Archive for Iarnród Éireann

To Wexford and Back

Posted in Biographical with tags , , , on June 5, 2025 by telescoper

I’m currently on the train travelling back from Wexford to Dublin. The WIFI is a bit flaky so I’ll post more about the reasons for this trip later on, when I get home.

For the moment, I’ll just say that Wexford (Irish name: Loch Garman) is a picturesque historic town at the  mouth of the River Slaney, near the Southeastern corner of Ireland. I had a nice walk around this morning. It’s a pleasant place to stroll about; the streets still follow an obviously mediaeval layout, and parts of the old city wall are still standing.

The train journey from Dublin is very enjoyable, right along the coast for a while, then heading inland, then along the banks of the Slaney. The train isn’t very fast, but it is comfortable and costs less than €10 each way. There’s only a single line from Wicklow to Wexford, which severely limits the number of trains that can operate on the route. The same is true of the Maynooth-Sligo service, actually.

When I moved to Ireland (about 7 1/2 years ago), I planned to travel around and see some of the historic places. Workload issues and the pandemic put paid to that idea for a while, but I have a bit more time to travel now.

P.S. Curracloe Beach, a few miles North of Wexford, stood in for Omaha Beach for the film Saving Private Ryan. I didn’t have time to go there.

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Go Corcaigh!

Posted in Biographical with tags , , , on August 23, 2023 by telescoper

So here I am, on an intercity train to Cork from Dublin Heuston Station, en route to the 2023 Irish National Astronomy Meeting (INAM 2023).

I’ve never been to Cork before, so I’ve been looking forward to this trip. I’ve never even been in Heuston Station before, actually. A terminus that serves the West and South, it is rather like a smaller version of London Paddington. At any rate, it’s rather nicer than Connolly in that it is more spacious and has a far better selection of places to get something to eat and/or drink.

I got to Heuston on the 115 bus from Maynooth. It’s the first time I’ve been on that bus too. I’m sure to be using that service much more in the future as it’s very convenient. It’s also very quick – just 25 minutes – and the bus I got was brand new. It was full of kids when I got on, but they all got off at Liffey Valley.

Anyway, it’s not a long journey and the train, though full, is very comfortable, so I think I’ll chill and read my book and refrain from updating until we get to our destination.

UPDATE: I arrived in Cork on time and found my hotel without difficulty. It’s sunnier and warmer here than Maynooth was this morning, so I think I’ll take a walk before finding a bite to eat.

My hotel is not as awful as its name might suggest:

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