Days 34 & 35 Dun Laoghaire

Wonderful Ireland.
We had the nicest trip ever from Howth to Dun Laoghaire and were surprised to see how big the marina here is, and once again, so friendly and welcoming.
There are four yacht clubs here so the next morning, the 4th July,  (we didn't quite make it the evening we arrived) we visited the very plush Royal Irish Yacht Club. As we are all members of the Royal Temple Yacht Club we could get in with impunity. It was very impressive, just how I imagine a top class gentleman's club in London would be. On the past commodores board we saw an HRH! The billiard room was beautiful.

Carved cupboard with RIYC insignia and shamrocks

The whole place was very impressive. We had only gone in for a coffee but decided to stay for a light lunch because the food looked lovely and it was reasonably priced.

We spent a very interesting afternoon at the Maritime Museum which is housed in the Seaman's Church and we had a very knowledgeable old gentleman who spent over an hour with us, giving us a guided tour with lots of personal memories thrown in.  A "Teddy's ice cream", apparently home of the Mr Whippy, completed the day.

Roy, me and Mary eating "Teddy's" famous ice cream
We had planned to continue our trip to Greystones today (5 July), but after the overnight high winds and the forecast of a Southerly (which would be on the nose) we decided to postpone until tomorrow. We will then move on to Arklow which is to be our hopping off point. We are on track to make our crossing Monday night/Tuesday morning, all being well, and we will then be back in England.

Roy and Mary caught the Dart train to Dublin this morning to go exploring and I went up to the town to get a new phone, having inadvertently dropped mine very briefly into the marina. Even though it was in a coat pocket and I got it out quickly, I had ruined it!


The marina is alive with children having a great introduction to the sea, which is so good to see.

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