Off this week. Wifey and I are visiting Newgrange tomorrow. 70 miles away and never seen it.
Stopping at Newcastle on way home (seaside place at the foot of the Mournes) for an overnight at the Slieve Donard hotel. Have had a voucher for money off for some time.
Looking forward to it. Nice way to start a week off.
Never flown on my own. That will change, maybe this year. I want to go off on my own weekends away now and then. Get away from stress of work and busy family life.
Inevitably, though, it will just end up being UK rather abroad, but never say never.
Our Newcastle is only 40 odd miles from where I live in Belfast and I continue to be jolted by its beauty when I go there. Those are the Mourne mountains there. Slieve Donard is the highest mountain in NI - was snowcapped today - you can just see it in the picture.
I've stayed in the Slieve Donard hotel several times but it's been work related - this was Wifey's first stay - we called in for a night on the way back from Newgrange because we had a gift voucher for it.
It's under renovation at the minute - will be good to go back and see the place in full glory later in the year. There's a fine spa and pool and when you are in the pool your eyes are level with the sea outside.
it's easy to take for granted the natural beauty of certain places when it's local and therefore just becomes 'normal'. i'm certainly guilty of that living in Northumberland, where i prob have a range of beaches and beautiful/interesting nature spots within half an hour that would be the envy of many, yet as a family we're far more likely to drive into the 'toon' and/or go indoors for entertainment where you could just be in any urban place in the world.
Log in at work after annual leave, and they've accidentally marked my phone extension to be moved to Teams. Which shouldn't be happening for several months. Could take days to fix so in the meantime I'm working emails only, no calls.