Coasts, Castles and Cottage Celebrations

I've had a few days enjoying home life while Clare added the final tweaks to her Masters Degree dissertation. On Sunday, I met some friends at the coast. They went for a coasteer around the rocks, but I decided it was a bit rough, so opted to take the board in instead.

There wasn't much in the way of waves, but I enjoyed a good paddle around the bay and soaked up the blue sky.

Thanks to a chance spot on Facebook, an old friend from Liverpool JMU days was due to be cycling past Bangor on Monday, so I popped down and caught up over a cuppa in the Castle Cafe on their way past!

By Monday afternoon, we'd both had a final read-through of Clare's two-year odyssey and the time finally came to press send, so that the final version could be printed at the university print shop ready for marking. It was a pretty momentous moment and Clare said she wanted to 'clear her head' after some intense days of scrutiny.

Just up the road from The Cottage, we found just the spot!

Refreshed and warmed up, with a 'last-minute' text round to local friends, by seven o'clock we had a team of eight at The Cottage for an impromptu celebration in the form of a pizza and prosecco evening (which was a particularly good effort on the part of all whole came, seeing how it was a work night and organized with only a few hours warning!).

Had a super fun night with good foods, lots of laughter and fine chat indeed. A great 'send-off' celebration!