Cockle Island Boat Club

There are some very posh yacht clubs in N Ireland - and then there's Cockle Island Boat Club. It is a small club in Groomsport, Co Down, and most boats there are 'day trippers', as the depth of water around Cockle Island is too shallow for larger cruisers.

Cockle Island itself is home to breeding colonies of terns and eider ducks and is right beside Ballymacormick Point, a nature reserve supervised by the National Trust. You don't have to pay to get in and walk there and it's a popular spot for folk to walk their dogs. Or just to walk.

I stopped there today on my way home from school and it was just lovely! I had a day of back-to-back meetings about terribly worthy things but it was a tad soul-destroying. After sitting in the sunshine for a while and breathing in the sea air, my spine relaxed and my smile returned. I wouldn't stop off in these restorative spots if I wasn't looking for a blip, so this is proving to be a very affirmative habit :)