Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Dublin

2022 US Trip – Day 32 (British Airways Flight from Dublin to Heathrow T5)
This was the last day of my little trip home and I had chance to pop into the airport lounge at Dublin. This is a different one to where I was before going to the United States, I was off in Terminal 2 at the Aer Lingus lounge then. I’ve written about this Dublin lounge before, so won’t repeat that. I was fortunate to get a seat though, it was at near capacity when I got there and didn’t really let up. It’s an odd shaped lounge and they really need a bigger facility, but it was an entirely satisfactory place to spend three hours.

It had just turned midday, so having a farewell to Ireland Guinness seemed sensible.

Mine was the 15:20 flight and one of the gate staff made an incorrect announcement of the gate number which caused some people to get up and move. I hovered between the two gates thinking that this was far from ideal. I didn’t intend to miss a flight at this stage of the trip.

I had worked out that the flight could be three hours late and I would still be able to get my train home to Norwich. Above that I’d miss it, but I’d either get EU261 compensation or at least a duty of care if it was weather related. I think it transpired that the flight was about eight minutes late so I hadn’t needed to pre-worry.

Ready to battle the rain for one final time in Ireland.

No airbridge in Dublin. This was the tenth and final flight of this trip, along with the twelve or so rail trips I took in the United States. It’s aircraft Airbus A320 G-TTNS and for my own interest only, I hadn’t been on this aircraft before but that’s not surprising as they only took delivery of it on 1 October 2022 and this flight was on 19 October 2022. It’s one of the newest aircraft that I’ve been on I think.

It’s a short flight and it was entirely unremarkable, with the crew being the usual friendly and helpful sort. I was given water and crisps, but I saved them until I was sitting at London Liverpool Street waiting for my train.

Boarding the underground to cross London on the Piccadilly Line, which is always much less exciting when coming back from a trip rather than getting there.

I was able to get a seat.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 32 (Malahide to Dublin Airport)
We’re in the final few posts of this US trip, woooo!!! This is St. Sylvester’s Catholic Church in Malahide, but a bus came just as I was taking the photo. As it was so wet, I thought I’d have a photo of a church and a bus….. My 24 hour Leap ticket allowed me to use buses and trains, so I realised it was just as quick to get off the train at Malahide and then get the 102 bus to the airport directly rather than going into central Dublin. I was going to explore in Dublin for a short while, but the rain was so heavy that I decided against that plan.

I would say that I timed it well, but Google Maps has to take most of the credit for that. This means I spent under ten minutes in Malahide, so there’s not much that I can write about that. However, Wikipedia tells me that “it is situated about 10 miles north of Dublin city centre and is known for its scenic beauty, historic castle, and marina, as well as Malahide Castle, which dates back to the 12th century”. Maybe I’ll get to go there at some point in the future…

Finally in the warm and dry, going directly to Dublin Airport. I was impressed at the Leap Visitor card, it was affordable and so all of my travel for the 24 hours, including to and from the airport, was covered by the one ticket.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 32 (Skerries near Dublin and the Train)
I’m moderately annoyed about this photo as I took it to show just how heavy the rain was. I had a fifteen minute walk between the B&B and the railway station and got completely drenched, although fortunately had my coat and bag cover to minimise the water devastation. The photo doesn’t show the torrential conditions that I was facing and it took me around a minute to take it as the rain kept hitting the screen and confusing it.

And that puddle at the railway station is deeper than it looks. I went inside to dry out, although I’m not sure that I did much more than drip everywhere.

My plans to get photos of the railway station didn’t go to plan, that’s the limit of it. There was an interesting poster inside the railway station about the history of the settlement and it appears to have an active history group. Skerries is a coastal town in Ireland with and is believed to have been founded by Vikings in the 9th century, and it has since been inhabited by a number of different groups, including the Anglo-Normans, who built the first castle in Skerries in the 12th century. The town grew as a fishing and agricultural community and became known for its distinctive sandstone buildings and well-preserved architecture. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Skerries remained small, but there were with several windmills and watermills being built to support the town’s economy. The 19th century saw the arrival of the railway in Skerries, which helped to spur further growth and development in the area, as well as allowing it to become something of a tourist destination in the late nineteenth century. That number continued to grow in the 1950s and 1960s, holiday camps opened up in this beautiful location by the sea and it was easily accessible by those who lived in Dublin, but it had a large number of visitors from the north of England.

