20 July 2013

The tent is up and Portrane
prepares for the big sale

4436 Enjoying the evening sunshine on the beach in Donabate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

The wonderful weather that I enjoyed in Cambridge for the past week has also been blanketing much of Ireland too.

The temperature was in the high 20s this afternoon, when two of us headed north to the Donabate, Portrane peninsula.

The terrace in front of the Waterside House Hotel in Donabate was packed with a mixture of people waiting for a wedding party to arrive and families seeking a refreshing break from the heat on the beach below.

Rather than heading down on to the long sandy beach to the south, we walked north along the path below the smaller beaches, leading to a cliff walk by the hospital, with rocky cliffs and bays below.

The sunshine seemed to linger a little longer this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Although evening was approaching, the heat of the sun was still strong, and families on the sand below seemed determined to savour every last moment of the summer heat today.

However, the strong heat created a haze, and Lambay Island was almost so indistinct out in the water that it might have been covered in light clouds.

The tent is up and everyone is getting ready for the big sale in Portrane on the August holiday weekend (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Earlier in the afternoon, we had called in to see my Lynders cousins at The Quay, where the large tents are going up, furniture is being moved by teams of heavy volunteers and an array of goods is being sorted in advance of the big sale on the August Bank Holiday in two weeks’ time.

The sale runs from Saturday to Monday, 3-5 August 2013, in aid of Heart-to-Hand and its projects in Romania and Albania. I hope the good weather holds until then so that I can enjoy the beach views behind the big red-and-white tent while I volunteer on the book stall.

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