Ireland day 0656. Sunday 16 July 2023- Blessington Greenway *

Ireland day 0656. Sunday 16 July 2023- Blessington Greenway

Today’s summary	Blessington Greenway walk to Russborough and back with the walking club
Today’s weather	Heavy almost thunderous downpours on and off all day, with sunny spells in between. Strong westerly wind, dropping off later. Appx 17C

Today’s overview location (The red mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red 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): Blessington Greenway DWC

Commentary

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

The Walking Club has visited the Blessington Greenway several times over the past couple of years but for various reasons, Val and I have never been able to join them. So today was an opportunity to put that right.

We picked up a couple of friends in the Portmarnock area then set off in the Trusty Yaris round the M50 and down to Blessington (of Glacial Lake Blessington notoriety, if you’ve been paying attention). The walk set out from the Avon Rí hotel, but not before, of course, we had enjoyed the obligatory coffee and scone in the café.

The walk itself, once we got going, turned out to be very enjoyable and well worth waiting for. Pretty much absolutely flat, so quite unlikely to get the pulse racing, but one to linger over and savour the views of the lake and mountains (I spotted Kippure and Mullaghcleevaun on the eastern horizon) and to listen to the birds. Val even managed to spot a red squirrel darting in the branches of an ancient beech tree (sadly I missed it).

We made it to Russborough house just in time for lunch and enjoyed our sandwiches in the hippodrome (which did have a certain novelty value). After a quick look round the Russborough grounds, we headed back the way we came and made it back to the café (again) at the hotel, just in time to dodge a monumental downpour which completely flooded the car park.

So I think we led a bit of a charmed existence today, weather-wise. We successfully avoided getting soaked, and were able to enjoy the walk mostly in sunshine, while the reservoir was looking its best having recently been topped up by the heavy rain. Looking forward to a celebratory beer back in the flat now!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Here we are, about to set out	Heading off towards Russborough

Burgage Castle – which evidently narrowly escaped being flooded when the Poulaphouca dam was built	The Poulaphouca reservoir – I’m not usually a fan of reservoirs because when the water level falls it leaves an ugly scar right round the shoreline. But today, after the recent heavy rain, it was brim-full so it looked like a “proper” lake and it was actually quite pretty – especially when the sun shone

Polypore fungus shedding spores on the trunk of an ancient beech tree in the woods. Not sure if its presence on the tree indicates that the tree is reaching the end of its lifespan or not	The Greenway is well maintained but quite short. It’s only about 5km from Blessington to Russborough but it makes an enjoyable and easy stroll out and back

Russbridge House – the wides Palladian façade in Ireland – but it’s very thin..