Then, unfortunately, the Troubles in Northern Ireland came along and tourism to the area collapsed in the early 1970s. Hotel after hotel closed and the tourist numbers haven’t returned to the previous highs, but it’s still a pretty little place. But apologies for the lack of railway station photos, or at least, a lack of photos not of puddles at the railway station.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 31 (Photos from Skerries)
This post is mostly just photos from around Skerries where I went for an evening walk after checking into the hotel. I thought that this was a suitable place to reflect on the previous month in what was a beautiful area which was peaceful and not too cold. Specifically I thought about the people from Ireland who went to the United States in the middle of the nineteenth century, whether through necessity by the famine or whether because they wanted to start a new life. I had spent a week in New York earlier on during this trip and it felt a long way away from this rural part of Ireland. But yet it isn’t really far away today, it can now be reached in a few hours on an aircraft. Back then it must have been almost beyond comprehension for someone to travel from a quiet home in Ireland to a packed and bustling city, trying to find new opportunities.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 31 (Trip to Skerries)
My plan for the day was to get to my hotel in Skerries, the cheapest option that I could find in the Dublin area given how expensive city centre accommodation was. That meant a tram journey to Connolly Station, previously known simply as Dublin Station, then Amiens Street Station before being given its current name in 1966 in honour of James Connolly. I liked having this seat as I felt as near to driving a tram as I was going to get, a job that is more stressful than it might seem given the number of car drivers who frequently got in its way.

Mine was the train to Drogheda and was included in my 24 hour leap card.

The interior isn’t much different from many British railway stations from the period, although it was constructed in 1844 so that isn’t entirely surprising. The train journey transpired to be mostly empty for the first section, before becoming much busier as school children boarded it to get to their destinations. They weren’t disruptive though, something I know as I fell asleep for a small portion of the journey, so I couldn’t have thought them to be too threatening.

Views over the Malahide Estuary.

It didn’t take long to go from a city centre urban environment to feeling really quite rural. More about this train service on my return journey the following day though….. (oh, the anticipation).
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 31 (Dublin’s Keavan’s Port Pub Again)
When I took this photo I was quite impressed that JD Wetherspoon offered this lunch deal in the Republic of Ireland and thought it would be a positive thing to launch in the UK. But they now have, so that’s that helpful suggestion rendered a little irrelevant. I won’t linger on writing about this pub as I’d already been there a month before at the start of this trip. It’s an expensive and really quite brilliant conversion of an historic building into a pub, something which JD Wetherspoon do achieve on a regular basis.

I accept that returning to the same venue isn’t very creative, but my friend Liam and I had visited every craft beer bar we could find in Dublin earlier on in the year. I was getting a little tired after a month away, so this was a cheap and cheerful option. A pint of Beamish, which I think is better than Guinness and there’s not much choice on that matter anyway at Wetherspoons in Dublin as they don’t sell Guinness, along with a basic burger. On the Guinness, I suspect that’s more because Diageo doesn’t want to annoy other pubs in the city by having one chain selling it much cheaper than everyone else.

This meal was more of a faff than I felt ideal. My food arrived after five minutes, but no drink. I went to the bar as it’s often already been poured there and I can just collect it, but the slightly unhelpful member of bar staff said that there was no order made for Beamish and she confidently stated no order for a burger had been received either and she suggested it hadn’t gone through. I mentioned my food was already at the table so I knew the order had gone through and asked politely if she could pour the Beamish, but she confirmed that my food hadn’t arrived which seemed an odd thing to say.

I went back to my table and then decided this was just slightly ridiculous, so I went back to the bar looking as polite as possible. I got another team member who just poured the Beamish without checking anything, she was really quite helpful. I left the bar happy, partly because it was sorted and partly because I had a delicious pint of Beamish. I heard the original team member say to her colleague “did you find that Beamish?” but I’m unsure of what the dialogue was after that as I was too occupied with my drink, food and ensuring that my devices were charging.

Despite the little issue with the drink, I do like this venue, it’s spacious, modern and feels comfortable. It’s also one of the few places that has unlimited coffees available in Dublin, which seemed to be attracting a number of extra customers in. For anyone wanting a peaceful environment during weekdays, which I’d say is ideal after being away for a month, they could do worse than here.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 31 (British Airways Flight from Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

I had just landed into Heathrow T5 from Newark and my two hour connection was shrunk down to 45 minutes due to some delays in disembarking. That meant I was down to only around 20 minutes in the lounge, although a slightly late departing flight to Dublin meant that I eventually had over 30 minutes. That gave me time for some charging of devices, a couple of drinks and a little snack. The lounge was busy, but I was able to perch at the end overlooking the runway, my favourite location in Galleries North as I like the higher seats.

