It’s been sunny for over a week now, in Ireland. Dry too. One might say summer had arrived, though there’s a definitely nip in the air still. East coast has daytime highs of 16 – 18 C (west coast is hitting mid-20s), though the winds are pretty light out of the north to east – great for walking, not so great for moving a 34 foot yacht.
K and I went to Wicklow yesterday. Up earlyish, caught the 0825 (in reality, the 0845) train headed for Rosslare, and got off at Wicklow about an hour later. Late breakfast at the Firehouse Bakery (quite tasty, eggs benedict for me, and a massive BLT for K), wandered over to a tackle shop (archive) to get some new mackerel lures and weights, and then walked along the Vartry, past Black Castle, into Glen Beach for a rest, seawater foot dip, and studying, and then did the loop out past Lime Kiln Bay and back along the road to the centre of Wicklow.
Once back in town, we sat by the river and watched the water rush out towards the sea; we wanted an early dinner before catching the 1945 train back home, so it was a case of waiting for the Bridge Tavern (archive) to switch over to their dinner menu at 5 pm. Pan fried hake for both of us, followed by a cup of tea (and apple crumble for me; K had the blueberries).
We then wandered over to Tesco, bought a few groceries, and then walked up to the train station. Stood on a foot bridge and watched the local herons, saw the back of a kingfisher as it winged past, and watched a crab scuttling about. Then boarded the train, managed to get two seats, and 45 minutes later we were back in Dun Laoghaire.
14 km walked, up and down. Very nice day together.