Saturday & Sunday – Abingdon Collection and Air Show

As Usual, Click on Pics for larger picture in a new window

Technology Update: My WEP wireless device worked great in Liverpool and Caernarfon. Here in Portstewart it works but is very slow uploading pictures. Updates may be every other day rather than daily. Check daily and see.

Saturday

The Abingdon Collection was amazing, more so than pictures can show. The owner, Philip Faithful, is a collector. (He is not related to British singer Marianne Faithful. We asked.) Philip gives private tours of his collection by appointment only. We had an 11:00 AM appointment that I made months ago by email. We were the only guests this morning. Philip has an amazing collection of two things: automobiles and WWII memorabilia. There is no admission charge; rather he requests a donation to the Cancer Society. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Then we had a two hour drive on mostly back roads to the coastal town of Portstewart. Lynne and Barry, our landlords, met us at the appointed hour at Kinvara Cottage and showed us the ropes: heat, hot water, washer & dryer, electric shower heaters, etc. Before arriving we had stopped at Tesco in Coleraine, the largest town in the area, and stocked up with essentials (water, wine, bread, breakfast stuff, and things for tonight’s planned eat-in dinner). We unloaded the groceries and our bags and settled in.

I had purchased two bottles (small ones) of vodka on the ferry (duty free prices) and had previously bought a bottle Mrs.Fitzpatrick’s Lime & Lemongrass cordial to use as my mixer for my Irish gimlets. As dinner was cooking (fresh potatoes, green beans, and minced ground lamb with mint), I had my first gimlet(s) in since Las Vegas and Elaine enjoyed glasses of wine. Dinner was grand and we went to bed after watching an excellent BBC show on the horrors of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center.

Sunday

The weather continues to be good as we arose on Sunday. After tea, toast, and yoghurt, we headed out to re-explore the area. We stopped first on the main road (Strand Road) in the heart of Portstewart and had a brief walk around. We cited a few of the restaurants we had researched, and we’ll give one a try tonight.

Then we drove another few miles up the coast to the next town of Portrush where they are having an air show this weekend. We got there early enough to beat the traffic and find a good parking place for the show. That was fortunate as later in the day parking was at a premium and the traffic coming in was heavy as we were leaving. We had a quick walkabout through the military recruiting booths and the BBC tent show. Then we found an ideal spot to sit on a wall for the flying demonstrations that were soon to begin. We had carried in our home made sandwiches and some potato crisps (chips to you Americans) and ate them sitting on the wall. The flying show was to go on all day from 12:15, and we stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to the car. We saw some amazing planes including the Red Arrows Synchro Team, a helicopter that can fly upside down and do a back flip from a hover, the Tucano T1, the North American Mustang, a Calidus Autogyro that looks like a helicopter but isn’t, the Avro Lancasters, and more. It was fun!

Recruiting at the Air Show

Again we stopped in Portstewart at the Anchor Pub & Restaurant. Elaine had a pint of Harp Lager and I indulged in some delicious Smithwick’s Ale. We made reservations for dinner at 7:30 PM and headed home for a nap.