Ireland day 1053. Friday 16 August 2024- Vicar Street

Today’s summary	Spent the morning preparing for a walk I’m leading tomorrow, then backing up computer files and repairing my boots. Went into Dublin in the afternoon to check out Vicar St theatre (we are going there for a concert next month) and to get some hiking gear for the next season. More salad and hiking videos in the evening. Val back tomorrow.
Today’s weather	Dry with occasional sunshine. Fresh westerly wind. Appx 19c

Today’s overview location (The green mark in the middle of Dublin shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Vicar Street Dublin

Commentary

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

I was wide awake by about 6:30 this morning, for some reason. But, unusually for me, I didn’t lie around in bed drinking cups of tea. Rather, I got up and started getting on with the day’s jobs.

First off, I did some preparation and pulled my gear together for a walk I’m leading tomorrow. It will be an early start, so I thought I might as well get ready today and save a few minutes in the morning.

It was while I was getting ready for the walk that I discovered that some of the lace-holes in my boots had torn, so I spent the next hour effecting a makeshift repair. Hopefully it should get me through tomorrow, at least.

Next, I thought I better back up my photos. I normally copy a set of all my pictures from my laptop to our desktop PC every week or two. But I realised I hadn’t done it for over two months, so downloaded the files onto a memory stick and copied them across to the PC while I put a load of washing on.

Eventually, I’d got everything finished so I decided to spend the afternoon in Dublin. I had a couple of jobs I needed to tick off, and while Val is away (she returns tomorrow) now seemed as good a time as any to sort them out.

First, I made a packed lunch which I enjoyed in the EPIC centre once I’d caught a convenient DART from Malahide and made my way into town.

After having my sandwiches, my first objective in Dublin today was to check out the Vicar St theatre – we are going there for a concert in September and I wanted to know how easy it was to find I eventually got there and on the way I completed part of my second task – to get some new hiking gear for the next season – at the Decathlon in O’Connell Street.

Once I’d visited Vicar Street, I walked back across town to Pearse station. I didn’t take a particularly direct or fast route as I wasn’t in any rush. So I did some window-shopping on the way, and eventually dropped in to Cotswold to complete my hiking gear purchases.

I didn’t have a long wait at Pearse before a DART came in and ponderously took me back to Malahide.

I’m having another super salad for dinner tonight (though the healthy effect is rather spoiled by the large slab of cake and custard I’m having with it) accompanied by some more hiking videos. Last night to was São Tomé and Príncipe, tonight I think it’s going to be the Faroes. I do like islands!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Iconic Ha’penny bridge from the north bank, as I walked from EPIC to Vicar	Through the oblong window. The Dubh Linn gardens, from the Chester Beattie side

View south over the Dubh Linn gardens from the bridge that leads to the locked door on the back of the castle (I think it’s probably an emergency escape)	Dublin castle rear courtyard. The building work on the tower has been going on all the time that we have been here

The home of Many Good Things	One of my purchases. Plastic sandals you can actually go in the sea with. Would have been ideal for the one day I spent on the beach in the last three years

Taking a peek through the windows into the bar of the Vicar St Theatre. Looks “interesting”. Esp. the motorbike