Strangford / Portaferry Float night 2015

Taking Ben down to the Friday night of the Portaferry Gala week is now an annual event, a tradition in the making so to speak.  Gala week is a festival which has all sorts of things going on culminating in the grand finale, the best Float and Band Parade.








A day or two before and it was the 5th 'birthday' of Ben's nursery school, Little Cricketts in Glenavy.  All the kids dressed up for the occasion and here you can see Ben rocking this cool Spiderman number.









 
After driving down from Glenavy Marguerite, Jude and Ben settled into their base in Strangford and promptly took a dander down to the edge of Strangford Lough.










Ben was fascinated with all the boats.














And Marguerite kept a tight grip on him.













Strangford Lough is as beautiful as it gets really, and the village of Strangford itself is like a throwback in time ........ in a nice way.  The scenery is just class.











Before long Ben had remembered he brought his bucket and spade and off he marched ......













....... in search of buried treasure. 

What type of treasure?  And did he find any?












Well sea shells of course! And he found loads!















Check out his cool new shovel there. Wha?










 




Happy as a kid in seaweed.















Ben soon began collecting his treasure and tucking it away in the bucket.

He was being ably helped by his auld Dada - who had the look of a man who's did this kind of lark before.












Aye your wellies Jude.

Jude showing he's not afraid of looking silly in the cause of helping Ben know his Mussel shells from his Oyster shells.










'Mind your step son'.















Focussed on the job - take 1.















Focussed on the job - take 2.



















'Here son ......... some more treasure for your bucket'.













Ben was really enjoying his visit to Strangford Lough and learning all about the shells ...... and the seaweed ..... and the water and whatnot. 





 

 

A pose for a nice pic with the ferry in the background.

Jude's wellies worked perfectly ........ not a drop of water touched his feet today ....... now that was 12 quid well spent don't you think?  Really the last thing you need at a moment like this is a hole in your welly.  Wha?














Marguerite had nominated herself as photographer supreme for this little activity (something about sea water and nail varnish or something daft like that - sure what do I know?) but still managed to help out.










   

'This is great', was what Ben said, and you could not disagree with him. 

After all that hard work it was time for a nice ice cream and a guitar ....... sure why not?













Ben dandered over to the village green to sit and eat his ice cream.












No rest for the wicked!  As soon as the ice cream was devoured it was time for a game of football.













And today Ben was having loads of fun catching the ball.













Football is all in the head ...... well so they say anyway. 

Ben preparing to catch the ball.











'It's my ball, and I'll sit on it if I want to'.














Marguerite taking a break in The Cuan before the evenings festivities in Portaferry.  The Cuan is a great wee spot altogether.  It a guest house with a fine restaurant and a cool wee bar.  What more do you need?  Perfect!

 

'Sing me a song son', said Marguerite to Ben as they sat in The Cuan. 

'Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man, do you know the muffin man he lives on Drury Lane? 

(Well you did ask for a song and a song is what you got!)









So there was just about enough time for dinner in the Cuan, a snack for Ben .........













......... and a quick beer for Marguerite and Jude before ........

 

....... getting the Ferry boat across Strangford Lough to Portaferry for the Gala float night.













Marguerite, Ben and Jude are kind of creatures of habit and therefore as before the spot they chose to pitch up for the evening was the Portaferry Hotel.

















Ben wasn't long getting settled in.
















Megan came along and met up with Marguerite, Jude and Ben ....... and of course the craic was ninety.

For a while before the Floats started Ben provided the entertainment. 

Megan and Ben catching up.

Before long the sun was going down and the crowds were gathering in anticipation of the Float and Band parade.

Jude and Ben were as excited as anyone.










Then the Floats arrived.  First up was 'Thunderbirds' ....... and it was pretty cool too with a rocket launcher shooting up into the sky. 












A fine start to the parade which would be hard to beat.














Ben really had a bird's eye view of proceedings at this stage.

Driving the Pink Cadillac on this Float was Jude's friend JB. 

Pretty cool car!













Next up was Sponge Bob Squarepants.















Then Mary Poppins floated along brilliantly in the evening sunshine. 

Friday night of Gala week - sure it's great altogether!

This band were very good.  They stopped and played a couple of tunes right here in front of the Hotel.  Ben loved this. 

The Jungle Book was a brilliant Float.  Remember ........ all these Floats are made by the locals in the weeks before Gala week and the workmanship and artistic brilliance of some of the work is amazing, like these Elephants for example.  That was great but Ben's favourite Float was saved for the last, it was ..........









...... the Marvel Comics one.  Spiderman was on it you see and that was good enough for Ben.  In Ben's eyes Spiderman is just cool! 

As always the Floats were great and after they ended ........









...... Marguerite, Ben and Jude made their way back to Strangford on the Ferry boat.

A quick burger and chip was washed down with a beer and before you knew it it was ......










........ the next morning.  After breakfast in The Cuan Ben sorted himself out with an ice cream ..... sure why not indeed?













'Well that was another great trip to Strangford and Portaferry', thought Marguerite and Ben as they prepared to leave. 












There was however just about enough time to squeeze in one last football game before the left.  Strangford really is a great wee village to stay in so roll on next time!