A Saturday At The Coast

On Saturday I had to drive to Newcastle (Northern Ireland not England) for a work retreat. The retreat was to train leaders of teams going out to build homes around the world. Anyway, the trip involved a drive to Newcastle. Alone. In the Fiat. As the departure date grew closer I psyched myself up and tried to take little trips in the car.

Saturday morning came and I got in the car. Since we park on a "wee" hill, going in reverse can be a "wee" bit tricky. The first few tries led me slowly down the hill to the backdoor of my neighbor. Eeek. Finally, park brake in place, I reversed up the hill and out onto the Falls Road. Thankfully the drive was uneventful (no stalls or drives on the other side of the road).

Since I didn't present until the late afternoon, I made what seemed like dozens of pots of tea and instant coffee (the second bev is gross, btw) and got to take a few walks with my coworkers. Since my poor lil' blog is in desparate need of some photojournalism, I've included a few pics of Newcastle.

Also, I have decided that Rugby ain't half bad. Ireland beat England on Saturday and provided much entertainment during one of our many, many tea breaks. Good times.

And if anyone knows how to keep the captions with the pics, gimme a shout. The captions are in the same order as the pics. Sorry I didn't catch these images during the 15 minutes of blue skies.

This is the costline just south of New Castle


I like old hotels and this hotel, the Slieve Donard, did not dissapoint. Too bad it is out of the "Habitat" retreat budget.


Look, palm trees! In Ireland?