Ireland day 1031. Thursday 25 July 2024- Phoenix Risen

Today’s summary	Spent the morning sorting out some new walking boots then we headed into Dublin with our packed lunches for a walk round Phoenix Park. Lunch in the War Memorial Rose Gardens and tea at the Farmleigh Café. Very enjoyable despite occasional heavy downpours. Lamb curry for dinner when we got back – delicious
Today’s weather	Cloudy until early afternoon then bright sunshine with occasional sharp showers. Light westerly wind. Appx 20c

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): Phoenix Park again with Val

Commentary

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

The weather couldn’t really make up its mind what it was going to do today. So, rather than waiting around to see what would happen, we decided to take matters into our own hands and head into Dublin for the afternoon.

First, though, there was more washing to be done, and also some new walking boots that I had bought last week, had to be unpacked and tested out. All good! (My old pair, which I’ve been using since we arrived in Ireland and for quite a while before as well, are well and truly clapped out. The combination of rocky terrain and bog has practically caused them to dissolve. The new pair fitted perfectly and I’m looking forward to giving them a proper test in the wild, in the not too distant future).

Eventually we were ready to go so we headed to the station and caught a DART at about 12:30. Our destination today was Phoenix park, so once we got to Connolly, we transferred to the LUAS and started walking from Heuston station.

Today we completed a familiar circumnavigation of Phoenix Park. It must be at least the fifth time one or both of us has done this walk, so the Phoenix is well and truly risen now. Our first stop was Kilmainham Hospital, followed in quick succession by the War Memorial Park, The Liffey Towpath, Chapelizod gate (pictured at the top of the blog), Phoenix Park, Farmleigh, Chesterton Avenue, Áras an Uachtaráin, Wellington Testimonial and Heuston Station.

We paused in Kilmainham to pick up some treats at the wholefood shop there, then stopped off in the War Memorial rose garden for lunch. I had been in charge of making the packed lunches so the main ingredient was marmalade sandwiches. Sadly they didn’t find universal favour, but at least the coffee made it this time and tasted fine.

We pressed on through the Park and up to Farmleigh just in time to grab a cup of tea at the café before it closed. We were quite fortunate in that the two main showers that hit us today were while we were at the shop in Kilmainham, and then while we were at the café. So we didn’t get too wet and as we walked down Chesterfield Avenue, the sun came out and any remaining damp was swiftly dispelled.

There was a bit of a commotion going on at the exit to the park – one of the gate houses (unoccupied, I think) appeared to have caught fire. So an excited gaggle of fire engines, Gardai cars and ambulances had rushed to the scene to try and get the situation under control. Hopefully there were no casualties and there wasn’t too much structural damage.

We returned to Malahide via a reverse of our DART-and-LUAS way out, and were back in the flat by 7:30 this evening. Val has rustled up a really lovely lamb curry for dinner so it’s time to down tools now and go and check out the menu. A tasty end to a very enjoyable summer day out.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In the Kilmainham Hospital – a very pleasant but seemingly rather under-utilised public space	Curious Romanesco cauliflower at the rather nice artisan whole foods shop in Kilmainham

First of a few showers that struck us this afternoon – luckily we were able to retreat under cover outside the whole food shop until it passed	Rose Garden in the War Memorial Park, where we paused to have our packed lunches

Rowing clubs in the Liffey, by the War Memorial Park	There was some sort of incident underway at the Chesterfield Avenue entrance to Phoenix Park as we passed by this evening. I think one of the old gatehouses was on fire. Hopefully nobody hurt and not too much damage done

Áras an Uachtaráin – the official residence of the President of Ireland. Just off Chesterfield Avenue, in Phoenix Park