Ireland day 1287. Monday 07 April 2025- Phoenix Sun

Today’s summary	Val and I took a train into Dublin and walked over to Phoenix Park from Heuston. Got chicken wraps for lunch from Provender and Family and enjoyed them in the park. Walked up to Farmleigh for a cup of tea then back down Chesterfield Avenue to Heuston again. Quick train journey home then chicken salad for dinner and a couple of “Mad Men” episodes
Today’s weather	Dry with brilliant all-day sunshine. Easterly wind. Appx 12c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red 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 with Spanish style sunshine

Commentary

Ever since we came back from Fuerteventura nearly six weeks ago, we have been experiencing exceptionally dry weather (except of course for my trips to the Cooleys). It’s only rained two or three times, which is very unusual for Ireland.

As far as I can tell, a change in the jet stream has meant that the Atlantic depressions that normally head our way are being diverted south and are currently deluging Spain and Portugal. A bit of a shame for holidaymakers but Iberia was pretty parched and the reservoirs were definitely in need of refilling. And Ireland hasn’t been exactly dry for the last two years and the reservoirs here are pretty full. Doubtless the situation will eventually revert to normal but for the time being both north and south seem to be benefitting, in different ways, from this unusual climatic reversal.

So we determined to make the most of both the weather and of my free travel card to go into Dublin and have a wander round Phoenix Park – a particularly good place to be on a sunny spring day. We managed to get a rapid Diesel direct from Malahide to Connolly, then a swift transfer onto a Luas and over to Heuston. From there we dropped into the lovely “Provender and family” café to get chicken wraps, protein balls and coffee for lunch. We carried our purchases the short way up the road into the park and found a sunny spot to enjoy them.

We continued our walk after lunch, circulating anticlockwise round the northern edge of the park, eventually ending up at Farmleigh. We lingered once we got there, because it’s a beautiful spot and especially so on a day like today. The flowers were outstanding, and there was no mistaking that Spring was fully underway. By this stage, of course, we were in need of further refreshment, so dropped into the café to get a couple of cups of tea with some tiny (honestly) pastries to go with them.

After that, we decided to make a quick run for Malahide (not literally) and walked back down to the main gate straight along Chesterfield Avenue. Val bumped into a couple of her “Wonderlights” staff along the way, too, which was nice. After leaving the park, we were soon on another Luas and trundling back to Connolly. From the station we were just in time to catch a late-running Drogheda Diesel which ran us non-stop to Malahide in what felt like no more than ten minutes flat.

Now it’s tea-and-TV time so I think it’s going to be a re-run of yesterday. Chicken salad and “Mad Men”. All in all, I have to say, it was a pretty near perfect day. And I for one am really glad that Spain has decided to send us a bit of their weather, even if only temporarily.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


If you look carefully you can see that there’s a southbound Diesel heading into Malahide on the same line that the waiting DART is standing on. Luckily, it switched over at the points and bypassed the DART on the other platform. So we hopped over the bridge and got the fast train into Dublin	Enjoying our wraps from “Provender and Family” in the bright sunshine. A bit like being in Spain!

Avenue of magnificent cedars lining Thuja Avenue into Farmleigh. They were planted almost 200 years ago by the Guinness family. Thank goodness people planned for the distant future in those days!	A tree pixie nesting in one of the cedars!

Greenhouse in Farmleigh’s Walled Garden. It’s still standing (just about) but a bit derelict inside	A carpet of anemones underneath the woodland in Farmleigh. Spectacular

The magnolias in – appropriately enough – Magnolia Walk – were at their very best today. And I’d never really noticed before that they have a delicate scent. One of the best displays of these flowering trees that I’ve ever seen