It could have been a disaster. Great location and accommodation, but to some extent we were out on a limb. We needed to crack public transport with various mobile apps for the information - not easy, but no guarantee buses would arrive on the time specified once we got the apps to work. Trains were different, punctual and quick. Quick is not what road transport does, anywhere. This is Ireland - no different to many places.
Taxi to Manchester airport. Pakistani driver gave us the history of rural family life and the gradual change to urban industry - textiles mainly. Families specialised. Butcher, baker etc. They even had an entertainment family. Ryanair were an hour late arriving. So we were behind all day. Taxi from airport to holiday cottage was excellent in massive traffic and finally fiddled his way beautifully down the Rush country roads to our beachside accommodation.
Rush - first night
Mrs P, our hostess, met us. I had phoned her to say our plane was late, so she tried to help us out. Our main issue was food and drink, so she sent us 15 minutes down the beach to Rush village and the Harbour Bar. Nice spot, Guinness, large portions. Expensive. Pleasant sundown return, through a playground.
Rush on the beach and the cricket club
Ours has a pink park bench in front, easily moveable onto the grass and in the sun. Just a lovely spot, albeit a tad isolated. I had a cat for company. Super location that we were able to take full advantage of.
In order - holiday complex overview, front of the cottage, long view towards Rush, me and the cat, al fresco, Rush harbour, Rush CC, long sit, the lounge.
Rush cricket club was also a bus stop, so not hard to find and walkable. A match must have been planned - lots of cars and young men with expensive large cricket bags. Saturday and they are playing Malahide, a posh village we know quite well from previous visits. Men of colour who can play. They scored 269 - 40 overs. Rush replied and going well by the time I left. Too cold for lots of Guinness. Malahide opening bowlers started on the boundary. One batsman wore a gilete. I thought the light might be an issue, but kept quiet, as did the umpires. BBQ at €5 a pop. Lady behind the bar served Guinness like a veteran. Wandered off half poured. Told me off for picking it up early, "Let it settle," and then "she's ready for you now." So Guinness is female, I didn't know.
I worried about the metal pole up the middle of the lounge holding everything up. We only had the ground floor. Strange buses maybe, but what about the TV. 2000channels - where are the cricket highlights? This is Ireland.
Dublin
A bit too far and full of people not speaking English. Horrendous traffic. Open-top bus was good with very entertaining driver. Went by Dart (local train), bus connection good. Asked for help from a local to get us orientated. Two hours to get back by bus - awful. I can't remember why we chose it. Not the local's fault. O'Connell St and lunch by the river Liffey.
Skerries
Standard fishing boat harbour. Cold and windy. Lonely bird on the beach. Great coffee shop. Memorial garden for lunch. Pic here is at the mill for afternoon tea. Skerries mill is stunning, both to look at and what they achieved. 2 mills. Everything done on site, even growing the wheat. Winnowing, waterwheel power, milling, cooking bread and distributing and selling the loaves. Is that a vertical mill? Sunny afternoon. Discussed bus timetables with a young girl in the return queue. It is confusing even for the natives. Some kids give up their bus for us. Judith very impressed by courtesy. This is Ireland.
Malahide
Great to be back in a village we love, especially Gibney's. We discovered it is the terminus for the Dart. Going forward is on Irish rail. Bus connections worked, though we had to wait when the first one was full - not a long wait. Talking to locals again, apparently they changed all the train times and caused so much confusion, they had to change them back after a few days. Visited the Castle grounds and the cricket club. Home to the Irish international team - temporary stands for 11500 supporters. Otherwise an open field for anyone to use. Marina for lunch.
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