Being in Bangor

Somehow, this place feels familiar and rather friendly. Being greeted upon arrival by folks we know armed with pastries kind of set the tone for the next few days. After a much needed sleep, we went big and treated ourselves to the good coffee and superb scones at the nearby Olive Tree cafe. Most folks seem to like posting pictures of their food. We like to show how much we enjoyed it:

After a day alone, the first invasion began when Ann and Martin arrived by car, fresh from a north of England wedding and the ferry over here. Some complex logistical planning involving taking their bikes in the car, finding that the planned route to the reception was not bike friendly, then components failing on Martin's bike,  ended up with him getting a shiny new eBike as a replacement. We did think that cycling to a wedding do was a little sporty - less so than trying to cycle back afterwards mind you.

Having been allocated a nice big hammerhead berth on arrival, we got demoted to a finger berth and needed to move the boat on a suitably windy day. Since the crew's back was still far from right, having two extra pairs of hands around helped tremendously. In our new home and pinned to the pontoon by a nice F7:

Ann and Martin went off exploring Northern Ireland most days, we stayed local and nursed the poorly back whilst catching up with several local folks. Keith brough Bailey the cute and massively well behaved Jack Russell to see us:

David brought himself and dinner arrangements.. Ken, Debbie and Annika brought cake. All rather good really. The weather slowly changed for the better and we have "borrowed" these pictures of the marina, taken late one night:

We are reliably informed that these are Noctilucent clouds and if you want to know why they are so rare, have a look at Met Office website link.

Ann and Martin led us astray. Well, led the captain astray that is. Martin is a regular participant in the Saturday morning Park Runs. He did a grim windswept and soaking wet one in Barrybados when staying with us in Penarth. Another in Ireland when they were on the boat in Greystones. This time it was the one in Ward Park, Bangor. Ann joins in and walks them so the captain foolishly agreed to do so as well. Actually it wasn't that foolish as it was a good excuse to go for a bacon roll  breakfast afterwards. Somehow the crew dragged her pesky back over to the cafe to join us too.

After they departed, we enjoyed a dinner at the splendid Royal Ulster Yacht Club and then prepared for our next B and B guest. Simon, the yacht surveyor man from Wales arrived by plane ready to look at a Nelson 29 in Glenarm that he was tempted to buy. The weather stayed good for a look at the boat and a sea trial too:

He looks pretty intense about it all. Sadly the purchase was not to be - not the boat for him, but he did learn quite a bit about the basic boat that was useful. Meanwhile, the crew had a couple of visits to a local osteopath lady to try and persuade her back to behave better. It seemed a bit reluctant to cooperate though. 

Maintenance news:

It was "that time" again. The grey water tank was cleaned out with "bio-Blast" soap and grease remover, then hosed out and sucked dry. We will not mention the nice aromas this releases into the boat. The captain also managed to remove a sponge cloth that had been in there from before we bought the boat. Another of those jobs that you don't see any benefit from but your nose appreciates it.