Summer in Newcastle, County Down

Continuing on our week in The Mournes, here's what you can see & do in Newcastle, the main seaside town at the base of the mountains.

It's always been a fun, family destination with twee, little shops with fancy dress & jokes to buy. There's a new bead shop where you can pick & choose from hundreds of designs and make your own necklace, bracelet or brooch.

Doll's house accessories in Bon Bon's

There are a handful of amusement arcades with video game machines, two penny drop gambling games and a few rides too.

Down in between the buildings we found an outdoor funfair with five rides including small chairaplanes and a waltzer.

These boats are £2 a go.  

For food there's a KFC, Subway, Country Fried Chicken, Mauds Cafe and dozens of ice cream parlours.  There's even a machine that makes candy floss outside Bon Bon's shop.

So whether you're staying at The Mourne Lodge, Dan White's Cottage or Hanna's Close, or just down for the day, Newcastle is a nice little nostalgic seaside stop off.

Expensive, but cool, American import sweets available from Ben & Jerry's icecream shop.

We Are On The Road!

Just a quick update, with limited wifi! We are on the road, having driven over 500 miles since Sunday. I've lots to share with you soon of destinations here in Northern Ireland to visit as a tourist, or like us a tourist-at-home.

We've seen a fairy village, had a space adventure, shopped ourselves silly in the kitschest shop I've ever found, and slept in a cottage amongst the mountains with no-one around for miles except some sheep. 

I'm looking forward to sharing with you homely and wonderfully welcoming Mourne Lodge,  where the Game of Thrones crew stayed whilst filming down this direction. I also have to show you Dan White's Cottage, where we've been staying the past two nights; it's a self catering gem. But for now, it's time to hit the sack. Another hundred miles or so to travel tomorrow and more adventures ahead!