I understand the importance of security and the UK require passengers to go through full security screening regardless of where they have flown in from. It is though much easier from a passenger point of view with the US set-up of domestic flights where you only go through one security process. I was fortunate that there wasn’t much of a delay before getting to the lounge, I think it was all done in fifteen minutes.

Waiting for the 08:25 service to Dublin, there were a few seats available here, but the airport felt busy in general.

Boarding was efficient and I got to take a photo of the aircraft before walking down the airbridge. I forgot to get the aircraft’s registration number just to check if I had been on it before, a slightly odd check that I do when I remember.

It’s only a short flight, but there’s a snack and water provided. This is perfectly sufficient, it’s useful for passengers to feel hydrated if nothing else. There’s a limited amount that I feel it’s useful to add about short haul flights, as there’s little chance of much engagement from crew on such a brief trip. However, they were welcoming and polite, with the flight being quite light in terms of passengers, so it all felt comfortable and efficient. I like the reliability of British Airways in this regard, a lack of anything to write about is often just because everything went as it should have done.

Safely into Dublin Airport, where I had just over 24 hours before returning back to the UK on the following day.

December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 1 (BA Flight from Heathrow to Dublin)

The sun shines through the terminal windows at T5 lighting up the delights of Gate A9, which was fortunately not the bus gate (which is A10). The boarding process was all orderly and no-one stood in front of the queueing area, which made things much easier for the staff. Although the flight is to Dublin, this is effectively a domestic flight for purposes of border security, the staff don’t need to check passports at the gate, it’s just a photo image they take and that’s an automated process.

I boarded early, but the flight transpired to be relatively busy. It’s aircraft G-EUOF, an Airbus A319 which British Airways have had since October 2001. They really get their money’s worth from these aircraft, it’s doing six flights today, from Geneva to Heathrow, from Heathrow to Dublin, from Dublin to Heathrow, from Heathrow to Madrid, from Madrid to Heathrow and from Heathrow to Amsterdam.

My exit row seat, with the middle seat not being filled on the flight. I fell asleep soon after boarding, fortunately waking just as they handed out the water and cereal bar (which are still in my bag) before having another little sleep. Very restful. This is the big advantage in British Airways over Ryanair or WizzAir, who bang and clank down the aisle trying to sell things. It’s not the fault of the hard-working crew at these airlines, just the model in which they have to work. It was the usual professionally operated flight, the pilots were reassuring and gave useful announcements, whilst the crew were endlessly polite and efficient.

Safely in Dublin, arriving around five minutes early.

There are only six Play aircraft, the relatively new budget airline which operates from Iceland.

The border control process at Dublin is easy for UK passport holders. They do no checks on the passport on their computers, they just check that it’s a UK passport and that the image looks like the passenger in front of them. I think I was at the desk for around three seconds, it was almost as good as being in Schengen, not that that’s looking likely for the UK in the next few decades.

September 20, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 1 (Dublin’s Keavan’s Port Pub)

I think I got a bit over-excited on the last post and published it early, that’s just my slight sleepiness….

Liam and I tried to visit this pub when we were in Dublin a few months ago, but it was just too busy. These were the days when Dublin was still enforcing table service only and despite the cavernous size of the building, its popularity was just too high for the number of seats available. I won’t get political, but it seems strange that the biggest investments that JD Wetherspoon are currently making are in the European Union. Indeed this pub is the most expensive they’ve ever done in their history, it cost them €27.4 million for the renovation and €6 on buying the building.

This is the history of the pub which JD Wetherspoon provide:

“The pub, named Keavan’s Port, has an adjoining 89-bedroom hotel. The pub takes its name from the history of the local area, where Camden Street Upper and Camden Street Lower form part of an ancient highway into the city of Dublin. The two streets were previously known as St Kevin’s Port. In a series of old maps and records, the name is listed as Keavans Port (1673), St Kevan’s Port (1714), Keavan’s Port (1728), St Kevan’s Port (1756) and then St Kevin’s Port (1778) – renamed after the first Earl of Camden.

