All the craic …
.. of the Irish

So we had a day off on Saturday. Angela began it with a long walk from the boat down the coast. She put her headphones on and focused on her mindfulness as she explored. She found a new part of DL with better shops & cafes to the East and a good baker - bringing home a lovely large eclair and 10” florentine. On her return she found some large statues and art on the beach. While she did all that I did my 3 ‘R’s -I read, (w)rote and relaxed.

PnT are taking skipper responsibility for the next passage to Bangor via Isle of Man so spent time time drafting the outline plan and specific plan for leg to Douglas - weather, tides, harbours, comms, customs… there’s a lot to consider. They briefed us after lunch and it all sounded good.

Then Ang & I left them and headed into Dublin ourselves. I’ve got to say the DART system is excellent with a regular frequent route all around Dublin bay -€5 return. Twenty minutes later we got off at Tara St and we’re standing by the river Liffey. Where next?

Thankfully we had lots of local recommendations - the biggest was avoid the tourist traps in Temple Bar and head to the bars where the locals go around George’s Street (arcade). First stop Grogans fir a pint and the famous Irish cheddar toasties.

It was a short fifteen minute walk which was revealing. Cosmopolitan feel, many tourist languages, underdressed women ( we were later told a music festival was on) and a huge anti-abortion march following he Roe v Wade reversal in US. Oh and everyone shielding under shopfronts as a 5-min squall blew thru and dropped its substantial wet load.

We arrived at Grogans and it was packed as people were staying out of the rain. We ordered our drinks & toasties and a retired guy and his son offered us a stool at their table. You really can’t overstate the friendliness of the Irish. We stayed with them for a couple of pints and shared the craic.

We then walked the streets in the sun listening to street performances, ticking off the bars like Grogans, Hogans, Keoghs and the rest before meeting PnT for dinner at 7. We picked a smart upmarket place, the Fallon & Byrne Dining Room. Very swanky, bit pricey but very popular with the local well heeled - and a wedding party in the “ball room”. YOLO

Before we knew it, it was 11pm and we were on the DART to DL. In bed by midnight ready to start our next leg at dawn to see the Manx.