Ireland day 0621. Sunday 11 June 2023- Lucan Fields *

Ireland day 0621. Sunday 11 June 2023- Lucan Fields

Today’s summary	Val returned from the UK last night and today we joined the Walking Club for an interesting walk round some fields to the east of Lucan and by the Liffey. Felt like southern England
Today’s weather	Feeling warm and quite humid with much more sun than yesterday. Light south easterly wind. Appx 22C

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): Lucan Fields and Liffey

Commentary

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

Val got back safely from the UK last night so today she and I decided to join the Walking Club for an afternoon stroll around the town of Lucan.

We drove over just before 12 and luckily managed to find somewhere to park without too much trouble. We were ready to set off walking straight way but of course we couldn’t really do that until we had first enjoyed refreshments courtesy of Coffee Works, near the town centre.

Lucan is an attractive villagey-type town which we have visited a couple of times before – but mostly at the St Catherine’s Park end. This time we headed in the opposite direction and walked downstream the Liffey, into some fields that used to belong to a hospital. We wandered our way through broad plantations of wheat and glades of beech, before cutting down to the river and back upstream along a shady and slightly overgrown path leading all the way to Lucan.

It was a lovely walk and quite unlike anything we had ever done in Ireland before. It actually felt a bit like we were walking through fields and woodlands in southern England. The very pleasant mild weather made it a joy to be out in T-shirt and shorts – the first time I have actually managed it this year. As usual, there was a lot of chatting to be done and even though it wasn’t a heart-rate elevating walk, it was extremely sociable and very enjoyable.

When we eventually got back to Malahide later in the day, though, Val and I did feel the need for some slightly more vigorous exercise, so headed off for a brisk walk round the demesne in the glorious golden evening light. Now it’s time to finish writing and heat up the lasagne I made for dinner yesterday, but which at the time neither of us actually got round to eating.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Huge field of wheat – not very Irish-looking at all	This magnificent tree collapsed last winter and partly blocks the path alongside the river

*Broomrape (Orobranche hederae) is a totally parasitic plant that lives on ivy. It has been called a sap-sucking vampire plant. Very apt*	Rear view of the Shackleton Mills at Lucan – now a bit dilapidated but some recent repairs to the roof suggest perhaps restoration work might be about to start

Negotiating one of the obstacles along the route	Grand entrance to the Italian ambassador’s residence in Lucan

Checking out the Liffey