Ireland day 1216. Sunday 26 January 2025- Dublin Distilled

Today’s summary	All Walking Club events were cancelled today because of bad weather so I took the bus into Dublin to look at some lesser known places that I’d seen on a YouTube video last night. All very interesting despite being soaking wet and cold. Had another Tesco curry for dinner and spoke to Val who has successfully arrived at her hotel in Switzerland.
Today’s weather	Cold wet and windy most of the day, though it cleared briefly in late afternoon before restarting in the evening. Strong south easterly wind. Appx 7c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Dublin Distilled

Commentary

This weekend has rather fallen into a pattern that has been depressingly familiar this winter. Bad weather leading to the cancellation of all Club walking activities. Today was no different, and we have been battered today by endless cold driving rain which made doing anything outdoors somewhat challenging.

Anyway I was up for a challenge and, inspired by a YouTube video I watched last night, decided to go into Dublin today to visit some of the lesser known sights featured in the vlog. I should also add that the challenge was compounded by the complete closure of the Dublin-Belfast railway line, meaning no trains into town today. But the no 42 bus came to the rescue so the travelling was OK, despite having to hang around in the rain a bit longer than I would ideally have liked. Although a coffee and almond croissant from Seomra Tae here in Malahide did ease the discomfort a little.

I eventually made it into town by about 1pm and jumped straight onto a a red line Lúas round to St James’. From there I donned all my head to toe waterproofs and walked over to my first destination – the Pearse Lyons distillery. Slightly surprisingly, it was open to visitors and running tours today. I was tempted to go and have a look round the distillery but the tour didn’t start for nearly an hour, so I pressed on.

The next stop was St James’ church. There are two actually – one is deconsecrated and houses part of the distillery. The other, across the road and all closed up today, is perhaps best known as the terminus of the “Celtic Camino”. A pilgrimage route which eventually ends up in Santiago de Compostela, in Spain.

My next stop was another distillery a short way down the road – Roe & Co. It’s owned by Diageo, who also own Guinness, and indeed the building which houses the distillery used to be the power station which supplied the brewery. Again, it was open and with tours today, and again I decided against it – this time on cost grounds: €40 was a bit steep for me.

From the distillery I moved on to look at St Audoen’s church. Funnily enough, there are also two of this church. The old church, now run by the OPW but closed for the winter, is in fact said to be the oldest in Dublin. Next to it is a newer building – not to my taste actually as it’s a bit gothic – which nowadays is the Polish Catholic Church.

As I trundled on, I had a look at St Catherine’s church (about which I know nothing) and Christchurch Cathedral. Eventually I wound up at the Irish Film Institute, half thinking I might go and see a film. But it was crowded with punters there to see the 70mm version of “The Brutalist”, which opened to great acclaim a couple of days ago. So I beat a hasty retreat and continued my journey.

Eventually I decided it was time for something to eat so I sought out the shelter of the EPIC centre to have my packed lunch. Once I’d finished, it was still pouring outside and I decided I’d had enough of the cold and wet so made my way Amiens Street from where a well timed no 42 sped me back to Malahide.

Once back in the flat, I had a quick call with Val who has successfully made it to Switzerland and the snow is good. Hooray! Then I had a cup of tea, finished packing for my trip tomorrow, and heated up my Tescos curry. Finally, now I’ve managed to dry out and warm up, it’s time to settle down to some more YouTube instruction and possibly even an early night. Altogether I’ve had a good and very interesting day out, and with any luck the rail engineers won’t keep me awake half the night with their excavations, as they did yesterday.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Pearse Lyons distillery, with (one of the) St James’ churches) behind it – with the glass spire	The “other” St James’ church – this one is across the road from the distillery and is the end of the “Celtic Camino”

St Aodoen’s church in the background. Reputedly the oldest in Dublin	The other St Aodoen’s church – next to the “old” one and now the Polish Catholic Church, it’s a bit architecturally overpowering for me.

St Catherine’s. I don’t know anything at all about it	Outside the IFI

Roe & Co distillery in the old Guinness power station