Ireland day 1104. Sunday 06 October 2024- Trim Again

Today’s summary	Went back to visit Trim and its castle, three years and one day since we were there last. Last time most of the castle was closed because of the pandemic but today all was open. Went on a guided tour of the castle and then walked out to Newtown along the banks of the river Boyne. Finished off the vegetarian dhal curry with a glass of wine for dinner
Today’s weather	Terrible in the morning with wind, heavy rain and thick cloud. Much nicer in the afternoon with sun and no wind. Strong south easterly wind in the morning, dropping away in the afternoon. Appx 16c in the sun

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Trim 2

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

I was looking back through my notes and realised that it was three years and a day since we last visited the Meath town of Trim. We had been here in Ireland just a week at that time, and I think we were a bit bewildered by the novelty of it all. A bewilderment which was undoubtedly compounded by a dawning appreciation of the momentousness the move we had just made from the UK. These factors, plus the lingering remnants of the pandemic, meant that we didn’t see and appreciate as much of this fine town as we might. We had always meant to go back one day, and today we decided, despite the unpromising weather at the start, to give it a go.

The rain was indeed truly lashing down as we got up, so we didn’t leap into action quite as fast as we did yesterday. But after a bit of scrutiny of the weather forecast, we realised it was supposed to improve later so dragged ourselves into the land of the living and got going.

Val elected to drive today so after a brief refuelling stop at Applegreen, we swished and splashed ourselves round a rain-drenched M50 and M3 and were in Trim about 1pm. It was surprisingly difficult to find somewhere to park as it was quite busy – a complete contrast to the last time we were here, when it was pretty much deserted. Eventually we found somewhere, and by a stroke of luck there was a newly-opened café just opposite, where we got an excellent and healthy lunch to set us up for the day.

We headed straight through the town to the castle, but on the way made sure we had a bit more of a look round this smart little town than we had managed three years ago. It confirmed our impressions that it was both Trim by name and trim by nature. Once in the castle, we managed to secure a place on a 2:30pm tour, thanks to our OPW membership cards. The tour was excellent and we learned a lot about the history of the castle and its centrepiece, the Keep.

To summarise, for history buffs, we learned that the Keep and surrounding Curtain Wall (complete with barbican gate) was built by Hugh and then Walter de Lacy between 1172 and 1224. They were Anglo-Normans invited in by local Irish king Ruairí Ó Conchúir who needed English help to quell uprisings by his neighbours. De Lacy was a protégé of Henry II and unfortunately for Ruairí they never left starting 900 years of unhappy English entanglement in Ireland.

History lesson over, we walked out of the demesne and over the Millennium bridge to join the Trim Castle river walk on the north side of the Boyne. We followed the tarmac path all the way downriver as far as the ruins of the oxymoronic 800 year old Newtown. We had a quick look round then made our way back to Trim town centre via the central grassy pathway to the Yellow Steeple and then the old bridge. Weaving our way through the coffee shops, artisan bakeries and health food stores, we made it to the far side of town to have a look at the Curtain Wall made famous in the 1995 Oscar-winning film “Braveheart”. It was a quick to the car park from there, so we were soon back in the Yaris and on our way back to Malahide.

On the way, partly for old-times’ sake as it was our first footfall in Ireland 1,104 days ago, we stopped off at Tesco Swords to get some provisions. Most important perhaps was the rather nice bottle of Rioja which we are enjoying now with last of the delicious dhal vegetarian curry, as we reflect on what has been, and continues to be, one of the most momentous and defining three year periods in our entire lives.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Peeping over the Curtain Wall (you can see the view from outside the wall in the banner image at the top of the blog) over the town of Trim. It’s an attractive spot and lives up to its name	Inside the 800 year old Keep. An excellent tour took us to all levels inside, and up on to the roof

Looking down a set of so-called Monks Stairs into the cellar. The stairs are designed this way to allow people to carry things up a very steeply inclined slope, meaning that the staircase has a much smaller footprint than it would need if it had conventional treads	Looking upriver to Trim bridge – supposedly the oldest in Ireland and still used by heavy traffic all day

The Yellow Steeple – it’s an old bell-tower in the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey and was the tallest building in Mediaeval Ireland. It got its name from the way it glows in the setting sun. It looks so dilapidated because Cromwell’s troops used it as target practice when they occupied Trim in 1649 after the siege of Drogheda	Walking across the ancient bridge pictured above

The Keep looking imposing in the sunshine this afternoon