Ireland day 0478. Thursday 19 January 2023- Phoenix Circuit *

Ireland day 0478. Thursday 19 January 2023- Phoenix Circuit

Today’s summary	Recce’d a possible Club walk from Heuston round Phoenix Park via Chapelizod. had to miss out Farmleigh as it was “closed for Government business”. Val was at work
Today’s weather	Bright, sunny, cold and dry again. Sunshine and cloudless blue sky after a bit of early morning cloud cleared. Light westerly wind. Appx 4C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Phoenix circuit

Commentary

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

I’ve volunteered to lead a Club walk from Heuston station to Ashtown station via Kilmainham, the Liffey river bank, Phoenix Park and Farmleigh. The date is not fixed yet but I thought I’d take advantage of today’s excellent weather to recce a possible route.

The walk was thoroughly enjoyable and Dublin was looking sparkling today. The only complication was that Farmleigh was closed for “Government business” (it is used by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste for official receptions and meetings from time to time). So rather than exploring Farmleigh then heading to Ashtown, I decided to cut out the Farmleigh bit and then instead of finishing the walk at Ashtown station, I walked back to Heuston, down the north eastern perimeter of the park.

With the perfect weather and very agreeable surroundings (Phoenix Park is one of my favourite urbanscapes anywhere in Europe), all in all it turned out to be an excellent day, even if it didn’t go exactly to plan.

Sadly, val had to miss it as she was hard at work in the museum.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Heuston station, from the Luas stop	Kilmainham hospital

Entering the first world war memorial gardens, on the banks of the Liffey	Pedestrian entrance to Phoenix Park at Chapelizod

Entrance to Farmleigh	Central Court of Criminal Justice at the end of the walk, near Heuston. Always a magnet for hacks keen to report on the latest juicy case. Today was no exception, and there was a gaggle of reporters on the stairs waiting for news of today’s proceedings

On the banks of the Liffey, with the rowing clubs on the far shore.