Friday 29th July 2016....Hope you enjoy the day as much as I did!!!!

I just have to tell you about my breakfast this morning...great poached eggs served by my lovely host but the highlight was sitting down to breakfast with 9 year old Jessica..such a bright and wonderful kid and she loved my story about the elephants in South Africa .... I had a great stop over here.
They also told me about a secret place to go for a ride!!
Great clear sunny skies and a wonderful day for the outdoors..

This is my magical ride!!!

The Electric Brae is a hill at which Newton's discovery of the law of gravity is defied - basically, a parked car with its handbrake off appears to run backwards uphill.

The term `Electric Brae' comes from a hill in Scotland, near Ayr, where the same phenomena is observed. Brae is a Scottish word for hill and Electric because the effect was initially thought to be an electric or magnetic attraction or repulsion from the surrounding hill or, in the case of the site near Spelga Dam, a large reservoir. Just visualise how two magnets repel each other.

It was truly amazing to see the slope down to the gate and I drove there put the car in neutral and it went back up the hill all by itself..I could not believe it!!!  Even the water was running up hill into the drain!!!

I was then on open country roads with mountains and ocean everywhere!!!

My next stop

This is where I started my hike and I am going up to the top ridge...a good work out I think!!!

After this the path got quite rocky...
Just love the small waterfalls and all the way up I could hear the rush of the river!!

Getting closer...you can see the path in the middle...

Here was the remains of an old stone quarry!!

Now your turn to work....please go to You Tube and put in Mountains of Mourne by Celtic Thunder and listen to the song...

Oh Mary this London's a wonderful sight
With people here workin' by day and by night
They don't sow potatoes, nor barley, nor wheat
But there's gangs of them diggin' for gold in the street
At least when I asked them that's what I was told
So I just took a hand at this diggin' for gold
But for all that I found there I might as well be
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.
I believe that when writin' a wish you expressed
As to how the fine ladies in London were dressed
Well if you'll believe me, when asked to a ball
They don't wear no top to their dresses at all
Oh I've seen them meself and you could not in truth
Say that if they were bound for a ball or a bath
Don't be startin' them fashions, now Mary McCree
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

There's beautiful girls here, oh never you mind
With beautiful shapes nature never designed
And lovely complexions all roses and cream
But let me remark with regard to the same
That if that those roses you venture to sip
The colors might all come away on your lip
So I'll wait for the wild rose that's waitin' for me
In the place where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea.

Because this I think is what they mean when they say the Mountains of Mourne come down to the sea!!!!

After about 5km of up hill climb I finally came to the Mourne Wall where I had my lunch!!!

Took this stood on the wall!!

The Mourne Wall


The Mourne Wall was constructed between 1904 and 1922 by the Belfast Water Commissioners to define and enclose the catchment area for the newly constructed Silent Valley Reservoir. The wall is 22 miles long, 1.5m high and 0.8m thick and is constructed entirely of granite from quarries around the Mourne Mountains using classic dry stone wall techniques. It encloses 9,000 acres of mountainous terrain and is designed to keep farm animals away from the reservoirs and rivers that flow into them.

I was gone nearly 4 hours and really enjoyed it all!!

About 20 minutes later I was here...












Pretty cool!!!!








Now to tell you about the farm house I am staying tonight...when I tried to book a few days ago Donna replied that she and her family would be happy to have me stay but today was her Birthday and they had planned a late night out in the city so I felt OK coming and letting myself in and being on my own tonight it was fine with her...So I arrived found the hidden front door key and let myself in....











What a great house...see all the food and table set for me and now I found this lovely note















How trusting of them and how special they went out of their way to make me feel at home....

One of the reasons I picked this stay is the close proximity to the airport and here is proof..





but after I booked I realized I had made a rare booking error.....I planned to return the car to belfast airport 

and from there take the 12 noon bus to Dublin....but the other day i realized the bus actually leaves from downtown ..so 

I contacted the car rental firm and asked if if could drop the car off downtown and they said of course

no worries.

So I shall do that tomorrow.

My Brother would be proud of me tonight ..I just finished watching live on my computer Hull win their Rugby League semi final and now they go to Wembley...UP THE ULL!!!!

Tomorrow another new country stay tuned!!

Yashi Kochi!!!