The Minnowburn Three

A mere three degrees Celsius. That was the maximum temperature today. Mind you, we were working quite laboriously. We were up near the Rose Garden at Minnowburn, still constructing a path which will lead down towards the river. There's a large heap of gravel stones up there and we had a couple of wheelbarrows so, with the shovels, we were wheeling a few tons of the stuff down the slope to spread it out.

There were three of us today, including the deputy warden. We had our lunch back at the Warden's Office, where there was a wood-burner lit; I had tried to buy Tesco's "turkey with all the trimmings" sandwiches, which were out of stock at Knocknagoney at 9.30 on Friday morning - so bought cheese and onion instead). Afterwards, Kevin showed me his new vegetable patch at the allotment. He intends to grow potatoes, onions, peas and carrots.

The National Trust Minnowburn staff are having their Christmas party at the Crown Bar in Belfast next Friday. This clashes with the Strangford Lough party, which will be at the Villa Vinci in Newcastle. I'm attending the Newcastle bash, though I might alternate it, in future, with the Belfast dinner.