Downings Beach

Monday, the last day of our getaway, we headed to Downings Beach in the morning. It's across the estuary from Creeslough on the road to Carrigart, for those  keeping score at home.

There's a boardwalk through the dunes to the beach.

Hard to get Paddy to sit still long enough for a photo. Can you spot him in the distance?

Springers are famous for their love of swimming. All Paddy wants is for me to throw a stick. I do that over and over but the shelf on the beach is so shallow that he splashes through the waves rather than swims, no matter how far I through the stick.

In Australia they are closing beaches because of the throngs of people on the beach. I work with a lot of Australians and they were concerned that I spent the weekend on the beach. I sent a few pictures to convey that I wasn't engaging in risky behaviour as the coronavirus spreads.

It was colder today. When I went back to the house to pack up and clean, I decided to head back to Belfast early, as the clouds had come down and it was raining.

Plus I had a 7pm-9pm meeting tonight so I wanted to get home in time to get myself sorted. The beautiful thing about this trip is lockdown began in Belfast the next day. So I had an incredible four days of hiking and beautiful scenery to help me through the coming weeks of isolation.

23 March