Saturday in Belfast!

We had a packed day today starting with a drive up to Derry. We wandered round the city walls and had a look in St Columb’s Cathedral where there was a Christmas tree festival. It was brilliant! Lots of Christmas trees were in a row, on a shelf which had been attached to the end of the pews, and each one had been decorated by different clubs, classes and associations.
Each one was very creative and different from the last, and to make things even more Christmassy there were four singers in sparkly Christmas hats sitting at the front singing Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”! 
From there we went on to a local college where Matt was running in a cross-country race. The weather was quite warm, I didn’t have to stand it in the mud, and it didn’t last too long so I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! There were about 3 -400 taking part, and some were clearly not cut out for it, but they plodded gamely on, even though the club runners like Matt, had finished two or three laps earlier! 
Then after the mud had been washed off, we drove home via the new garden opened by the King and Queen and saw the bench made of horseshoes in the photo. 
Later we had a wander round the Christmas market, which was rammed full of people eating from the food stalls. Everyone seemed to be out on the streets of Belfast, it was busy everywhere, so after stopping for a drink we walked home and got a Chinese takeaway, just in time to see the end of Strictly. Thank goodness Layton didn’t win!