Portstewart

We packed our bags and double checked nothing was left behind. After handing our door pass in and thanking the staff for moving us to a ground floor room we headed off to the bus stop to go to the airport to pick up the rental car. It was very brisk outside, lucky to be above 0 degrees. We needed bus 16 and we could see one at our bus stop but we were not going to make it in time, even running against the red light. Of course we missed the second bus 16 which arrived and departed a minute later. It was a 30 minute wait before the next number 16 arrived. This seemed very unusual as the buses run every 6 minutes. We piled on the bus, hoisting our bags in the luggage hold and enjoyed the 40 minute bus ride to the airport. At the airport I signed all the necessary papers and was given a Renault Captiva, diesel, because diesel is about 10 cents a litre cheaper than unleaded petrol in Dublin. The Budget rental guy wished me a belated happy birthday but offered no discount. Before getting the shuttle to pick the car up we had a coffee and hot chocolate, possibly the best ones so far. The Captiva is black with a white roof, has a few scratches and dents which were duly photographed as supposed proof they were there at pickup time. The drive to Portrush was an uneventful and boring 3 hours. The car has satnav but only for Ireland and Malta. An interesting combination of countries and nothing for Northern Ireland. That morning we had activated our Vodafone sim which gave us 6gb of data which will hopefully allow our phone to get us to the right location over the next four weeks. We arrive at our hotel which ended up being a B&B. We rang the buzzer but no one answered so I sent a message to the contact number and didn’t get a reply. We decided to have lunch as it was after 2:30pm. We parked on the Main Street near the water and walked to a flash looking pub. Portrush is a lovely looking seaside town with no obvious signs of commercialisation. We entered the pub and MDW asked me for her normal glasses which I normally carry in my pocket, as she had her sun glasses on. I said I didn’t have them so she entered wearing her sunnies. Must be in the bag in the car.
We were seated and asked if if we wanted a drink. MDW had a Coke Zero and I asked for lemon squash. They didn’t have lemon, only lime, apple or orange. MDW said I should try something new so I settled for lime squash. Our drinks arrived and we struggled to hold in our laughter as my drink was a lime cordial. You know, what you give the kids or grandchildren to drink. Not only was it a lime cordial, it hardly had any lime flavour. By now MDW had tears streaming from her eyes down her cheeks and snot bubbling out her nose but I was determined to savour every sip. The strength was so weak I maybe should have got a glass of tap water. How much are they going to charge me for this drink! Our food was delicious and extremely filling. Time to go to the B&B after getting milk from Tesco.
We arrive at the B&B and the operators showed us our room. It’s pretty good although no fridge but as it is so cool outside, the window ledge will do as our milk fridge.
We also search our luggage for MDW’s glasses. We couldn’t find them so I rang the Dublin hotel who said they had them in the office. Looks like we will be going back to the Central Apartments on our way to the Dublin Airport next week.Read more