Downhill to Inishowen.

(PAW2009 13/52)

When visitors ask me to name my favourite place in Northern Ireland, I usually say the beach at Downhill. I remember occasionally stopping there as a child; it was especially exciting because we took the car down onto the beach.

It was a great day yesterday — in Lisburn, at least — so we grabbed some sandwiches and loaded the dog into the back of the car to head for Downhill. On the way up, my wife remarked that we hadn’t been there since about six or seven weeks before we discovered she was pregnant.

The baby’s due in four weeks’ time.