10-12 swimmers in during my visit (out of shot to the left). I met with my architect and learnt my planned extension (to replace
Snow! I got mom to the airport in Dublin Thursday morning under a very low sky and sleeting rain. She left at a good time. It snowed Thursday afternoon and through the night. So I had a lovely walk on the golf course on Friday. I spent the day cleaning floors
The last week: Tea and more tea My friends who wanted to have mom around for tea during her visit have realised time is running out, given we are in the final stretch of her visit. So she was busy during her last week here. March 1, tea and buns with Fiona down the street in her
Groomsport & Donaghadee Sundays go like this for me. Walk the dog. Get breakfast sorted for mom and then get her into a neighbour's car for mass. Then to the golf club for 9 holes, more if I can fit it in. Then home and take mom somewhere lovely. Today we