Strapped into the back of the car, with their feet lifted high out of harms way, the kids gleefully reported every rustle and sideways scurry. Each commentary was met with squeals of real terror from the front passenger seat occupied by their granny. The crabs had started to escape from the loosely tied bags and move about looking for hiding places in the nooks and crannies under the car seats. Children can convince their grandparents of the logic of doing many silly things, bringing home salt water crabs for the garden pond is just one of them. They had spent the day enjoying a picnic and successfully catching crabs from the rock pools below the Mourne Coastal path. Mastering the technique of capturing the crabs with nets, having first enticed them out from their hiding places using long strings baited with bacon. They were reluctant to let them all go. When the crabs where eventually released into the garden pond, they immediately hid at the bottom, no doubt planning their escape. They had all disappeared next morning on a long march back to the sea. Apart from catching crabs and if you've any sense releasing them before going home, there are many other things to do along the Mourne coastal path. There's not much sand for making castles on the beach, however the landscape artist Andy Goldsworthy would appreciate the abundance of smooth flat pebbles, perfect for building his trademark stone towers. Unlike Goldsworthy's, the towers I patiently erected will not be toppled by the wind nor the incoming tide, a few well aimed stones had already seen to that. But the big face we outlined with pebbles on the flat rocks above the beach may still be there, smiling out to sea.