Ireland day 0795. Saturday 02 November 2023- Walk to Dublin *

Ireland day 0795. Saturday 02 November 2023- Walk to Dublin

Today’s summary	Val was working at the museum during the day and at Wonderlights in the evening so I was left to my own devices. Decided to walk into Dublin to go to the Spanish shop to get a contribution to our end of term party on Tuesday. An excellent day
Today’s weather	Dry sunny and bright until early afternoon, when it clouded over. Almost no wind. Appx 5c

Today’s overview location (The red mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The red 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): Walk to Dublin to go to Spanish shop

Commentary

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

After a week with my brain full of work, I felt a strong urge to decompress today. Val was doing another of her 13 hour shifts – first at the museum and then second up at the Castle – so I was mostly left to my own devices.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and, despite the fact that I have loads of deberes to do, I know from experience that days like these usually end by lunchtime, when cloud and sometimes rain moves in, so I set all other thoughts aside and embarked on a longer walk.

I decided to revisit of a walk I last did back in summer 2022 – namely a hike from Malahide into the centre of Dublin, linking up as many public parks as possible along the way. I was away by about 11am and set off into the sunny morning with my feet slipping alarmingly on the frosty pavements. But I made it up and over Paddy’s Hill into Portmarnock without incident, and then on through Baldoyle to St Anne’s Park and Clontarf.

I stopped off briefly in Clontarf to check out Lotts’ delicatessen – I really like it in there although it is ridiculously expensive. I came out with a packet of liquorice allsorts which was all I wanted to afford today. From there, my route took in a number of Dublin’s back streets, which were interesting in a grungey sort of way and eventually after about three and a half hours and 20km I arrived in the centre of O’Connell Street. I didn’t finish there though, but rather walked a bit further on, to Capel Street, where there’s a small Spanish store which sells a range of interesting vernacular delicacies.

Today I was after something to take along to our end-of-term party at Spanish class on Tuesday. I settled on a shrink-wrapped platter of miniature biscuits and cakes which I think should fit the bill perfectly.

From there, I headed back to Connolly along the banks of the Liffey, where the timing of the next Drogheda-bound train just left me enough time to indulge in a coffee and an almond croissant before zooming back to Malahide. I arrived just in time to make Val a hot dinner which she managed to scoff as she rushed back from Job 1 and set out on Job 2. So now I am left to my own devices for the second time today. I can’t put off the homework any longer and given how poor my Spanish still is, I think I will be busy for the next four hours till she returns, at least!

Adios!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Frosty start to the walk, heading through the demesne	On the Baldoyle greenway

Heliotropes are back. A sure sign of the changing seasons. They will always remind me of winters in Ireland	Looking a bit scarily enthusiastic on the unofficial mud path opposite Dublin Port on the coastal shortcut from Clontarf to the East Wall

In the back-streets of Dublin. Ducking under one of the many railway lines that make their way towards Connolly Station and the river, south of the North Wall	Father Christmas pulled in just as I was leaving Connolly this evening! Brought back many happy memories of Santa Specials on the Watercress Line in Hampshire, UK

The object of my travels. We are having an end-of-term party at Spanish Class next Tuesday and I wanted to get some tasty morsels. I managed to find a latter of pre-wrapped Spanish petits-fours, which I think will do the job nicely