Another (and perhaps the last) trip to St Vincents hospital where Ali was signed off following her successful second hip operation. I parked by the sea and ran across the strand to the South Bull Wall only to have to turn around before completing it because the appointment took less time than we ad expected. It looks like I was swimming but the tide was out and the strand is very flat.
my track 6.5 miles
Here are some photos to mark the occasion, and try not to be too bored to scroll down to the must see Youtube link at the end...
The original power station chimneys, now disused
The new power station also has twin chimneys
The red and white striped chimneys of the original power station dominate the Dublin skyline and feature in my blog post about my last run in this area. Following that run I did a bit of Googling and came up with the following Youtube video which blew my mind, also made me feel queasy just watching him get up over the edge onto the chimney's lid and then walk around the edge. Both chimneys are over 200m tall. Whilst the guy, whose name is Oliver, has been heavily criticised by the powers that be (whose lax security permitted such a prank) for such foolish behaviour I regret I have to give him full credit.
An amazing thing happened today. I happened to be at the Square waiting in the car for Sarah who was attending a clinic: I tuned to Lyric fm only to discover that Liz Nolan on her "The full score" was playing the whole 80 minutes of Bruckner's eighth. I came in at the beginning of the 2nd movement (Scherzo). I had previously figured that Bruckner was not flavour of the month on Lyric!
The recording was from this years Proms where the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Andris Nelsons explore scale in a programme that sets Bruckner’s vast Symphony No. 8 (1890 version, ed. Nowak) against the meticulous detail of Bach’s organ works.
A grand day out with two visitors from Nantes, France, my granddaughter and a friend. The outward journey was via the M7 through the Limerick tunnel under the Shannon estuary, around the Burren, and back via Galway city. Rather than pay heavily per person to park at the visitor centre, we opted for the cliff walk car park just 3 euro. Then spent what we had saved on our supper. I would have run the length of LaHinch strand but They weren't fussed by the ocean. Click on the photos to enlarge.
I was getting the Free Travel itch again so set out as before to catch the 0710 bus from the bottom of the road. From its terminus in Dublin I caught the south going Luas green line almost to its end and did my walking bit which roughly followed the green track in my map being this route.
My walking track in colour red, 7.75 miles
I then returned by Luas from the Brides Glen (last) stop all the way to the most northerly station Broombridge where I caught a regular commuter train to Connolly from where I jumped on a waiting red Luas tram showing destination "Tallaght" on its head-up display. In due course it regrettably proved to be a Saggart tram so I had to disembark and retrace somewhat. From Tallaght I caught the next 65 bus to Blessington, which sadly terminated there so did not take me to the end of our road, so then ran / walked until I was kindly rescued by a neighbour and delivered to my door.
As usual you can enlarge my pictures below by clicking on them.
Pigeons at home - Taken from the bus on the way in
The green Luas currently terminates at Brides Glen but there are plans to extend it further to Bray in which case it will doubtless use the viaduct (see below). Everywhere the Luas' tendrils grow new developments are spawned and, I understand, existing house prices rocket.
The lead mines chimney was, of course, the real reason for this trip. Who could resist such a landmark and the story behind it?
Where the flue used to join the chimney
Looking up
The Ballycorus lead mines and associated smelting centre further down the hill, in deference to health concerns routed its fumes via a stone flue (duct) to this chimney. The chimney used to be taller but the top section was removed more recently for safety's sake. Likewise the spiral stairs have been partly demolished near the bottom to prevent people like me killing themselves.
According to Wikipedia, the flue was about 2 km long and this length allowed lead to be precipitated on its inside surfaces from the smelting fumes. Operatives were given the task of scraping the lead deposits off the inside of the flue, and they promptly died young as a result so that the area became called "Death Valley". Such is the greed and stupidity of man. Similar stories have been told about must-haves such as mercury and asbestos. In time I wonder what stories will be told of must-have cell-phones?
Distant developments at Brides Glen stop, from the viaduct
The green Luas line follows part of the course of the old Harcourt street railway line, for example it uses its viaduct over the river Dodder near Milltown. So I naturally thought that, if extended, it would cross the Bride's Glen viaduct. But an aerial view makes this seem unlikely...
Aerial view of alignment of Luas line and viaduct
Harcourt Street Station facade
The terminus station building in Harcourt Street still exists, as indeed does the building that errant locomotive crashed through in 1900 which so reminded me of the similar crash at Montparnasse as depicted in my favourite film Hugo in the clip below.
North of the city centre the green line utilises the old MGWR route to its Broadstone terminus and thus passes under two handy ready-made bridges under the busy North Circular and Cabra roads. The diagram below is a helpful (though historic) summary of the contorted rail routes in this area and converging on Connolly station. And thus the green Luas ends adjacent to the Irish Rail Broombridge stop at which I shivered (there is no shelter) waiting for an overdue train to Connolly station.
The green Luas uses the old Broadstone route
Broombridge, where Luas, Irish Rail and Royal Canal meet
