On 23rd December 2013, I went to Ireland for the very first time. This also happened to be the first time I had been away on a trip so close to Christmas, which was very exciting! Off we went, armed with chunky jumpers and thermals and I prepared for sub-zero temperatures with my over-sized, pink fur coat. It was indeed cold, but not quite as bitter as I thought it would be. We could explore and go on walks without our hands dropping off!
We were there for three full days and had a whale of a time; Dublin really is great. It helps that I really love Guinness so I already felt that part of me fit right in with the locals! We spent the first couple of days exploring the city centre and going to museums, as on the first day, the heavens decided to open up on us with rain so we had to make haste indoors.
However, when it had cleared up a bit, we went to The Botanical Gardens of Dublin which are really beautiful, free, and well worth a visit. How ever many of these you go to around the world, they never let you down. If in doubt, go to a botanical garden! You’re sure to have a brilliant time, kids and adults alike.
On the second day of our trip, we had already booked to go to the Guinness Storehouse Museum which was fantastic. Getting to learn all about the who, how, what and where of Guinness was brilliant for any self professed Guinness fan! It was a brilliant day out and every time I drink the stuff I feel confident knowing where it comes from. Even if you’re not too into Guinness, it is still a fabulous museum and lots of fun.
This brings me on to the third and final day of our trip and what happens to also be the day we decided to go off the beaten path and do something that perhaps not many tourists in Dublin, two days before Christmas, would dream of doing – go on a winter coastal walk.
On this particular day in Dublin, I didn’t really have a clue what direction we needed to be going in to get to the coast but luckily, my partner did! So, off we trotted, in the direction that would ultimately lead us to a wintry, Irish beach.
It was a long walk from the centre of Dublin to get to the sea, about an hour or so but it was worth it when finally, we stumbled upon a park entrance way that made it clear upon first approach that it would lead us directly to the sea.
This isn’t the best photograph as our camera wasn’t as good at that time and it was taken rather excitedly in the heat of the moment, but it gets across our first sighting of the sea. There was a row of little palm trees just by the sand that you can see if you take a good luck at this picture – what a great juxtaposition – palm trees on a winter beach.
Me in my big, fur coat having just ran on to the shell covered sand, look at those ominous clouds! It didn’t put us off though, I saw this as an opportunity to search for shells. I couldn’t believe it but I actually found the biggest shell I’ve ever found, here in Dublin. Bigger than any I’ve seen in the hot countries I’ve been to, possibly due to the lack of tourists in this not very touristy part of Dublin; the beach just had one or two casual dog walkers while we were there excitedly pacing about.
There were lots of shells on this beach, and as we walked further along we came across a little patch of the beach that looked like a shell graveyard! Lots and lots of broken shells. This patch had a name and I’m sure it was ‘Shell Beach’ as there was a sign there, but as this is a while ago now I can’t quite remember, if anybody knows feel free to let me know in the comments.
The walk leading to this ‘Shell Beach’ was wonderful, even in overcast weather. It is called the ‘Irishtown Nature Park’ and after looking on the internet, I’ve discovered that even many Dublin locals don’t know about it so we did really well to stumble upon it and explore the whole area.
We just kept walking through fresh, Christmassy woodland and admiring the different trees and plants, mostly bare and skinny looking due to the season but still beautiful.
Snuggling up to the ivy. I can never get my head around how wild ivy is, once it grows, it literally just takes over! I always love how it looks growing up houses and entwining itself around things.
Winter berries and bare trees. If you can bring yourself to go to the beach at Christmas, definitely put it on your to do list! Seeing nature at this time of year really shows you the natural beauty of winter time.
It is a very tranquil and refreshing walk where you have the opportunity to see different plants, trees and wildlife and take some great photographs. I would be very interested to see what it is like on a sunny day with the opulence that summer brings as opposed to the barren vibes we got from visiting in the height of winter.
Either way, come rain or shine, I can thoroughly recommend visiting the Dublin coast and doing this walk, it is something a bit different – but it is up to you whether you feel like braving it two days before Christmas!
Have you ever been on a spontaneous winter coastal walk anywhere in the world?