The name Keavan’s Port/St Kevin’s Port was derived from the church of St Kevin, in nearby Camden Row, said to have been founded by a follower of the sixth-century hermit. St Kevin also features in the poem ‘St Kevin and the Blackbird’ (1996) by the Nobel prize-winner Seamus Heaney, in which he describes how the Irish saint held out a ‘turned-up palm’ for a blackbird to nest. Until the 1940s, the property had been the convent of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, established in the 1890s. The sisters nursed the ‘sick poor’ in their own homes, and their former chapel has been preserved and forms part of the new pub and hotel.”

It is a stunning conversation, there’s a glass walkway above the bar and this whole area is filled with light. Actually, I think it makes the bar area too hot, but there are plenty of other areas which are much cooler for customers.

Looking back the other way, all rather modern.

The entrance to the former chapel which is located within the pub.

A modern artwork within the historic former chapel.

I perched myself in the side aisle of the former chapel.

I can’t quite imagine that the builders of this chapel quite imagined that it would be repurposed into a pub.

Down to another large seating area and a separate bar, with what I assume (but don’t know) are reclaimed windows from the site. The bulk of the former site is taken up with the 89 room hotel, converted from a row of eight Georgian properties, which must be a profitable exercise as it seems to often be full.

The selection of real ales, priced much lower than other bars in the city, which is proving to be a big selling point for the chain just as it is in the UK. The staff here seemed friendly and helpful, the service was efficient and welcoming.

I went for the Rampart from Conwy Brewery, a very acceptable English brown ale (that’s in terms of the beer style, it’s actually brewed in Wales and being sold in the Republic of Ireland, so it’s not overly English) which was well kept. Real ale isn’t a huge thing in Dublin, but they seem to be shifting a fair amount of it here.

The pub is generally well reviewed and it was relatively busy for a Sunday afternoon. I liked the plentiful power points and wi-fi, all rather handy, and it’s got a relaxed vibe to it which is really quite calm. That feels most appropriate given the building’s history, of which this is a delightful conversion that the chain should be proud of. Well, other than for the leak downstairs which they were mopping up from a dripping ceiling.

September 20, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 1 (Dublin’s South Strand Pub)

So I went to Dublin and went to two JD Wetherspoon outlets? Well, yes, although there’s another non JDW one to come, but I’d better add here that I’ve been to Dublin many times and visited all of what I consider to be the traditional, interesting and craft beer venues. I’m intrigued to see how JD Wetherspoon are developing and this is an outlet which wasn’t open when Liam and I visited the city a few months ago.

South Strand is another huge investment by JD Wetherspoon in the European Union, I’m impressed, a big vote of confidence from Tim Martin. Although I’m getting political, so I must stop. The pub is located at Hanover Quay and they give the history as:

“The south dock was once a large area of ‘marshland sprinkled with an occasional apple tree’. On one of the earliest maps (1673) of the city of Dublin, by Bernard de Gomme, there are no buildings marked on the south side of the River Liffey. This marshy riverside area is named on Gomme’s map as ‘South Strand’. He noted that it was ‘overflowed by the high tide, with up to five feet of water at neap tide, dry at half tide and dry enough at low tide to walk across the sand’.”

Unlike their conversion of Keavan’s Port, this building was already in use as a restaurant, having been known as the HQ Bar and Restaurant.

There’s my Beamish resting on the counter, a drink I consider to be better than Guinness. But, best not start a dispute about that, they’re both lovely drinks. It’s a large building, with plenty of external seating and another large seating area downstairs, with a map and compass being recommended to find the toilets.

I got a seat near the bar and was I felt very productive despite feeling slightly sleepy. There were plenty of power points dotted around and two kids storming about the place that the staff did well not to trip over. I’ve been a slight idiot (again) as I forgot that Ireland has the same power point holes (or whatever the technical term is) as the UK, and so I’ll be traipsing around with an EU adapter for a month now. Incidentally, someone came over to me and left his phone charging saying that he wanted to go drinking outside and needed it charged. So, not for the first time, I became a guardian of someone else’s phone.

Anyway, I liked this pub, although a few people in reviews have complained that there’s no music. All I can note is thank goodness for that, a little bastion of peace and quiet. It is of course also cheap and whether or not that’s what is attracting the locals, it was very busy.

September 20, 2022