I could walk a hundred miles

Apparently. In a week at any rate. Getting there took a bit of determined pounding of the streets yesterday in order to get in the 38km that I needed to hit 160km, or 100 miles, for the week.

It was a fun walk. Long, but interesting and as ever Dublin threw up some interesting bits and pieces. At the end I actually ended up putting in 45km for the day, which was actually more than a marathon distance. Pretty cool, even if it was just walking and it did take _all_ day.

I started off in Celbridge with a 10km loop of the village and then headed to Chapelizod to start in the emorial gardens in Chapelizod. Hauntingly beautiful place, well worth a visit.

There’s a very interesting selection of trees, including some olive trees if I’m not mistaken, which aren’t too common in Ireland. Spring had barely started to make an impression but there were some things starting to blossom.

I then took the river route back out to Chapelizod village with the intention of crossing back over the Anna Livia bridge and walking out to the East Link bridge. It’s a very pleasant walk back to Chapelizod by the riverside for most of the way but you are pushed back up onto the road a couple of hundred meters before the bridge. 

After Chapelizod I headed back in to the city along Chapelizon Road by the Phoenix Park and crossed back to the South Side at Heuston bridge. I didn’t get any interesting pictures until I got to Steeven’s Lane ( the road that the Luas line takes between Heuston Station and Thomas St) where this bit of wit was rather crudely sprayed on the footpath.

I wonder why, indeed.

By this stage I was somewhere around 18km so I was very focused on just getting distance covered. That meant I spent a couple of hours weaving back across the river and heading for the North East inner city. I got to within spitting distance of Croke Park heading along the Royal Canal at Portland Place only to be met with this vista. This was a bit sad looking, the new canal wall has collapsed and the pathway is actually blocked off from just beyond this point. I assume that is to prevent fans pouring out of Croke Park from getting into trouble.

It also meant that I had to double back to Drumcondra in order  to get over to Croke Park at this point.

It’s very cool walking along the canal beside and under Croke Park. I knew there was a spur off the commuter loop rail line that passes the northern edge of the stadium (out of shot here) but I hadn’t realised that the spur actually passes underneath the south stand.

I also found the Hamilton / Hamiltonian Mural under the South Stand here. I’d heard about this but I though it was somewhere else. Very cool – a celebration of Mathematics under the temple to our national sports.

I followed the canal for a bit until I was forced back onto the streets at North Strand Road. From there it was down to the Quays heading for the East Link bridge. Around the back of the Point I found this succinct North Side critique of cutting edge bio science.

After heading over the East Link bridge I remembered to take a picture of the Dodder Buoy this time.

This was somewhere around the 28km mark and I was definitely feeling the pain by this stage. I was also was paying increasingly less attention to what was around me but I did remember to take this shot across the road from Windmill Lane studios. I was aiming just for the picture but I caught the text by accident and it really makes this a great shot. Love it.

By the time I got back in to Wellington Quay to catch the bus back to Celbridge I had hit 35km. On the way I stopped in Liffey Valley and just walked around in circles until I’d hit the 38km total that. I was quite tired by this stage.

I came in to Dublin about two hours later for Ed’s going to Cork party. That allowed me to put in another hour’s walking along the way which brought the day’s total up to 45km, and just over 60k steps. I don’t think I’ll be trying to exceed that for a while. Along the way I finally managed to get this shot on 4 Dame Lane – it’s always been hidden behind shutters when I’ve gone looking for it before.