Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 295/296

Jun 23 & 24

1) So the day before yesterday was a typical day for me. I went to the labs to switch off the heat on the reflux apparatus, before spending the afternoon attending the "Present Your Research" talk by Mr. Eric Clarke. The rest of the day was pretty mundane as well, so I'll get to the exciting bit...

2) Yesterday, Zi Yan and I took the bus to Howth! I've been to Howth before, but it was smack in the winter, meaning a) it was cold as heck, b) it rained like nobody's business, c) the sky turned dark so fast it wasn't even funny. Yesterday was a completely different story. The Sun was out in all it's glory, the wind billowing in our hair, and the Sun didn't set till at least nine or ten. What a wonderful day for an outing!

3) Our first stop at Howth was the Howth Market, which wasn't open last time we went. It's a really small market to be honest, but laden with all sorts of delicacies (including the traditional Hungarian dish "langos"!) We then went to the pier, where we visited the site where King George IV left his footprints. Across the pier, we could see some seals swimming about. As we were walking back, we saw a huge flock of seagulls waiting to feast on the daily catch, brought by the fishermen to shore. It was a unique spectacle for us city dwellers.

4) We spent the morning visiting Howth Castle, the ancestral home of the line of the St Lawrence family that died out in 1909. It wasn't a particularly big castle, but unique as next to it is the National Transport Museum. After our visit, we decided to have lunch first before embarking on our next destination. So we went back to the pier, where we bought fish and chips for takeaway at a fish market called Doran's. The fish they used was so fresh that the chefs literally took fish sitting on the bed of ice (that they caught earlier in the morning) to prepare our meal. Needless to say, Zi Yan, being the seafood addict/ connoisseur that he is, was full of praise for the meal.

5) After our meal, it was time to burn away the calories. So we went for the Howth Cliffside Walk. There are four different routes to take, with the Purple Route a.k.a. "Bog of the Frogs" walk being the longest and most difficult. The estimated distance and time is 10km and 2.5~3 hours respectively. Along the way, we were greeted with magnificent sights of the hillside, as well as some lovely beaches. It was not an easy walk by any means, and very often the pathway went up and down as it cut through lush flora.

6) We literally thought the walk was over when we reached a road, only to discover that the pathway continued up the hill! We circumnavigated around the hill, passed multiple forests and even a football field, before ending up near Howth Castle again - an exhausting 3.5 hours walk for the both of us. But the pictures (and videos) that we took were nothing short of spectacular. After that long trek, we bought fish and chips (for dinner!) at Howth Market. Then I spotted a stall claiming to sell the best 99s as voted by the Irish Times, so I had to try it! It was extra creamy, and you definitely smell the aroma of vanilla beans used to make the vanilla ice cream. Money well spent if you ask me.

7) The last stop for the day was the Howth Summit. Since there is a daily cap of €5 for our student leap card, we just took the bus to the very top. I took some pictures of the Summit Inn, which was where walked out of the cliffside trek the previous time we came. It's hard to believe that six months has passed since I last came to Howth. Anyway, we boarded the no. 14 bus back from Howth, and walked the remainder of the distance back to the my house. That has been the past two days' worth of adventure to recall, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks so much for visiting, and do scroll down all the way for some lovely photos of our trip to Howth. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day. Cheers!