an Irish Sunday on the Roads and in the Villages

Matt has posted a quick one about our jaunt out to Dalkey. As you may have noted from my earlier post, I grabbed a bike yesterday. Great move. The exhiliration of being mobile and able to quickly get about under one’s own steam makes a great experience even better. Despite repeated warnings about the state of Irish roads and the aggressiveness of Irish drivers, we had a splendid journey. There was nary a cloud in the sky, the roads were lightly travelled, we learned the rules quickly and moved smoothly. Despite being a rusty in the ol’ joints I seemed to be able to keep up with Matt’s pro pace. We had a morning coffee, banana and water at the Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire on the terrace. Wandered a bit (wisely picking up some sunscreen at the boots) and then heading off a little further along the coast. We found the swimming spot at 40 feet and appreciated the ‘fun all the time’ at the funland in DL. We cut through a few irishly-narrow lanes on the incline to Dalkey. When we stopped for a quick orientation at an intersection, apparently we looked appropriately quizzical enough that a chap in land rover actually blocked the intersection to inquire as to whether we needed directions. What a thoughtful gesture. We took a leisurely lunch at the Queens Arms (sp) in lovely Dalkey village. I enjoyed some fine lamb’s liver on mash. Picture follows Satiated we decided to head back to town and plot our future trips further afield. A great Sunday jaunt. Shawn finds himself pleased that the joints haven’t seized and he’s not too worn in the posterior. I took a side trip over to the UCD campus on my way back. A sprawling place (reminds me of the University of Waterloo) and then back into town to try to pick up a few missing items in my kit bag. It was there that I found the wonderful brass band in St. Stephen’s (see previous post.)