Ireland day 1010. Thursday 04 July 2024- Dalkey Explorer

Today’s summary	Took the DART down to Dalkey after breakfast and went on a circular walk up Dalkey Hill via the quarry, over to Killiney Hill, down to the shore near Killiney station, and back via the high-level Torca Road route. Watched a bit of the UK general Election coverage in the evening, on our new Sky box
Today’s weather	Dry, bright and breezy again. Strong westerly wind. Appx 17c

Today’s overview location (The grey 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): Dalkey Explorer

Commentary

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

We had a gloriously free day today, and the weather was decent, so we decided to go out and make the most of it.

After breakfast and a bit of admin, we dropped down to the station and took a convenient DART south, with our destination today being Dalkey. Our intention was to do a short circular walk including the hills and coast, and that’s pretty much exactly what we did.

But as soon as we arrived, we were both feeling in need of sustenance, so we went into a local café to get a coffee and some cake before setting off on our explorations. Once we were refuelled, we walked up the Metals (see earlier blogs for a description and history) and into Dalkey quarry. We followed our usual route up the middle then to the top of Dalkey Hill via the concrete steps at the back.

We paused at the top to admire the superb view south over the bay to Bray, and north over the city of Dublin. In the distance, the Cooleys and Mournes were just visible, though out to the east, Wales remained stubbornly out of sight. Then after our quick sightseeing break, we pressed on to the top of Killiney Hill. We had intended to have lunch by the Obelisk, but it was too windy so we pressed on a little further and found a more sheltered spot lower down at which to dine.

We completed our walk after lunch by dropping down to the coast near Killiney station, making use of the narrow passageways and ginnels that link up the various roads criss-crossing the slopes of the hill. Rather than following the coast road back to Dalkey station, we climbed back up the zigzag steps by White Rock house onto the uber-posh Torca Road (Bono is said to live up here somewhere).

We were soon back at the station and a DART direct to Malahide arrived in just five minutes, making the journey back to Malahide after our excellent day out, both smooth and swift.

The evening has been spent watching Wimbledon on the new Sky box which we took delivery of today, and then some of the early coverage from the UK General Election after polling closed. Interesting times – let’s hope that’s a good thing.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Killiney High Street with Val in elegant pink dress, in keeping with the up-market surroundings	Essential first stop – coffee in the Country Bake café

On the Metals – the old ropeway for transporting granite from Dalkey Quarry to the coast	Climbers practicing on the slabs in Killiney Quarry

On the beach near the White Rock swimming area, with Sorrento Terrace and Dalkey island (with the Martello) in the background	Cat’s Ladder- a rare Public Right of Way in Ireland – leading down from Torca Road towards the coast

In the alley between Strathmore Road and the railway line