TLDR – Saturday adventure walking along the river Dodder to Bushy park back through Nut grove with a stop at Mr. Price
The Dodder
Michelle spent a few nights this week on the internets and found us some new adventures. First of those is Bushy park with a Saturday market, big playground, skate park, pond, and loads of grass. To get here we took the LUAS to Milltown stop and walked along the river Dodder for a good 40-55 minutes. Was surprised by the number of small waterfalls in the river. They were all man-made piles of stone to tame the river, but they were still impressive waterfalls. We even found a few small beachs to play on.
Bushy park
The river Dodder path eventually crossed over the river at an amazing jumping block bridge then ran straight into Bushy Park. We entered the park near the duck pond that was filled with birds of various sizes and colours. We walked around the pond and played in a small waterfall/fountain thing before we found a sound stage of sorts pointing at a big hill. On top of the hill was the play park. The kids could not be bothered with the stage they ran straight away to the park and played. Spinning things, slides, sand, zip line all the park greats.
From the play park, we walked to skate park to check it out. This skate park is proper, with a pool, jumps, and rails to ride. We watched some skaters and bikers practice for a bit before we walked to the other side of the park where a small weekend market was setup. Big cookie from a baker followed by chips and chicken from surf’n’fries for lunch. We managed to snag a table and 6 chaises in front of the chip truck to sit and eat.
Rathfarnham castle
We’ve made it as far as we’re going today now it’s time to turn back and walk towards the LUAS. The return route takes us through Rathfarnham castle which has another great playground for the kids. The kids claim it’s their favorite of the two parks. They could not explain why, but they all agreed. The playground had one of the tall rope climbing trees Khaleesi managed to conquer. Might be her first time making it all the way to the top. Before the castle, we stopped at a Tesco for Apple juice and cookies and found a massive grass hill the kids rolled down a dozen times.
Nut Grove and home
Michelle somehow managed to resist rolling down the hill. Claiming she felt a migraine coming on otherwise she’d have totally rolled down the hill. From the castle, we walked down Nut Grove road into Nut Grove. We stopped in at Mr. Price and picked up some more art supplies the kids can use next week while I’m away at work and Michelle needs something to entertain them. We’re pushing towards 20,000 steps by now and the kids are starting to wear down. No more stops we carry on straight for the Dundrum LUAS bridge where we catch the train home. 21,500 steps by the time we board the train headed for home. – tremendous day of adventure. Thanks, Mhechelle for the planning.
Video of the day
The Rest of the pictures
