Ireland day 0810. Sunday 17 December 2023- Killiney Hill *

Ireland day 0810. Sunday 17 December 2023- Killiney Hill

Today’s summary	Val was working in the evening so decided to have a relaxing day at home. I took the train to Dun Laoghaire for a Club walk along the Metals then up Killiney Hill. Saw “Merlin” steam locomotive at Connolly station at the end. Very mild weather and good company made for an enjoyable day out
Today’s weather	Mild, dry and mostly quite bright, especially early on. Light south westerly wind. Appx 12c

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): Dun Laoghaire to Killiney *I forgot to record the first couple of km of the walk

Commentary

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

Once again, Val was working today, but not until the evening. But after three 13 hour sessions in a row, she decided to take the day off and just focus on her evening at Wonderlights.

So I was left to my own devices and elected to join the Walking Club for a stroll from Dun Laoghaire. I caught a train from Malahide at about 10:30 and after a swift change at Connolly, arrived at Dun Laoghaire just in time for the start at 11:30.

We’d walked in the Dun Laoghaire / Dalkey / Killiney area many times in the past but there is a multitude of paths so it’s not too difficult to construct a new route to connect them up every time you go. Today’s option took us from Dun Laoghaire out along the Metals (see earlier blogs to get the fascinating history of this particular walkway), then up to Dalkey quarry, where we paused for lunch.

The party split at that point, with the threat of imminent rain (which never materialised) persuading half the group to head back the way they had come. I led the remaining half – there were six of us – up through the Quarry to Killiney Obelisk, then we dropped down to Killiney DART station where we only had a few minutes to wait for a train back to Dublin.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day – and the very un-Decembery weather made it particularly pleasant. And the crowning delight was the arrival of “Merlin”, the GNR Class V 4-4-0 compound steam loco, hauling a Santa Special festive train as I was waiting at Connolly for the Drogheda train. After all that excitement, I was soon back in Malahide and now it’s time to prepare dinner. It’s another of the casseroles rescued from the failing deep freeze. This will be about the seventh I’ve eaten in a row. Fortunately there aren’t too many more left, or I think I might die of casserole poisoning. Wish me luck.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The path runs along the route of the old railway, used for bringing rock down from the Dalkey quarry to Dun Laoghaire, where it was used to construct the harbour walls	The trucks were hauled by steel cables – and you can still see the eroded evidence in the walkway

Strangely, you seem to see more of these “Victoria Regina” postboxes in Ireland than you do in the UK	Climbing out of Dalkey quarry

Killiney obelisk	From Killiney Hill looking south to the Sugarloaves. Bay of Naples in miniature

Checking out the obelisk