Ireland day 1293. Sunday 13 April 2025- Killester Raheny

Today’s summary	Took the DART into Killester then walked down to meet the Walking Club at Wooden Bridge at noon. Val meanwhile went on a 10km run. After coffees, we went on and strolled across to Bull Island then crossed the causeway and into St Anne’s Park. I walked from there back to Raheny to catch a train. In the evening we finished off the parathas with some sausages for dinner
Today’s weather	Light cloud with a few sunny intervals. A rain shower later in the afternoon but otherwise dry. Light westerly wind. Appx 12c

Today’s overview location (The orange mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Killester to Raheny DWC

Commentary

The weather forecast for today was a bit “iffy”, but Val and I both decided to go out and get some outdoor time nevertheless. And in the end we needn’t have worried – we only had a light shower today, and that was after we had got back from our respective activities – a run for Val and a Club walk for me.

The Club walk was scheduled to meet at the Wooden bridge (which leads to Bull Island) at noon, so I got a DART shortly after eleven and then walked down to the start from Killester station. It was quite a nice “pre-walk walk” – I hadn’t really explored Killester before and it struck me as being an agreeable spot.

Once united with the group, there was just time for coffee at Póg Clontarf café, then we set off over the bridge onto the island. Normally we start this walk at Clontarf and it peters out around lunchtime at Dollymount. So it was quite nice to alter things a bit and start further along, so we walked together right along Dollymount Strand and back over the causeway before going our separate ways on the mainland at the Red Stables, St Anne’s Park. Along the way, we paused for lunch at the picnic tables near the now-defunct Bull Island visitor centre – it was pleasanter there than on the beach, where the wind was quite strong and chilling.

I thoroughly enjoyed the walk – lots of chat and lots of sunshine. Perfect! Then I left the rest of the group at the Red Stables – which I always find a bit too chaotic to be enjoyable – and walked on to Raheny where I had a 30 minute wait for a train back to Malahide.

Our evening was spent as many others – finishing off the parathas with some sausages on the side. But I need to sign off now as we have both concluded that dinner should be washed by beers, which means I have to skedaddle off to the supermarket immediately!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The Solar House on Vernon Avenue, Killester. It’s quite striking and has its own website (which proclaims that actually it is a guest-house)	On the breakwater heading out to Dollymount

Dollymount Strand on Bull Island	Hollow tree in St Anne’s Park

Tree roots cascading like a waterfall over a sandy bank in St Anne’s Park	Colourful ceanothus. There was one growing in our last house in the UK when we moved in – but it promptly died as soon as we took over its custodianship

Trying to take a peek through the gate into the Walled Garden in St Anne’s Park. Sadly the gate always seems to be locked shut so you can’t go in and take a look around. Which is a shame, as it seems quite interesting from the small bit you can seen beyond the railings