Killiney and Bulloch

Bright blue skies and unusual clarity; a tanker anchored in the glistening sea, the odd yacht sailing slowly in the light airs and lots of stiff winged fulmars gliding in the foreground, Killiney Bay resembled The Bay of Naples. A bit colder perhaps as we walked Vico, Sorrento and other Italian grand tour memorial roads. Watchful magpies patrol, basking pigeons listen on telegraph wires as we discuss 1916 and far flung destinations like Quebec, Denver, Bordeaux, London, Barcelona and Auckland.

The whole 8 km walk was an explosion of May colour; droopy yellow laburnum catkins, proud copper beeches, lilac flower heads and multi-hued varietal maples adding tree borne colour to replace the fallen cherry blossoms that litter so many pathways. From Bulloch Harbour where boats were for hire, crabs and lobster on sale, we returned past suburban houses with their differentiating motifs - an ecclesiastical gateway eventually leading to a window-hung wooden dinosaur and a faux Roman mosaic of Neptune or was it Mars?

Rushing Leinster flagged German cars and Jaguars passed too close with their distinctive designer features; the smiling aspect of the new Audis, the horseshoed good luck lights of the BMW and the low throated burble of the XK. Their paced and perhaps carefree comfort discomforted us, inconvenient, squishy pedestrians.

We returned via the planning denied Barnhill (half) Stores and the Reservoir Park that has none, overtaken by the double decked 59 bus without a passenger, to continue life in a surreal world where the council soon won't collect any rubbish bins because they can't afford to support those who can't afford to pay.

Sponsor wanted: 8km

Coliemore Harbour

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I need to raise £500 in sponsorship for walking 60 miles in no more than 30 non-stop hours across the South Downs in July. It raises money for Oxfam but I'm in it because it also assists the Gurkhas, who I think have been poorly treated and discriminated against for a century. They even get buried at the back of the British War Cemetries I've visitited.

I've started training this week and will be blogging so you can follow my progress. I'll probably do 60 walks in which I cover 500 km or something like that. I'll add maps and pictures like I've done before.

The first walk was 5 km around the Vico Road to Coliemore Harbour and as pleasant as it was to be walking with Lia, my lasting memory will be people that a few people were viewing and pointing at Dalkey Island. It fleetingly piqued my curiosity. Pointing forgotten for a while, incomprehensible snippets overheard in Dalkey village took on a new meaning when I heard it said that somebody was planning to drill an exploration well in the Kish Basin. The Sunday Independent carried an interesting but poorly researched article that seems to confirm something is happening. The thought that I might be able to sit in bed and watch a well being drilled is just a bit ironic.


Sponsored by Nessa - Thank you.