Day 15: "Dad's dunny can't flush"

Day 15 - Monday, April 2nd 2018: Ardglass to Portaferry 18 km / Total 317 km, 6°C, rainy

It's pouring cats and dogs! How lucky I was to spend the night in a house, even if in the morning, I couldn't get out, Ryan's father closed it too well (because the wind kept opening the door at night). So it's supposed to be Spring. All right there are daffodils, but that's all. It's really cold, only 4°C in the morning. When the road reached the coastline again, I had to face very strong winds, and it made me walk slower. I took only one picture, a tower in Kilclief, from the XVe century. Almost nobody on the road, so I walked straight ahead 14 km without a stop to Strangford. There, I had to take a little ferry, to get on the other side of Strangford lough. Fortunately, it was already there, and I just had to pay 1£ to get on it. Well, it's only a 5 min cruise. But I was so wet, I decided to make a stop in Portaferry, the other side, to get some lunch, and to warm myself. The hotel restaurant was full, a lot of families (it was a Bank Holiday), friends who met there. Then I had to face the rain again until I reached Heiko's house.

I found him on Couchsurfing, he hosted many people, from every continent, who came here via Helpex. He's doing permaculture, which I didn't know, but as I understood it, he tried to restore the original ecosystem which was absolutely not made of monoculture, but real biodiversity, with many different plants growing up in the same place, and maybe help each other. It was very nice to share his home, with his wife Susan, their dog Eddie, and Mickey, the cat (great mouse hunter). It was good to watch a movie (Liar liar) with Susan, close to the fireplace, a warm afternoon while it was still raining outside. Heiko used to live in West Germany, before the fall of Berlin's wall, and he told me how he went on volunteer camp in East Germany, which was really interesting. And for dinner, we had an Easter speciality from Stuttgart. He also told me how was Northern Ireland when he arrived here and settled a mixed camp for teenagers, and how life went on with the daily bomb in Belfast. But, that's not all, Heiko is also a musician, he wrote very funny songs, and the day after, I had "Dad's dunny cant' flush" in my head for walking!