A cold puts a damper on some plans

While I had plans for us to visit Portstewart and Portrush, two of the cities near Coleraine that I visited a lot as a student, we ended up not making it to either. After our full day in the rain and wind on the Antrim Coast, James started experience cold symptoms at dinner that kept getting worse. So instead of a pint at the Anchor Bar, we headed to Tesco grocery store to buy some cold medicine.

We were optimistic that a few days of Sudafed and cough drops would set things right. We stocked up on water, tissues and cold medicine for the night, turning in early.

The next morning James wasn’t feeling any better. But being the trooper that he is, he rallied for one of the longest drives of our trip as we headed from Coleraine to Westport (about a four hour drive.) We stopped briefly at the University of Ulster, Coleraine for a short visit on our way out of town. The dorms where I stayed looked much the same and the main student union building looked familiar. But I didn’t recognize much of the rest of the campus, including the academic buildings. It was still nice to see the view of the River Bann and to reminisce about my housemates for a bit with James.

Since James wasn’t feeling well, we skipped a stop in Derry and instead drove straight through for a lunch stop in Sligo, before continuing on to Westport.

Luckily for James we had a two-night stay in Westport that included a spa day and very few planned activities. He was able to rest and relax during the worst part of his illness. His cold/flu has been lingering with a bad cough, some congestion and a sore throat for the last 10 days so that has limited how late we stay out. On the plus side, we’ve saved some money on pints as he has not been up to drinking for most of the trip. On the downside, we’ve spent way more on cold medicine than I budgeted for (as the budget was for zero.) I also seem to be developing the cold/flu with a sore throat for the last few days. I’m hoping we are both feeling a little better by the time we fly back home on Sunday.