Tuesday, September 07, 2010

From Ballyhalbert to Galloway - a morning view from last week


The only sound was the put-put-put of the wee inboard engine, around 7.30am. I've lived all my life on the coast here, and the view to Scotland has been a regular feature of every one of my 38 years. Some of my first steps were taken on this very beach (when my parents lived along the front of Ballyhalbert, before they bought the farm from the Johnstons, a farm my father had laboured on since he was a wee boy. His father and uncles had laboured those fields as well, as did their parents, as far back as family tradition goes.). All three of my own children have learned to walk on the same stretch of sand. I think most folk have places which are special to them - for me, the coastline from McCammon Rocks to Mooney's Brae is almost part of my DNA. Click the photo to enlarge.

2 comments:

Philip Robinson said...

"Frae McCammon's roaks tae Mooney's brae,
Thon shore is pairt o ma DNA."

...

Sounds like the start of your latest poem Mark? (except that in Ulster-Scots, DNA would rhyme with "bra"!)

Mark Thompson said...

Very good! Nae poetry in the pipeline jist noo!