Holiday Day 3

Once again, we woke up to cloudy skies but no rain.  Again, rain descended upon us during breakfast, a proper Irish fry up (without pudding, though).  Our strategy of heading north worked well originally, aside from getting stuck in traffic for a car boot sale (like a garage sale, except that the stuff is in the trunk/boot of the car rather than your garage) in Dundrum (the village in Northern Ireland, not the shopping center in Dublin).  We eventually found the castle and enjoyed poking around the castle ruins.  Our next plan was to do a coastal walk, but the Dundrum coastal walk was thwarted by all the car boot sale traffic.  So we found a spot with beach access (for the kids), but the rain was too great.

Ruins of Dundrm Castle

So we headed back to Newcastle, where – surprisingly – the rain had stopped.  So we let the kids explore the beach again, although we chose a different spot for at least a little variety.  After working up an appetite, we headed off for lunch on the main strip.  We planned to go to a place recommended in LBJ’s guide book, but it was way down the other end of the strip.  It took forever and the kids were not amused by the forced march.  Still, it was a good lunch – lamb burger for LBJ and fish and chips for me.  LBJ kindly got the car (a short walk away sans kids) while I got ice cream for all of us.

Again, the weather improved during nap, so we took the kids to a nearby beach recommended by the owner of our rental farmhouse.  It is a blue flag beach, a designation for clean water.  The girls had a great time splashing in the cold water under LBJ’s supervision, at least once their swimming shoes were removed.  They are too young to understand that swimming shoes can get wet.  FABJ even swam around a little bit.

ORBJ does not like cold water on her feet

Wading into the Irish Sea