Picnic at Portaneevy

After the exhilaration of seeing the school of dolphins/purpoises at Ballintoy the other day Missy & I drove a bit further round the Antrim coast road.  Not far after Ballintoy is Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and just past that is the picnic area and viewing point at Portaneevy.  Here lies one of the best views along this part of the Antrim Coast road.  Way to the West you have Donegal, just off-shore you have Rathlin Island and past that (visible on a good day) the Western Scottish Isles of Islay (25 miles) and Jura (50 miles).  Kintyre lies 24 miles to the East.  A stone slab informs you we are about 1300 miles from Cape Farewell in Greenland and 800 miles from Iceland, in case you were wondering.  This is the view to the West, looking at the Rope Bridge in the foreground and Sheep Island in the background.  The little white dots you might just be able to make out on the headland are sheep-things:

View from Portaneevy towards the Rope Bridge and Sheep Island.  On Ilford Cooltone RC paper

   

The shot is nicely unsharp from the accidental use of the Softar Filter on the 'Blad, as explained last time.  

One of the benefits of COVID-19 is the slightly fewer tourists at this time of year.  Usually places like Portaneevy are best avoided in the summer months, as coachloads of people fill them up.   But last week it was almost empty - a few locals having picnics on the grass and that was it.  However, with the lockdown easing up here in Northern Ireland I think it'll be September before I venture out that way again - although perhaps an early morning/evening trip might be OK.  

Picnic-ers (incorrect use of hypen I know but without it the word looks very strange) are great to observe.  Older folks have their Thermos Flasks (ideally a red tartan design) with tea, proper ceramic cups or, at a pinch, mugs, and home-made sandwiches.  Younger ones tend to forego the tea in favour of bottled water or pop of some variety and store-bought sandwiches or wraps and crisps.  Yes, I know, How sad am I for noting these things but I can't help it - people are interesting to watch.  When we were young the Thermos Flask and sandwiches came with us on every Sunday outing without fail and it always makes me smile when I see people still doing that.  In order to keep the water as hot as possible the Thermos has to be pre-heated with boiling water, of course.  Then that first fill is discarded and replaced with freshly boiled water just before you leave the house.  Since us Irish have to take milk in our tea (I think it's the law) a small glass bottle is filled with milk - something like an old cough mixture bottle is perfect, although you might need to seal the top with a bit of cling film or even tin foil so as to prevent spillage.  Sugar (in those days we all had sugar in our tea) was usually in sachet form, squirrelled away in a handbag from the last cafe or hotel that was visited.  Sandwiches, as I said, were always home-made - money was tight enough for pretty much everyone in those days.  The thing that caught my eye with the picnic-ers with the Thermos Flask at Portaneevy that day was the milk - a dirty great 2-litre plastic milk container plonked in the middle of the wooden picnic table for the whole world to see.  Standards, my friends, are slipping...