April began with a football free Saturday, so I headed to Scrabo Country Park, got lucky with the weather and got lots of nice photos.
The rest of the month was all about football, the next two weekends saw me attend Linfield’s matches against Cliftonville and Glentoran.
With two Public Holidays for Easter, I decided to go for walks up Cregagh Glen and then up Cavehill.
That was then followed by Linfield’s matches against Crusaders, Larne and Coleraine.
Just hours after seeing Linfield winning the League against Coleraine, I headed to Custom House Square to see Echo and the Bunnymen, my first concert of 2022.
The moral of this story is, good things come to those who wait.
So, i’d decided that in 2022, I would visit Scrabo Country Park to see what it was like, and get some photos of Scrabo Tower while I was there as i’d never (to my knowledge) visited before.
The first opportunity I had was a free Saturday morning in February. It was dull so I didn’t get any decent photos.
I did discover that the walk to Scrabo Tower isn’t that demanding. I was expecting an hour long trek to the top like Cavehill. During that visit, I had a ramble through Killynether Wood.
Two months later, with another free Saturday morning, I decided to make a return visit.
While I was making the journey, I was wondering if i’d made the right decision as the rain started to come down as I drove through Dundonald. I’d made a decision and I was going to stick to it.
Curiously, despite the fact I was leaving Belfast, the travel time was around about the same as going to Cavehill or Blackmountain. Geography can be funny sometimes.
Thankfully, the rain stopped by the time I arrived but then it started again. Just a little bit, nothing that would have me running for cover. I’d come this far, I wasn’t going to turn back.
I walked to Scrabo Tower and had a nosey about.
However, this time, I took a different path on my way down. Instead of going to Killynether Wood, I decided to explore Strangford Quarries.
Having been dull and wet, which made me wonder what on earth I was doing, the sun came out, brightening the mood and meaning I was able to get some decent photos.
My visit to Strangford Quarries was going to be timebound so I didn’t deviate too much so that I could come back the way I came. It was one of those trails where I just walked straight ahead and see where it led me.
On my way back up, I headed back to Scrabo Tower and get some better photos now that I had some daylight to work with.
It was a really enjoyable visit. Across my two visits I covered a lot but there is still a lot for me to explore.
That just gives me another excuse to come back.
Remember, it took me quite a lot of visits to properly explore Cavehill.
I definitely plan on coming back at some point before the Summer ends.
November began with a day trip to Dublin. Naturally, while I was there, I took the opportunity to check out Street Art. Might as well, seeing as it was my first time there in two years.
Later that week, I did something else I hadn’t done for a long time. Not as long, just over eighteen months. I am of course referring to going to a concert, in this case, Lightning Seeds at The Limelight.
That was then followed by two road trips for Linfield away games, to Portadown and Crusaders.
Sandwiched inbetween that was another road trip, this time to Ards to get some Street Art photos, with a recent event having taken place.
It was a month of doing things I hadn’t done for a while. This time, going on a flight.
The destination was Gatwick, but not to go to London, but Brighton instead.
So many photo adventures, where to start?
Street Art in Brighton, of course. Also, a walk along Beachy Head, OMD in concert, and some sunsets while I was in Brighton.
Back home, a return to Windsor Park to see Linfield beat Cliftonville.
Two days later, I headed to The Limelight to see The Charlatans in concert.
The month ended with Linfield matches against Glenavon and Carrick Rangers.
A few weeks ago, Arts held Ards Art Jam, where a group of Artists painted walls in Meeting House Lane in the Town Centre.
Of course, I headed over to get photos as soon as they were finished.
I headed down on the next available Sunday morning. Very simple reasons and very obvious, not many people about. Certainly helps regarding Covid, and not having disruption when taking photos.
I’d never driven to Ards before, but it was easy to find when you follow road signs. Who knew?
After parking, I went for a walkabout, seeing some other murals unrelated to the event, one a montage of Ards lanmarks and people by Mark Ervine.
There was an advertising mural to promote a Beauty Parlour called Feminine Touch.
I’m not a fan of advertising murals, but this was at the side of the shop. If you didn’t turn you head around to see the front of the shop, you wouldn’t know it was an advertising mural.
I went for a walk and found it straight away. Stumbled upon it, if you will. I just got lucky.
From there, I went snap happy and got photos, despite the lack of backlift.
There was one mural in a locked Car Park, so I had to improvise with my angles.
There was even a mural of Steven McQueen to promote a Barbers.
I’m tempted to set up a website dedicated to dead celebrities promoting local business.
There’s a mural of Audrey Hepburn in East Belfast to promote a Nail Bar.
In fact, the last time I was in Ards was in 2009 to get a photo of a mural of George Best that I had been informed about.
It turned out to be an awful advertising mural for a Taxi Firm called Best Taxis.
They were hardly going to paint one of former Bangor manager Nigel Best.
There’s plenty of other available wallspace in Ards, so hopefully there will be plenty more Street Art events in years to come.
Analogue Boy In A Digital World 