U.K. Trip, Day 19

Portstewart Strand, my favourite Northern Irish beach

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Today was busy for a Sabbath, much busier than our last. We rode with the McCs to church at Cloughmills RPC. We were so warmly welcomed there that one couple our age, Peter and Linda McK, invited us over after evening worship. The congregation is small but lively. At the McCs' house we ate a sumptuous lunch, complete with an elaborate dessert that involved cheesecake and chocolate sauce. 

After lunch Scott and I drove to Portstewart Strand, which we walked end-to-end. The beach was crowded with kids, body-boarders, jet skiiers, picnickers, and dog-walkers when we arrived, but on our way back the tide was coming in, and most people had left. I love this beach--its long, smooth curve of sand, Portstewart's roofs huddled at one end, and the cliffs of Donegal at the other, with Mussenden Temple perched on its headland between beach and cliffs like a clock on a shelf. (Of course Londonderry hides up the river behind Mussenden Temple.) The sky was covered with whorled clouds to the south, which gave light and water an unearthly silver pearliness as the long smooth waves flowed over the sand.

Since Scott drove us back to Cloughmills for evening worship, we missed the crazy Mr McC driving experience, which had made the road home from morning worship a rollercoaster. After evening worship we said good-bye to the McCs and went with Peter and Linda to their house. Their three wee kids were already in bed. We stayed with them until after half eleven. I think that if we were ever to move here, we'd be best friends with them as we got along famously on all fronts, discussing everything from West Wing to witnessing to Catholics. 

On our drive home, down winding, narrow country roads, we saw a badger running along the hedge beside us. It's a mercy we didn't get lost; if it hadn't been for the map Mrs McC lent us, we would definitely have lost our way somewhere in all the turnings and odd angles.