In the eastern part of the island of Ireland there is a lake (or a fjord with a narrow outlet) called Strangford Lough. The name Strangford has Old Norse origins ‘Strangfjörður’ = ‘Fjord of the strong current‘ (reflecting the inlet in the south, and the conditions there), so there is no doubt: the Vikings were here. The eastern side of the lake is limited by a peninsula, The Ards Peninsula, from the Irish-Gaelic Aird Uladh (the peninsula of the Ulstermen), where the southernmost part (by the outlet) is called ‘Upper Ards’ and the northernmost part ‘Lower Ards’. During the Middle Ages, the peninsula was part of the Irish-Gaelic kingdom of Uladh, but was invaded by the Anglo-Normans in the 12th century to become ‘The Earldom of Ulster‘. In the 17th century Hugh Montgomery initiated the immigration of English royalist protestants to The Lower Ards (The Plantation of Ulster), and the area is today part of Northern Ireland.
This 150 km2 loch is sheltered from the elements, and the area, with shallow sand and mud flats it is an eldorado for seabirds. Up to 70,000 birds spend their winter in Strongford Lough. In addition to the birds, tourists also come here to enjoy water sports and fishing, but this is mostly during summer time.
Tobatheornottobathe had found a home exchange in Donaghadee (The Lower Ards), and most fantastic of all: Our host, Allan, had put us in touch with the Donaghadee Chunky Dunkers (DCD). We were going to swim! But then it turned out that swimming in Donaghadee harbour was impossible on day 3, because a triathlon was to be held there that day, and swimming can only be done for a few hours each day, at high tide. Good advice was in deep need! An obvious option for Knut was to join the triathlon, which he does every year, but it turned out to be difficult to borrow a bike. Fortunately, an even easier option came up, joining DCD’s swimming in Strangford Lough, 15 km southwest of Donaghadee – DCD won’t be stopped by the harbour being busy, of course.
It was a great swim! A bit shallow, but easy to walk along the flat stones, nice weather, happy people. An Australian, who was on the run-in part of the preparations for his 35 km ‘North Channel Swim’, also joined in – he swam a little further than we did. We don’t know if he made the channel swim or not, though.
