Winter is Coming: A Rainy Day at the Beach

When our first American family visitor arrived, our first priority was to keep her awake.  The best way to get from North America to Dublin (in our opinion) is to take the overnight flight, leaving on an American evening and arriving on the next Irish morning.  Most people can not sleep on airplanes, so usually any visitors will be pretty tired upon arrival.

When she got here, Sara was at work, so I went to the bus stop for collection.  She had actually gotten some sleep on the plane, because she apparently is a jet lag champion, so it wasn't quite so much a challenge to keep her active and awake until a normal sleep time.

My idea (planned weeks beforehand) was to go on a bike ride to Seapoint Beach and Dun Laoghaire.  This would keep us active and pass the time before Sara was finished with work.  The morning of the planned bike trip, we checked the weather forecast from The Irish Meteorological Service and saw the dreary outlook of rain and wind. Well, I hoped she was a trooper, because the beach looked like this.

No diving, as if we needed to be reminded

The tide was at mid-point and rising, the rain was the standard rain we have been getting used to- light, persistent, and soaking.  The bike ride took us through some of the busy streets getting wet and wind-blown.  The beach, even looking like it did, was a welcome change to the soggy, loud streets.

Sea Glass on the Rocks

We walked up the coast, watching the waves crash on the rocks and collecting a few handfuls of sea glass as we went.  We walked all the way from Seapoint Beach to the Dun Laoghaire piers, enjoying (?) the steady soaking mist and the fresh, cool sea breeze blowing in our faces.

Fancy a Swim?

It ended up being a pleasant trip even with the wind and rain.  After all, we did see someone (not pictured) swimming in the bay- in just a bathing suit.  That water must have been cold, but this person was toughing it out.  We took inspiration from the thick skin of this bather and pedaled through the mist back home to meet Sara after work and get ready to go out that night.  A change of socks (and pants, and shirt, and... everything) was certainly in order.