6 August 2010 - Portpatrick

My first visit to this old port. We were visiting to see where my some of my family originated from.

A damp first evening to watch the raft race across the harbour. The event was part of the fundraising for the Portpatrick Lifeboat.

The rafts all lined up ready to go. The rain came on quite hard at this point so no photos from the race unfortunately.

8 August

A second visit on a much better day.

Sunday morning. The old lighthouse on the harbour wall.

Looking across the harbour to the waterfront pubs and hotels.

The inner harbour.

The white fronted building is the Crown Hotel where we had our lunch.

Another view of the old lighthouse.

Quite a few boats in the harbour. We later realised why.

Looking down on the harbour from the path to the Portpatrick Hotel.

Portpatrick St Andrews auld kirk which is 17th century. It ceased to be used in 1842 when the new church was built. The tower is just about all that remains. Unfortunately the graveyard was locked so we were not able to look for family connections.

Another view of the old kirk tower.

We thought we could hear pipes in the distance. We did, they were being played by a piper on the back of the lifeboat as she entered the harbour.

The lifeboat was followed in by a long line of small boats.

We later discovered what was going on. It was the annual visit by the small boats from across the sea at Donaghadee.

All the visitors were wearing these commemorative shirts marking the centenary of their lifeboat.

The harbour was soon even fuller.

Pirates!

Soon the drinks were flowing.

The real stuff. A drop of Guinness.

The partying carried on all afternoon.