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Published: June 15th 2022
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Ireland the North 1. Dublin
Thankfully the weather is getting better again and we headed south again with light cloud and 12 degrees increasing to 14. I set off with bare legs, ladies look away, but eventually had to cover them up with leg warmers to maintain some energy in my overworked muscles. The early section through Black Rock was quite interesting with a very flat beach, not unlike Morecambe Bay where a few years ago several foreign cockle picker deaths occurred due to the fast rising tide. Apparently this beach was also a big cockle picking area. Unfortunately we were soon onto a busy road with long straight sections of up to 3km long which can get a bit boring. A left turn in Castlebellingham soon had us on more interesting roads with little traffic which occasionally ran alongside the sea and had barley and wheat growing alongside. At Clogherhead we found a Mace convenience store which sold Coffee and a pastry for 4 euros. Deal done. We went past Termonfeckin Castle and followed the Boyne river inland at Baltray to Drogheda and past the Cement Works before heading through town and busy roads to the quaint town of Balbriggan
with its small harbour of fishing and leisure boats. The Skerries was a welcome stop for lunch before a nice coastal route to Lusk. The Skerries is a very nice place with a beach, boats and a few seals in residence plus several sculptures along the coastal path. Lusk has a big round mediaeval tower with a church attached which looks quite incongruous. The nice seaside town of Malahide was a good place for a light lunch stop before heading into that dratted wind to another coastal town of Portmarnock and past the Mordello Tower down the edge of the river Liffey. Some busy roads and past what is said to be the oldest pub in Ireland, which is all boarded up, before taking a great coastal cycleway which took us almost into Dublin. The last little bit was a bit tricky since the cycleway we were due to use was blocked off and we had to make a diversion into the city of the roads of mayhem. The QR code to get into the car park did not work so again we had to summon the 24/7 attendant to open the compound for us. So much for modern technology.
At dinner we met up with Linda and Martyn who had been hibernating due to both catching Covid during our first week and had to stay in Donegal. What a shame they had missed all the torture of the cycling that we have had to endure circling this unrelenting coast. We will get them next time. Booking in at the Gresham was a problem and took forever. The lass did her best but was confused and subsequently the room cards went missing or mixed up. Oscar had his room entered 3 times by invaders and Peter had to wait one hour for his room. All’s well that ends well as we all got a free drink because of it. Good meal together for the last supper. Tomorrow we are up at 6am for our journey by ferry to Holyhead and home again after another great adventure. Amen.
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