Come Here To Me!

It was never going to last forever; summers in Ireland rarely do, but when we had it, we had it good. The forecast suggests that we’re back to the four seasons in one day we know and love but who knows what lies around the corner; a couple of weeks down the line we might actually have blue skies that aren’t the catalyst for rucks out in Portmarnock… Here’s a few snaps I took this weekend on a couple of cycles that spanned Dublin Bay from Killiney to Howth.

Starting on Sunday, a skip down the coast-road as far as Killiney. It looked like half of Dublin had the same idea as the road to Bray (our intended destination) quickly resembled something like the M50 at rush hour. Getting up and down the hill at Kiliney is hard enough at the best of times, trying to skip between Range Rovers and convertibles made it all the harder. We called it a day at the spot above and headed slowly back.

The Martello Towers along the coast are something I’ve always meant to look at in depth but haven’t gotten around to in yet. Here’s a view through the trees of the one on Dalkey Island.

Stopped off at Colliemore Harbour for half an hour or so to get the breath back and stuff our faces. A far cry from Dun Laoghaire this, the harbour walls come within ten feet or so of meeting. A group of lads had gathered to jump in, and despite warnings from the first one that his feet scraped the rocks at the bottom, they spent their time happily throwing themselves in.

Plenty of fancy boats knocking about too. Everything from luxury yachts to canoes ferrying about between the island and the shore. Costa Dun Laoghoire below. The place was absolute bedlam. Reliving our childhood and tucking into a 99 beside the sea-side wasn’t an original idea. Lots of cyclists doing the same thing.   The picture below is zoomed pretty much as far as my camera would allow. Sitting in the park at Seapoint Avenue and looking across to Dublin Port, it looked like these two were going to crash. They didn’t.

Back home after that, and up the next morning to head out to Bray. I’ve covered this spin on the last trip I made out there (in September with JScully) but the day that was in it, the day of summer (or so it felt like) I put out a call out and  headed out again with Cat and Moira.

Not chancing the cycle of to the summit, we parked the bikes at the bottom and walked up. The view is amazing from up on top, well worth a visit. When we were up there, a rescue chopper sped past us out in the direction of Ireland’s Eye.

A visit to Howth means Beschoff’s Cod and Chips. The lads below were mad for it, a few of them hovering up and taking food from your hand if you offered it. All was going grand until the seagulls came along.

So, if the sun does happen to come back out this summer, get on your bike and go exploring; its well worth your while. The guts of an hours cycle either way from O’Connell Bridge will take you to Killiney Hill or Howth Head. Just hug the coast and you can’t get lost.