Ireland day 0824. Sunday 31 December 2023- 2138km *

Ireland day 0824. Sunday 31 December 2023- 2138km

Today’s summary	Out with the Walking Club today while Val was at work. Cold, windy and occasionally wet walk from Clontarf Rd to Raheny but still sociable and very enjoyable. The walk took my hiking total for 2023 to 2138km / 1328mi which I’m very pleased with, considering I had a new hip in March and more surgery earlier this month
Today’s weather	Cold windy and wet. Strong westerly wind. Appx 7c

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): 2138km

Commentary

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

I seem to start many of my blogs with “Val was at work today so I decided to…”. Today was another of those days. Although tonight there is no Wonderlights, Val was back at the museum this morning, but we just had time for a podcast and breakfast in bed before she left.

Fortunately there was a walk with the Club today, which conveniently filled in the void left by her absence. So as soon as she was away, I gathered my stuff and headed off in the DART to Clontarf Road station. I had misjudged my train timings slightly so was a couple of minutes late in arriving (luckily I wasn’t the only one) so the rest of the group was already there and keen to set off as soon as we arrived.

Our route today was a familiar one – I’ve done it many times before in all weathers and all seasons – from Clontarf Road DART station, along the promenade to the wooden bridge, then out along the Bull Wall and back to Raheny DART station via Bull Island and St Anne’s Park. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and very sociable walk, as ever. Lots of chat about the highlights of 2023 and the plans for 2024. Plenty to look forward to.

I have to say the weather was a little “mixed” today. A persistent strong wind which seemed to get stronger during the day, some sun, and a heavy squally shower thrown in mid-afternoon. The wind made it feel especially cold so I was glad I’d taken plenty of warm clothes. There’s no such thing as bad weather, it’s said, only inappropriate clothing. Well I did feel appropriately clothed today, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

Perhaps the main highlight of this being the last walk of the year was that it allowed me to tot up my total hiking distance for the year. It came in at 2137.8km or 1328.4mi. I was pretty pleased with that, considering that I’ve been hospitalised twice this year, including having a new hip back in March. So now it’s time to log off and get a bottle of something sparkling in the fridge to toast in the new year.

See you in 2024!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Arriving at Clontarf Rd. This is what the inside of one of the never DART units looks like (if anyone is really interested)	Looking at some of the well-renowned art deco architecture on the Clontarf promenade

On the Bull Wall with the Poolbeg chimneys on the far side of Dublin Bay	If you look to the left of the marker bollard, you might just spot a swimmer out in the sea. The water was a murky grey colour, and the sea perishingly cold, so it can’t have been an awful lot of fun

*By the Stella Maris* statue at the end of the North Bull Wall**	At Raheny – a southbound Enterprise rushed through on the other platform as I was waiting for the DART back to Malahide

A most welcome coffee hut on the Bull Wall. It was very popular so there was a bit of a wait to get a drink – but worth in when it came