I enjoyed my lie in until 8.30 this morning. I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the local radio.They reported that the 29 year old Irishman Keith Wheelan had been rescued from the Indian Ocean.He had been trying to row it, to be the youngest person and the first Irishman to do it. He had been hit by a big wave that threw him across the boat and he hit his head on a bolt. The commentator said "oh well at least he did his best". That's the trouble with challenges like that; you are seen as having failed if you don't complete the task.It seems the success is more in the doing of it, rather than necessarily the completion of it. Its all very well the commentator sitting in the warmth of her studio and passing judgement. I suppose doing this trip myself I recognise there is a fine line between getting all the way and notbe able to for some reason.
In order to get the charts for my next part of the journey I needed to go shopping. The folio for Ireland thatI had been given as a leaving present takes me up to Carlingford Lough. I now need the North of Ireland and the Western isles of Scotland. I half expected that the expensive marina I avoided in Dun Laogaire is where I would have to go to find a chart seller. Mary in the office confirmed this the case, but was puzzled by my pronunciation of the place. She says it pronounced Done Leary - and the Irish claim to have done good things with the English language!
I dug by bike from the bow of Hylje and set off through a series of heavy showers. However, I like bike riding and it was joy to stretch my legs and cycle along the sea path.The tide was well out leaving an extensive sand flat called Sandy Mount Strand.Its an important feeding ground for waders. On the sand there is what looks like the remains of a sea swimming pool.It has lost the seaward facing wall an the kids have used it as a canvass for graphite. It probably gets as much use now as it did in its heyday.
At the back of the strand and all the way into Dun Laoghaire are Georgian style properties. Even little single storey houses had this treatment.As much of Ireland was at odds with England during the Georgian period I presume that there was either not a reaction to adopting its architectural style or that these house were built for the faction which was pro the English.
Viking Marine had a good selection of charts and I had my usual indecision of whether to choose the Admiralty or Imray versions. It was compounded by my needing to decide which side of the Mull of Kintyre I would go and I really hadn't given any thought to this so far. What I have found works best for me is a fairly large scale chart supplemented by a pilot book for the area, which not only contains detailed harbour guides but often aerial photos as well.There was another book on circumnavigation by an author I didn't make a note of. There were details if his way points and route, which made me feel quite inadequate in comparison in the way I record my passages.He did report honestly about the hairy moments and seemed to confirm that it is the large seas that need to be avoided in a small boat.I would have bought it, but it was so singularly about the sailing that I thought it pretty dull.
The folio for the Western Isles was 60 Euros and with an exchange rate of 0.89 Euros to the £, that makes them £53.40, compared to the £44 they are in the UK. The shop owner said its because we don't pay VAT on charts in the UK. I thought that was unlikely.I also remember when I first started going to Europe the exchange rate was more like 60 Euros to the £, which just shows how things have changed in 30 years or so.
A fascinating building was The Commissioners of Irish Light property. It didn't allow public access, so i couldn't verify it,but I wondered if it was the Irish equivalent of Trinity House.
I then had the afternoon to explore the City centre. It is divided by the river Liffey and this and the historic wharfs and canals mean its had a lot of water frontage to redevelop in recent years. The new Convention Centre was striking. It looked like a glass tube had been wedged in a block of stone.Inside there is an engraving which says a "hundred thousand welcomes". That is unless you look like a wet tramp and want to look beyond the foyer!
They've built a dramatic new road bridge across the Liffey, and its curved support and straining wires are unlike anything I've seen.
Near to it is an old light house ship. You don't see many of these anymore, and there are certainly none in operation. The whole light house development and use lasted only about 100 years and the light house ships maybe 30 of these?
There was a fine tall ship called the Jeanie Johnston, but it didn't seem to be open to the public: at least not by the time i had got there.
The bike taxis in the city seemed pretty purposeful compared with the rickshaw ones we get in London.
The bike taxis were parked next to the spire, which was erected on the site of the statue to Nelson after he was blown off his column by the IRA in 1966.Locally its called the "spike" or "the stiletto in the ghetto".
One shop seemed to be offering a combination of the Dominatrix with the Holy Mother. What is all this about?
The series of figures depicting the refuges from the potato famine were very moving. they are just larger than life size and you can move around them.Their expressions and manner are harrowing and the backdrop of the Bank of Ulster is very poignant.
In Dublin they even have an equivalent of Covent Garden.
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