This week I’ve had the most amazing holiday in Northern Ireland.

I’ve never been to Ireland before so it’s been fab to experience this wonderful country and do some exploring.

Despite the poor weather I’ve managed to get out for a 9 mile run along the coast and a 3 mile parkrun, plus a long trip out on the canoe and kayak as well as a short play on the stand up paddle board, plus we went for a total of 9 miles on bikes around Rathlin Island.

A triathlon! (almost).

I’m so glad that the people I’m with share my joy of being active and we’ve been lucky to stay right on a coastal footpath, so planning a route for a long run was easy.

I always check out and plan new routes using gb.mapometer.com as it’s a really easy way to measure distance, then I consult an OS map also if needed for more detail.

I just wish I had a watch that allows you to upload GPX files as then I could follow the route on my watch, making it less likely for me to get lost (potentially).

However my navigation is pretty strong so I’m glad I don’t currently need to rely on technology, but I think it can be a good back up.

Although I wish I’d had my own bike with me it was great to hire bikes and cycle along to the RSPB Centre on Rathlin Island and see the puffins.

The gentleman who runs the business was really helpful and gave us some tips and directions.

It was a hilly ride but I thoroughly enjoyed it and can definitely feel the benefit of my running, especially all those hill repeats!

We’ve only had one trip out on the boats, partly as the weather hasn’t been good, plus we’ve been too busy with other things.

The trip we did do though was so enjoyable that I’m quite satisfied with just the one.

We went exploring along the coast to find a big, beautiful sandy beach and adventured around the rocks on the way back.

In this instance we had our own canoe but there was a company running from the harbour offering kayak hire and trips, so it would be easy to go out and explore without your own boats.

Holidays are a great opportunity to focus your time on getting out there and doing the things you love but don’t always have time to do… be that long walks, sitting in bed reading a book or flying a kite.