Homeward Bound

This was taken on board the ferry from Greencastle, Donegal over to Magilligan, Northern Ireland.  It's a short crossing - about 15 minutes or so, and the ferry can take maybe 15 cars at a time.  It runs continually from dawn to dusk over the summer months, back and forth.  The main advantage is that it cuts down a lot of driving, since the only alternative is to drive the whole length of the Foyle Estuary up to Derry/Londonderry and down the other side, which could take the best part of an hour, depending on the traffic (and the ever-present road-works).  The main disadvantage is that it can be a tad rough, as indeed it was the day we crossed.  It was a lovely day, with full sun but by flip that stretch of water was choppy, particularly on the Donegal side.  I was out of the car with the camera but at one stage I almost lost my balance due to the rolling of the vessel - I made it to the side railings and hung on until things improved.  This was as we pulled out of Greencastle and just before things got a bit mad:

Leaving Greencastle, en route home.  Hasselblad/50mm Distagon, FP4+ in HC-110 (1:31, 9 minutes) on Ilford MG Classic paper.

From Magilligan it's only about a 20 minute drive home for us, past the prison, Downhill Beach and Castlerock.  The prison at Magilligan is a medium security place and mainly houses, or used to, sex offenders.  Between the prison and the beach is an Army Shooting range - something to bear in mind if you fancy a dander along the seven or so miles of golden sand.  If you see a red flag flying it might be best not to venture too far up the sand dunes.  We did, on one occasion a few years ago and got shouted at by some angry men in uniform some distance away.  We didn't hang around to engage the gentlemen in conversation but beat a hasty retreat.  Probably the correct thing to do in the circumstances.