In my last post I ended by rambling about the shopping I did in Dublin before my weekend really began. Hopefully this time i'll be able to put a lot more salient detail into this post and get past the first hour of my trip in Dublin.
After leaving St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre I did actually make it all the way over to Kevin's work, that 2 miles was such a hard drive... not really. I left for Dublin early because I thought the traffic was going to be bad in the city centre, that really wasn't the case at all, I was able to make the drive in about 10 minutes or so which meant I was quite early so I had some waiting to do before I could get to Kevin's house, it wasn't too bad a wait, I sat and listened to music while resisting the urge to take a nap.
It was well past my dinner time before I made it to Kevin's house!!! Sacrilege! I met Kevin's friends Emma and Brendan who I had met a few times before, the last time being up in Belfast last year, they're good people, Emma is very friendly and seems pretty energetic, as does her boyfriend Brendan, I can't say i've spoken to him much, even after the weekend we had together.
I made it Kevin's house just in time to order food in, it was actually perfect timing to be honest, everyone there was in the process of ordering food, I was definitely getting peckish, we had stopped at an off-license to get some essentials so I was well prepared for the weekend I thought was coming, drinking and walking about Dublin, how wrong I was.
The Friday night was fairly relaxed, I don't think I was in the mood to go out and go mad, that's just not me anymore. We had dinner while having a few drinks and talking about a whole range of things, the most important being the 'feud' with Fintan, Michael and Rachel which I thought was just a stupid drunken argument, how wrong I was, I apparently didn't hear the whole story, harsh words were said which I guess had been waiting to come out for a while, whether things have blown over or not I don't know, I could probably do a whole other post about what's going on but i'll refrain from gossiping which I think it would come off as.
It's definitely good to have a relaxing night in before any madness happens, tiredness was a factor with that decision, sure you can go out and have a few drinks when you're feeling a bit tired but I was in no way prepared to go on the rip, like I said, I just don't do that anymore. After dinner the PS4 was turned on, usually that means that the conversation has run out and things are getting quiet, but in this case it was a good call. I was introduced to the TV show Nailed It, it is the pinnacle of bad TV. Nailed It is an American reality cooking/baking show, the hook being that no one in the show can bake or cook, there were some successes so it wasn't a total failure, the thing that make it's a bad show was the presenter, a woman who felt the need to interject with stupid catchphrases. It's the type of show you hate to watch but can't turn off, we all found ourselves saying the catchphrases at appropriate times during the weekend.
Saturday began with a nice homemade breakfast, i'll always get fed well whenever I go to Kevin's house, you never know what's on the menu.
After breakfast the adventure began. I had to drive to Bray, where we would going for the walk. I was expecting a long drive, I had conflicting information on how long the drive would take, it only ended up being about 20-25 minutes so it wasn't too bad. I really don't think i'd ever want to do any longer drives in the Republic, I have enough trouble with long drives up north. Bray itself is a fairly small seaside town, reminiscent of Newcastle up north. I got the obligatory photo of the beach which I had to post to Facebook, it did get some good reviews, I have a career as a photographer if I want it.... ha!
We walked along the seafront until we got to the start of the walk/trail . I actually think the last time I was at the beach was Newcastle about 4 years or so ago, it had been a long time that's for sure. I do like the beach, I can't say I enjoy swimming in the ocean, we don't sea eye to eye, the fucker did try to drown me once, the feud will last for an eternity.
The weather was perfect, I picked a perfect time to go down, there was a cool sea breeze and you could see for miles.
The next day was where all the fun started. The long hike. It's thanks to this hike that i've gained an interest in hiking/walking but it was a killer to be honest, it wasn't something i'd ever prepared for and it wasn't something I was expecting. I'm definitely lucky that I went and bought a proper pair of hiking boots and comfortable trousers, trying to do Ticknock in jeans and a pair of trainers would be an irresponsible and very dumb decision, hopefully my friends and the other people who were with me would have told me that I didn't have the right equipment and it wouldn't be wise to take the chance to do the walk.
Fortunately I made the impulse decision to go to the Trespass store in St Stephens Green shopping centre and bought appropriate footwear and trousers.
The walk itself was interesting, the views were amazing, the only issue was the fact that it was tough and i'd never done ANYTHING like that before!!!! My first hiking experience and I walk up a big mountain in a place i'd never been to with friends, hell, I didn't even know what their experience levels were when it came to walks like this, we all could have been out of our depth but luckily it was a crowd of outdoors people, adventure seekers and intelligent and hopefully wise adults!
It's thanks to that weekend away in Dublin that i've gained a healthy respect for hiking and have picked up the hobby.
