Howth 53:23.39N 06:03.94W
30-31 August
After not the best arrival in Howth we have come to rather
like the place. The harbour houses both a serious fishing fleet and a
large marina. The fishing side is complete with numerous excellent fish
shops and restaurants and a collection of tame seals that hang about getting
fed periodically.
Howth Harbour and Ireland's Eye
Whilst Sunday was always going to be rainy - it wasn't at
all bad and we had a really good walk around the Benn of Howth (headland/cliffs
etc) and then found an excellent deli in Howth village and restocked our fruit,
veg, bread and smoked fish sections with some very fancy produce. Even
managed to buy some fresh crab this morning from one of the fish shops.
Strangely, when walking round the Howth cliffs, almost all the people we passed
were of Eastern European extraction and hardly any Irish accents were to be
heard anywhere. I also noted in the Howth deli that the ubiquitous 'wee
bag' - as in "would you like a wee bag with that?" is a uniquely
Northern Irish phenomenon. In fact in Portaferry we were asked,
buying a bottle of wine, whether we "would like to double up your
wee bag?" (we didn't). The Howth terminology is a 'small bag' -
nothing like as musical.
Benn of Howth looking south to
Wicklow
Sunday evening was spent with Adrian Crawford and Sharon
Burke, two friends and former Arthur Andersen Ireland partners - and an
excellent time was had. Sharon then emailed us a brilliant 'what to do on
wet day in Dublin' itinerary, which we executed in large part today. We
also continued the reunion theme, meeting Declan Butler (Deloitte Ireland
partner) for lunch in a great little Italian restaurant on St Stephen's Green
(Il Posto), and spent a excellent hour or so in Trinity College Library where
the Book of Kells - a fabulous 8th century illuminated vellum book of the four
Gospels.
The weather is starting to look a little better, and we hope
to leave tomorrow late morning to Arklow, then heading down to Kilmore either
Wednesday or Thursday, and across to Wales by the weekend. That said, my
faith in weather forecasts is at a lowish ebb and we will probably find it has
all changed again tomorrow.
