14th July 2018 - Ronnie's cottage at Quentin Bay

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Kms today 112
Kms to date 1,576

Helen Taylor the wife of an old school friend Brian Taylor called this morning in response to my email yesterday. I arranged to visit her in Helens Bay at midday. Brian died in 2012. As I had plenty of time I went for a walk to Quentin Castle along the bay from the house. It was originally built by DeCourcy in 1145 but has been through quite a few iterations since then. It is privately owned now and used for weddings and conferences. The front gate was open so I strolled down the drive and took a few pictures. It has great location right on the headland.
Entrance to Quentin Castle.

A gorgon carved from a tree trunk near the entrance.


Looking towards the castle from the side garden.

Looking down the side garden away from the castle.

I walked back to the house and jumped on my motorbike for the ride to Helens Bay. It only took 45mins. Helen was there with a new "friend" Wilson who went to my high school at the same time as me. We didn't recognise each other but we had a few mutual friends. We had a good chat about old times and the parties I had at my folks place in Kincora Avenue. Helen has a son living in Brisbane and she goes there each year around Christmas.
Helen with Wilson in her back garden.
While I was with Helen, Colin and  Morag were having lunch with her cousin Libby and husband Alec in the Crawfordsburn Inn, a favourite restaurant of our parents back in the 1960's. Colin's friend Naomi did 3 special panels for behind the reception desk in 2015 based on various themes including CS Lewis's "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe".
Naomi McBride's panels at Crawfordsburn Inn
Got back to Quentin Bay around 4pm and Morag and Colin arrived about 6.30pm. Morag had a car and drove us to the Sailing Club in Portaferry where we were having dinner with Ronnie and Liz.
Left to right Ronnie, Liz, Morag, Colin.
The club was really busy because there had been a regatta that day so the service was a bit slow. Food was good and we got back to the house around 11.30pm after a nightcap at Ronnie's place.

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