Ireland day 1520. Wednesday 26 November 2025- Botanic Lunch

Today’s summary	Had a video call with Val in Vancouver first thing and worked on my PC backup a bit more. Then took a train into Dublin and walked from Connolly to the Botanics via the canal. Had an excellent roast beef lunch in the café and after a quick look round, decided to walk back to Connolly rather than catching a bus. Got a DART with almost no wait and was back in the flat by 4:30pm. Had a light sandwich and watched some TV in the evening
Today’s weather	Dull and grey with drizzly rain in the morning. Light southerly breeze. Appx 11c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Connolly Botanics and Lunch

Commentary

Val safely made it to Vancouver just after midnight (our time) this morning. She videocalled me first thing this morning- just as I was getting up and she was going to bed – and filled me in on her journey details. So far it’s all going well.

After I’d had my cups of tea (I didn’t have any breakfast as I was going out for lunch) I got up and did a bit more work on backing up my old computer. But I am rapidly beginning to think that I might have bitten off more than I can chew. I don’t really know what it might be “safe” to delete because the way Windows stores files these days is so complicated – made doubly so because it seems to put things randomly on a cloud drive. I am worried that I might accidentally delete something I turn out to need at a later date. And trying to work out where old emails are stored is even more fraught with difficulty.

So I am actually wondering if it might not be safer to keep the PC and just fire it up every now and then to keep it ticking over. That way I should be able to get back anything I might need at some point in the future. Anyway the most important things are my pictures, which go back about 25 years. I have taken a copy of all those, and will save them on my laptop.

By this point, as usual, I was starting to get itchy feet so I gathered my waterproofs, pulled on a jacket, and set out to face the day.

A couple of weeks ago, Val and I walked out to the Botanic Gardens from Connolly station, following the new Royal Canal / National Famine Way behind Croke Park. It was an enjoyable day out and, of more relevance to me at the moment, we got a good roast beef dinner in the café at the gardens. So I decided to do the same again today and make lunch the main meal of my day.

So that is, essentially, what I did. I caught a Dart from Malahide without too much of a wait. Just long enough in fact to get a coffee from the pop up caravan outside the station. Then from Connolly I followed more or less the same route to the gardens as last time. Except that rather than turning off up to the Tolka at Drumcondra, I continued along the canal as far as the Phibsborough bridge road and then up to the Botanics via Glasnevin cemetery.

The roast beef lunch was just as good as last time – and although it cost €16 it felt like good value as it was so enormous. After I’d eaten, I had a quick look round the greenhouses – lovely as always – and started to make my way back to Connolly. I had planned to take the bus, but as I wasn’t short of time, and as the weather was reasonable, I decided to walk instead. This time I went via the Tolka, making it a decent, enjoyable, loop route.

I didn’t have long to wait for a Dart back to Malahide, and was in the flat again by 4:30pm. The evening after that was pretty quiet. I had a couple of light snacks for dinner, and watched a bit of TV. Actually quite relaxing, and I really enjoyed it.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Platform 5 at Connolly station, as the Malahide to Bray train (which I’d just got off) pulls away	On the National Famine Way / Royal Canal Way on one of the new stretches by Binns Bridge. Note particularly the two rise locks in the canal underneath

Familiar view to many GAA fans – Croke Park from the new towpath	Entrance to Glasnevin Cemetery by the Gravediggers pub

The Botanic Garden herbarium was open today for the first time in four years of my visits. It was moderately interesting but very quiet – nobody was there, apart from someone hoovering the floor	No matter where you see it from, Connolly station fails to impress, unfortunately

A swan cruised serenely overhead as I was walking back alongside the canal. An impressive sight. Though I did wonder, as I am sure many have before, whether they can take off from and return to dry land, or if a large body of water is a prerequisite to getting airborne