Howth

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The cliff walk along Howth Head Peninsula gives sweeping views south into Dublin Bay and the town of Howth. We could see Baily Lighthouse, on Howth Head Peninsula, from Dun Laoghaire and were eager to take in the view the other way. An easy direct train ride from Dun Laoghaire brought us to Howth, where we had a great lunch, hiked the trail, and finished the day with some of the delicious fresh seafood Howth is known for.

Below are trip highlights from November 23rd in Howth, Ireland. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://mvdirona.com/maps

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Howth Arrival


The view from the train as we pull into Howth for a day trip. The island in the distance on the left is called Ireland’s Eye. Howth Harbour is on the right.
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Howth


Howth is known for fresh seafood and the commercial harbour is packed with colorful fishing vessels large and small.
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St. Mary’s Abbey


The view across the ruins of 15th-century St. Mary’s Abbey to Howth Marina with Ireland’s Eye beyond.
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Howth Harbour


Commercial fishing vessels in Howth Harbour viewed from the grounds of St. Mary’s Abbey. While not as large as Dun Laoghaire, the harbour has a similar configuration with large outer piers protecting smaller inner breakwaters.
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Summit Inn


We’d come to Howth to walk the popular cliff trails around the peninsula head and stopped off for a great meal at the Summit Inn pub en route.
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Baily Lighthouse


The Baily Lighthouse perched on the rocks above Dublin Bay. We took a picture of the lighthouse from Dun Laoghaire Harbour when we moved over to Carlisle Pier to fuel, and saw its previous Fresnel lens in the Maritime Museum there.
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Cliffs


Spectacular cliffs along the south side of Howth Head. The trail we’ll be walking runs along the edge of the tree line.
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Stena Superfast X


Looking back to Baily Lighthouse from the Howth Head cliff walk, with the Stena Superfast X departing Dublin in the background.
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Ireland’s Eye


Ireland’s Eye viewed from the Nose of Howth. The dramatic freestanding rock off the right side is called The Stack and supports large seabird colonies. A Martello Tower is just visible on the left end of the island.

In Norse times, the island was called Erin’s Ey, where Ey is the Norse word for island. Erin is similar to the Irish name for Ireland, and the island eventually became known by its current name.

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Martello Tower


A second Martello Tower stands above Howth and is one of fifty built in Ireland. We toured a Scottish tower while in Longhope in the Orkney Islands.

Martello Towers take their name from Martelle Point in Corsica, Italy where in 1794 two small cannons mounted on top of a round tower fended off an attack by two British warships with a combined firepower of 106 guns. The British were so impressed that they built over 100 such towers around the south and east coasts of Great Britain in the early 1800s when Napoleon was building an invasion fleet.

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Harbour Road


Looking across Harbour Road in Howth from the Martello Tower property.
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Traps


We walked around the Howth Harbour for a bit after completing the cliff walk. Along the pier were stacks of fish traps made out of large plastic bottles with holes cut through the sides.
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Mulloys


Several attractive fresh seafood stores are along the harbour, but Mulloys looked almost like an art gallery.
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Fishing Vessels


After several days of high winds, a large number of fishing vessels had departed the harbour or were preparing to get underway.
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Dusk


Looking back to Howth from the harbor pier at dusk.
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Wrights Findlater


We had an excellent meal of fresh seafood, of course, harbor-side at Wrights Findlater in Howth before taking the train back to Dun Laoghaire.


Show locations on map Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.

On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://mvdirona.com/maps.

   


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