Ireland day 0156. Thursday 03 March 2022- YARISSSS!!

Ireland day 0156. Thursday 03 March 2022- YARISSSS!!
Today’s summary Went with Val to the airport to see her off on skiing trip.   Then bus up to Ashbourne to pick up the new Yaris (hooray!) and drove it over to Laytown for a wonderful evening walk on the beach
Today’s weather Dry, sunny and bright all day.   A little light cloud in the evening.  Dead calm.   About 8C
Today’s overview location
(The blue mark shows the location of our route)
Close-up location
(The green 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):
Laytown to Mornington shuttle via the beach
Commentary

42, 43, 33, 102, 102 (again), 197.   It seems strange to be recounting bus numbers on a day when the primary objective was to pick up a new car.   But almost by definition the time when you need a car most is the time when you are going to go and buy a new.   So today that meant several bus journeys were needed before the new car could – finally – be collected.

The day started with our first journey – which was a joint one with Val to the airport.   She was setting off on her ski trip this morning so needed to be at the airport by mid-morning.  We went to catch the 102 only to discover that – once again – it had been cancelled.   This is the third time it has happened, and is one of the less appealing aspects of relying on public transport to get around.   Nevertheless, with a bit of ingenuity we were able to make use of the timely arrival of a 42, followed by transfers to a 43 and then a 33 to get us to the airport via a slightly more convoluted route.   Ironically because the connections worked well, we arrived at the airport at about the same time as we would have if we’d gone on the original 102.

I was slightly sad to wave Val off as she is going to be away quite a long time – 12 days – this time.   But I had plenty to keep me busy as next I needed to get back to Malahide to pick up some paperwork, then out to Ashbourne to get the car.   So it was back on the 102, then a couple of hours later, papers in hand, back on the 102 again going the other way, and finally the 197 from Swords to Ashbourne.

Eventually I made it to the garage.   Money was paid and then suddenly – we had a car!!

What a wonderful feeling after all these months without one.   I don’t think you really appreciate how important your car is until you don’t have one.   I’m sure I could manage solely by public transport if I had to – and it would certainly be better for the planet if I did – but everything is a million times easier if you have wheels.

I decided to make the most of my new-found freedom to go back out to the Meath coast which we had explored so intensively in the first weeks after we had arrived.   I decided that Laytown – of races-on-the-beach renown – would be a good place to head for.   Google maps told me it would take an hour and a half to get there from Ashbourne by public transport – or 20 minutes by car.   You see what I mean?

The beach was brilliant.   A calm, clear evening with blue skies and a low tide to maximise the feeling of space and emptiness.   It was very quiet down on the sand, with very few people about and mostly just the seagulls and surf for company.   I thought I would walk a short way up the beach to the north, but once I got started I just kept going and didn’t stop until I hit the Boyne estuary, 5km / 3mi further on.   By that time it was starting to get dark and although I wasn’t worried about the tide coming in – it was so far out it would take several hours to reach me – I didn’t want it to get too dark in case I missed the turn back off the beach into Laytown.   So I turned around at that point, picking up the pace a bit for the return journey, and watching the stars beginning to come out as I walked.

I safely got back to the car, got the sound system going, and enjoyed a very comfortable cruise back down the M1 to Malahide where the car is now safely tucked up in the garage (oh dear I am beginning to sound a bit too proprietorial I think).   Now it’s time to get some tea, then I think I am going to celebrate with a gin and tonic.

Here’s to many many more happy Irish explorations in our new set of wheels!

 

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

The inside of one of the many buses I have seen today.   Hopefully I won’t be seeing quite so many of them in the future – but I have to admit it’s quite nice being whisked along and letting someone else do all the work.   It’s just the waiting in the cold and wet that I’m not so keen on. This isn’t the car that we have bought.   I was going to say “sadly” it isn’t the car that we have bought but actually I’m not so sad.   I used to love driving big cars but recently I’ve grown less enthusiastic, especially as nowadays I can think of plenty of things I’d rather spend the money on.   At the end of the day a car is primarily a way of getting from A to B though I know to a lot of people they mean many of other things too.
Time to use the word “alluring” again.   So here are the Mournes floating alluringly in the north, looking north from Laytown beach Razor clam which seems to have played host to a healthy colony of barnacles in its time
The beach was a joy to walk on – mostly.   There were a few streams flowing out to see over the vast tidal mudflat, and they had to be negotiated carefully I saw a few of these furry blobby things on the beach and at first I thought they were discarded bits of a child’s toy – teddy bear ears perhaps.   But as I saw more and more, some of which were firmly attached to bits of ocean debris, I realised that they were probably washed up bits of sponge – colonies of microscopic living animals somewhat similar to corals
The Mournes again, from a bit further up the beach near the Boyne estuary at Mornington.   The South Bull Wall is in the foreground.
Interactive map

(Elevations corrected at  GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )

Total distance: 9829 m
Max elevation: 8 m
Min elevation: 0 m
Total climbing: 111 m
Total descent: -110 m
Total time: 01:54:21
Download file: Laytown To Mornington Walk corrected.gpx

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