Carlingford to Howth

Days 26 & 27.

Day 26 We left Carlingford at 0850 on 26^th June to catch the tide which runs at about 5 knots, so it gave us a helping hand out of the Lough. That was fine but then it was very uncomfortable and lumpy outside, where the tide from the Lough meets the Irish Sea. Josh was his usual encouraging self, “It will be alright once we clear these overfalls at the entrance, it’s just choppy here.” Famous last words because it remained very uncomfortable and as usual the wind was a bit more than the predicted 15 knots. It was supposed to die down but didn’t so for the whole 7 ½ hours we had a horrible sea and the boat was rocking violently from side to side like a manic metronome. Josh was OK with it but even he admitted it was not very nice. I stayed below the whole trip except for the first and last half an hour. I couldn’t put the kettle on at all …a tragedy as far as I am concerned because I can face anything with a cup of tea in my hand…. everything was rocking from side to side, the only thing I was grateful for was that I don’t get seasick. I was worried about the champagne on board …would it pop it’s cork with the 8 hours of being shaken about?  Death by drowning or by champagne corks, that seemed to be the choice that day. Josh managed to make me a mug of tea at 1400 which cheered me up. At least the sun was out. Here is a picture of me with my life jacket on and my high viz hat so that I can be spotted at sea and quickly rescued. When we got in at 16.20, I wrote in the log “I am never doing a trip like that again.” 

Howth marina the next day, with Lunar Sea's dark blue aft sticking out by red buoy!

Day 27

Howth, where we are now and where we will be staying until Wednesday, is lovely. There is obviously a lot of money here and I suspect it is” Dublin on Sea” as there are beaches here as well as the marina and fishing port. They even have Morelli’s ice cream (those of you who know Broadstairs will understand.) We visited the Yacht Club last night and it is a lovely modern purpose-built clubhouse with a restaurant and bar. It reminded me of a circus top with its blue and white striped roof. Unusually the marina is also run by the Yacht Club.

Howth Yacht Club's blue and white roof overlooking the marina.

Today (June 27) we walked around the town and had lunch in the House that Captain Bligh lived in before he went off on the Bounty and the infamous mutiny (his mother was Irish.) There are two Martello Towers here which I thought were only built in England but in fact about 30 were built around the Irish coast due to a fear that Ireland would be invaded by Napoleon!

There is a thriving fishing dock lined with the most amazing fish shops and fish restaurants, selling and serving locally smoked fish, oysters, mussels and chowder and of course the famous Dublin Bay Prawns. It reminded me very much of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. I am going to love our stay here. The weather is glorious, and Dublin is 20 minutes away on the Dart train so what’s not to like?

 

I saw a very interesting way of encouraging people to put litter in the bin; a fish that eats plastic and litter. I have seen this on the internet before but never seen one in real life. Hooray for Howth for leading the way.

I will leave you with this lovely saying above the entrance to the marina.