Ireland day 1036. Tuesday 30 July 2024- Sunshine!

Ireland day 1036. Tuesday 30 July 2024- Sunshine

Today’s summary	Spent the morning on more car-related chores then after a late breakfast we decided to take the 102 to Sutton and walk round Howth. A very enjoyable day out and the sun shone more or less the whole time. Olympics in the evening
Today’s weather	Bright and sunny all day. Light easterly wind. Appx 19c

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): Spontaneous Howth Circuit with Val

Commentary

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

I’m still fiddling around trying to sort things with the car, so in a re-run of yesterday, the morning was spent touring the garages of North Dublin. Whilst I was out and about, Val had a video catch up with a friend in the UK and also managed to do some baking. Anyway, we were both finished by lunchtime at which point an engineer arrived at the flat to repair the shower, which had broken a couple of weeks ago. Eventually, once we had both eaten (in this case we both opted for a late breakfast rather than an early lunch) we started thinking about the afternoon.

It was another nice day outside, and neither of us felt inclined to stay indoors if we didn’t have to. So we gathered a few snacks to take for mid-afternoon refreshments, and caught the 102 to Sutton with the aim of walking round Howth, anticlockwise.

It turned out to be a good decision. The weather was beautiful all day – lots of sun which was a real tonic after the recent many grey months. We hadn’t had long to wait for a bus – and in any case Val met one of her work colleagues so they passed the time as we waited catching up on news from the Museum. The bus sped us to Sutton and as soon as we arrived we set off directly to Sutton Cross and then on to the southern flank of the Howth headland.

The path was pleasantly dry and the undergrowth, which had been partially blocking the route last time I was here, had been cleared. Also most of the mud had dried up, so it was a real joy to walk today. There were quite a few people about, and it got busier the further round the loop we progressed, though overall it wasn’t too congested. Certainly not as bad as it is at the weekend.

We paused for our refreshments just above the Baily lighthouse, then after soaking up the sun for a short while, we got going again and were back in Howth for 6pm. By this stage we were both quite hungry so treated ourselves to a bag of chips from Leo Burdock’s chipper, which we shared on the station platform as we waited for the DART back to Sutton.

The train duly arrived and connected seamlessly with a 102 bus which sped us at almost breakneck speed (I think the driver was trying to catch up from earlier late-running) back to Malahide. An evening of Olympics beckons now, but first of all Val has cooked up some rather delicious looking sausages and mushrooms, which I’m going to enjoy without further ado. A great day all round, and the diet is going a bit better, too!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Setting off from Sutton with the 102 behind us	Looking down on Howth’s not-so-secret “Secret” beach

Halfway round, with the Baily lighthouse in the background	Mr Burdock’s chips are said to be the best (and practically every celebrity you can think of has tried them)

We did our own testing while waiting for the DART on Sutton station

Val doing her kittiwake impression