12th - 14th May. The River Liffey in Dublin. On the coast at Howth. A private visit to see the Lord Mayor's State Coach.

On Sunday all these yachts had been up through the Millennium Bridge to be blessed, and we saw them returning through this main bridge which can be seen upright on the right of this picture.

There are interesting pictures of all sorts of activities on this structure by the River Liffey.

We caught the Dart, which is the suburban light railway in Dublin, and travelled northwards to Howth. Fortunately the tide was out, so the beach was our first stop. The island called The Eye of Ireland can be seen to the right of Sally and Shannon, out in the bay.

We now have one soggy doggy!

The starlings by the harbour were quite keen on Andy's sandwich.

This is Howth Harbour.

The monument by the harbour has this inscription on it:
The Cross represents the love of God,
The rope edge and shell motif, His nets.
The anchor reflects our dependence on Him,
The rock.....the safety of the land,
The swirling stones.....the dangers of the sea.
The 12 sides .....the months of the year.
The hooped railing ...the rise and fall of the waves.
Christ of the sea Christ of the waves
May we be gathered in the nets of God

There were three seals in the harbour, finishing off some fish thrown to them by the fishermen. The seals looked to be about ten feet long, much bigger than we had expected them to be.

The marina at Howth lies next to the harbour and is full of yachts.

As we climb higher we can look back to the harbour at Howth, and out to The Eye of Ireland.

We thought this would be a good place to live. What a view to have!

Carrying on, we reach the cliff path, which goes right round the headand.

There are a great many seagulls nesting on the cliffs.

The gorse is in full flower on top of the cliffs. Dublin Bay lies beyond Howth lighthouse.

The path is well marked all the way. This is part of the Black Linn trail, with red arrows to follow.We had a choice of four colours, with each trail taking a different route. The Black Linn trail was the next to longest of them.

The next part is across heathland and the view here is across the bay to Dublin.

The path is very varied, here wending its way down through the trees.

We must have walked about 7 miles today and, despite the offer of rides in the rucksack, Shannon insisted on walking all the way. Back at The Puzzler, she has crashed out.

Tuesday evening Mick took a group of us to see The Lord Mayor's State Coach. It was really impressive and contains so much detail. Every carving on the coach relates to something in Ireland. This coach was completed in 1791 and was built in Dublin by William Whitton. It is 24' long, 8' wide and 11 and a half feet high.

We were all allowed to sit in the State coach, which was a real privilege. It is very comfortable.

Andy examined a wheel from the coach.

Meanwhile, Sally inspected the harness.