Ireland day 1559. Sunday 04 January 2026- Cold DWC

Today’s summary	Val was working at the museum again today and I had a Club walk scheduled. I caught an 11am Dart to Clontarf and joined the walk at 12. A very chilly amble out to Dollymount with a biting wind. Walked on to Raheny after lunch but had to wait over an hour for a Dart because of delays on the line. Got back to the flat about 5:15, just before Val. Donnybrook Fair chicken curry for dinner then a couple of episodes of “Chef’s Kitchen”.
Today’s weather	Dry and overcast with occasional sun. Moderate westerly wind. Appx 1c

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): Cold Dollymount walk DWC

Commentary

Another day, another dollar (well Euro, strictly speaking). At least as far as Val was concerned. So this morning was a bit of a re-run of yesterday – up early, packed lunches assembled, and Val launched off to the Museum ready to start work at 9:30 on the dot.

That left me behind but I wasn’t idly twiddling my thumbs as there was a Club walk to Dollymount planned for today, and I wanted to attend. Accordingly, I got up at the same time as Val and readied myself for a slightly later departure than her. The walk was meeting at Clontarf Road station but not until 12, so I waited a while and caught the 11:02 southbound Dart.

The trains aren’t very frequent on a Sunday so that got me into Clontarf more than half an hour early. It was bitterly cold when I stepped onto the platform, and I didn’t feel much like hanging around idly freezing to death waiting for the walk to start. So I wandered down Clontarf Road to have a look round Lotts posh-but-expensive deli-grocery. I bought a small bag of fudge (€7.95!!!) which I shared with the rest of the walkers over lunch.

In the end, twelve of us turned up for the walk, which was a good showing considering the weather. We have followed the same route as today many times in the past but there’s always something new to see. Today it was the steely grey distant views of the Dublin Mountains, away to the south, and the remarkable illusion of half size chimneys at Poolbeg, decapitated by the cloud. Also today, I noticed that some of the Art Deco shelters along the promenade appear to have been renovated (one of them is in the banner image at the top). That’s a good thing, in my view, as they are iconic of their genre, and were in danger of falling into serious disrepair

Eventually we made it to the coffee hut towards the end of the South Wall. We paused there at one of the picnic tables to have our sandwiches but everyone was getting very chilled, so we only stopped for about ten minutes at most.

After lunch, I left the rest of the group and made my way along the beach and then across the causeway to the corner of St Anne’s Park. From there I made my way to Raheny. I felt a bit antisocial leaving midway but I was so cold by then that I wanted to get moving quickly.

Unfortunately on arrival at Raheny, there was a 32 minute wait for a train and then, just before it was due to appear, it was cancelled (apparently a car had struck a bridge near Pearse station). The next Malahide train wasn’t due for 37 minutes so I thought I’d try and get an H2 bus. But the indicator board showed that was also half an hour away so I just waited for the DART at Raheny station. I put my spare fleece on and drank all the rest of the hot coffee from my flask, and generally did my best to stay warm. But I was still pretty thoroughly frozen by the time the train did eventually arrive.

Once on the move again, I was back in Malahide and in the flat quite quickly. I was there about quarter past five, which gave me to get the water boiling and get a cup of tea ready for when Val got back a few minutes later.

The rest of the evening was spent doing a bit more January planning then we shared a pop-pop style chicken curry from Donnybrook Fair (a tenth the price of the Kajjal alternative, but nowhere near as nice) then next we’ll some TV. We finished “The Night Manager” last night so I think it will just be “Chef’s Table” tonight. And by then I think it will just about be time for bed.

But now I need to go and boost the central heating for another hour. I think it’s going to take me about a week to warm up!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


OK – I’ll come clean. I have got a trainspotter badge. Though in my defence, Val bought it for me. It’s an Enterprise loco (type 201 I think) and Val got herself a matching DART. She certainly knows the way to a real man’s heart!	In Lott’s – surely the most expensive grocer in Ireland. But it is very nice – and a good place to browse in the warm while waiting for a Club walk to start!

Poolbeg chimneys truncated by cloud when we set out along Clontarf promenade	The Wooden Bridge to Bull Island. It’s not difficult to see how it got its name!

The broad sweep of Dollymount Beach, on Bull Island. With the south side of Howth beyond on the horizon	My goodness – it was cold!

Stella Maris – the illuminated monument at the end of the South Wall