Field Day At Salt Island, Strangford Lough

I left home at nine twenty-five this morning in order to meet up with Craig and the others at Killyleagh Yacht Club, County Down, where we boarded the boat and headed in a southerly direction to Salt Island. I've stayed on the Island several times, about twenty years ago.

It took us about ten minutes to get to the Island. The area behind the renovated bothy is now wooded, since we planted saplings there two decades ago. The bothy looks very well indeed; the work men were already there, several labourers and a painter. There was a large tractor and a digger (they were brought over on a barge). The bothy has a new roof; the open fire has been replaced by a wood-burner; the interior has been completely redecorated and the floor painted red. It looks very well indeed and there'll be an official opening ceremony next Wednesday, the 2nd July.

There must have been about two dozen people there; we were gathering stones from the ground in front of the bothy and re-building the dry stone walls surrounding it. After lunch, I went for a walk around the island with Kevin and Craig. I hope there'll be an opportunity for us to stay at the bothy soon.

We had to walk across the island to the western side, at Brandy Bay, in order to board the boat for the journey home - the tide had dropped and the western side was muddy and without water!

The weather was sunny, dry and warm despite the weather forecast; about 23c.

Back on the mainland at Killyleagh, Helen, Kevin and I drove to the Dufferin Arms for a shandy afterwards.