Celebrations in Dublin

Yesterday began for me with a lovely walk run along the coast at Greystones. Then we set out on a fairly short trip from Greystones to Poolbeg marina in Dublin, but guess what, the wind was on the nose yet again so we motored.  The trip was not without incident. We felt we were being monitored by an official looking boat and yes - suddenly an inflatable drew up beside us with a flourish and we were ordered to stop to allow customs to board us. Luckily they didn’t look too fierce and the female office was probably on a training trip as she looked as unhappy moving from one boat to another as I would!  We were given a cursory search for alcohol (yes lots), narcotics (none) and illegal immigrants (none). There was also a long form to be filled in and our passports inspected.  They left happy with a cheery wave and we were allowed to take photographs of them departing.  We later found that two other gaffers had the same experience.  I wonder if we all look particularly dubious. 

Last night was the eve of Roger’s birthday so he was allowed to shop for and choose the dinner he fancied.  It was great - duck confit, cauliflower cheese, chips and peas and two very good bottle of Rioja. This morning, the birthday breakfast request was bacon, black pudding, baked beans and fried bread and that too was enjoyed by all of us. While we were cooking dinner last night our gas bottle ran out - we have a spare so that was no drama but interestingly it is not proving altogether easy to get a refill. The local team here in Dublin are great and one of the members picked up a cylinder from Halfords but it turns out it was empty so this is still a work in progress. 

Today we have spent exploring Dublin in a rather random and eclectic way.  We began by searching out the house George Bernard Shaw was born in - this was to please one of our friends who is a Shaw devotee (and knows a lot about him).  The house wasn’t mentioned in any of the visitors’ guides and when we got there it was rather sad to see how neglected it now is.  We then moved on the Guinness Storehouse (which we visited with friends a few years ago).  The coach loads rather put us off and Alan asked one of the attendants where we could get a ‘brewery fresh’ Guinness near by.  We were directed to Harkins, just round the corner.  This turned out to have an interesting history. It is the pub where the Irish writer Brendan Behan drank his last pint before suffering a fatal heart attack at the age of 41. The full story is told on the photo of the sign outside the pub! 

We finished the day by visiting Collins Barracks to see the ship Asgard, a 51ft gaff rigger, but the museum had closed earlier that afternoon  so that is a potential trip for tomorrow.  We are off now for the opening ceremony and dinner at the Poolbeg Yacht Club where we are moored.  

Photos of the lovely coast path at Greystones, the customs team leaving, being chased by a big container ship down the Liffey, the birthday chef and birthday meal,  the George Bernard Shaw house, and the Brendan Behan sign 

Greystones to Poolbeg, Dublin        15.1 nms