Ireland day 1118. Sunday 20 October 2024- Vartry Storm Ashley

Ireland day 1118. Sunday 20 October 2024- Vartry Storm Ashley
Today’s summary Val was working at the Museum today and I got a lift from a DWC friend to join a Club walk round the lower Vartry Reservoir.   There were only six of us on the walk but it was sociable, as always, and very enjoyable amidst bright Autumn colours and a howling Storm Ashley.   Very glad not to be up high today.   On return to Malahide, Val and I had a light dinner and caught up on some TV.
Today’s weather Rain and strong winds overnight but then mostly dry with some sun during the day.   Gale to severe gale south westerly wind.   Appx 16c
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):
Vartry in Storm Ashley
Commentary

Last night, sometime in the early hours, we were both awoken by the sound of gale force winds tearing through the trees just outside our bedroom window.   It was another of those occasions when I was glad that I didn’t have to worry about the consequences of chunks of roof blowing our flat.  Provided the bits didn’t hit us, it would be our landlord’s problem to sort it out.   Yippee.

Anyway, the vigorous gusts heralded the noisy arrival of Storm Ashley – the first named storm of the winter season here in Ireland.   The wind has continued more or less unabated all day – if anything it intensified by late afternoon – and it is still bellowing away now, nearly twenty four hours later.

Val had a day booked in to work at the museum – she subsequently said she enjoyed it but it was had work because intermittent power failures caused by the wind meant the model trains kept tripping out and having to be re-set.   I, on the other had, was fortunate enough to be joining a Walking Club hike from Roundwood, circumnavigating the lower Vartry lake.

I was doubly fortunate in that a friend had offered to drive today, so I took him up on his kind offer and together we headed for Roundwood, to rendezvous with the rest of the group in the Sugar Mountain Café (where else?).   Suitably refreshed, and united with the four other walkers, we drove a short way to the dam of the lower lake, then set off on our anticlockwise circumnavigation.

It was quiet today – not as many people out and about as there usually are on this route (this is the fourth time I have done it) and also our group of six was smaller than I had expected.   The weather probably had something to with turnout in both cases – Ashley was making his presence riotously and vigorously known, and that may well have been enough to keep most people indoors today.   In passing, I was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn’t trying to lead last weekend’s walk up Camenabologue today.   If I had, think I would probably have had to cancel it, as the wind on the ridge would have been too dangerous to negotiate.

Anyway, today’s walk was very enjoyable, despite the conditions.   As usual, there was lots of chat and news to be exchanged, which is always one of the most enjoyable aspects of these occasions.   Along the way, we also saw plenty of wildlife, too.   A stag (featured in the banner image at the top, and probably a Red or Sika deer), a kingfisher (too fleeting to photograph) and a heron (see photos below) were among the highlights.

We paused for a quick-ish lunch by the dam separating the upper and lower lakes, then headed back to the cars down the western side of the lower lake.   Along the way, we all noticed just how low the water level in the reservoir was – it seemed surprisingly so, given that the summer just past had been quite wet.   Eventually, we pitched up back at the cars after around three and a half hours walking – nothing too strenuous today, but good to get out and to get a real cobweb-clearing blow from the storm.

Back at the flat once more this evening, Val returned from work soon shortly after I arrived, so now we’re going to settle down to a light dinner and some TV.   The lamb from the last three nights is, alas, finished now so we’re going to have a brief carno-detox (I just made up that word by the way) and opt for a healthy alternative of oatcakes and hummus with a bit of baba ganoush on the side.   I think on balance I prefer the carnivorous option but hey you do have to make some sacrifices when, like mine, your body is a temple.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

The water treatment beds.   Apparently some of the “excess pressure” from the water flow from the dam is converted into electricity This house, known as Vartry Lodge, beside the dam and presumably the former reservoir manager’s residence has recently been sold for €850,000.   It has (according to the Sherry Fitzgerald website) seven bedrooms, benefits from “A captivating blend of Tudor and Venetian Gothic styles”, and is “currently in a state of disrepair”.   An ideal opportunity for an enthusiastic first time buyer, perhaps.
Autumn colours on the path round the lower lake Heron lurking in the roughly-hewn channel between the upper reservoir dam, and the lower lake
One of the captivating Tudor – Venetian Gothic style features of the dam separating the Upper and Lower reservoirs.   It’s a good spot for lunch and we spotted a kingfisher near here Passing below the dam of the Upper reservoir.   It’s somewhat disconcerting to think of the pressure of water stored up behind that bank of earth
The Draw Off tower from the dam of the lower reservoir.   Water flow through the tunnel under the dam which goes into the downstream treatment beds, is controlled from here
Interactive map

(Elevations corrected at  GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )

Total distance: 10967 m
Max elevation: 237 m
Min elevation: 206 m
Total climbing: 226 m
Total descent: -225 m
Total time: 03:35:36
Download file: Vartry-Lower-DWC-compressed-corrected.gpx

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