Late birthday - part one.

English: The car park at Dublin Port's ferry terminal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Went back to Castledawson on 20th August with my daughter Pauline and Neil and my grandaughter Gemma. Neil filled the tank in his car and we set off for Holyhead early in the morning. One stop later and  a short detour because of traffic problems we arrived at the ferry terminal. It was my first time on this route and was impressed with the slickness of the loading operation.
Three hours later we arrived in Dublin and set off on the trek north. ( the toll charges are a bit of a rip off)
As we pulled up outside my brother Sean's house in the Broagh road it was clear that there was a football match on down the lane in the football field - we carried on to this match and watched the second half. Castledawson were victorious over Desertmartin.
We proceeded to my sister Angela's house where we met up with a houseful of brothers,sisters,nephews and nieces. It was a late night.
Next day (Tuesday)  while my sister Angela and niece Nicola went off to the coast - Portrush and Giants Causeway - with Pauline Neil and Gemma I headed off in the direction of Carrickmore with brothers Sean and Seamus. First stop on Devesky road was with Peadar Montague. After half an hour reminiscing and conversing we called to see my uncle ( RIP) Patrick's wife a mile out the same road. On the return journey we called to see Brendan Martin. His grandfather and my grandfather were old pals way back in the mists of time. As we were leaving he led us in the direction of the barn where we saw among other equipment a stack of books wrapped up. We each had a hardback copy of the history of  Tyrone GAA football up to the winning of the 1st All Ireland title in 2003. This book was written by Brendan's brother Joseph.
We returned to base in the Broagh and prepared for the next day.