Returning to the beaches and cafés of Skerries after two years

Winter lights on the harbour at Skerries this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on images for full-screen views)

Patrick Comerford

After this week’s breath-taking – if not shocking – short walk on the beach in Portrane, with the overwhelming sight of the impact of coastal erosion and climate change, two of us headed north to Skerries for lunch in Olive on Strand Street, and a walk along the South Strand and around the Harbour.

I was surprised when I looked back on my diary and blog postings to realise that it was exactly two years since I had been in Skerries, walked along the beaches and around the harbour, visited Olive, and browsed through the shelves of wine in Gerry’s supermarket.

Browsing the wine shelves in Gerry’s is a pleasure best compared with browsing the shelves of a good bookshop. After buying two bottles of Italian wine, and a late lunch in Olive, we went for a stroll along the South Strand as dusk was beginning to close in and darkness was about to envelop Skerries.

A walk on the South Strand in Skerries as dusk begins to turn to dark (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

At the north end of the beach, we skipped in by the Sailing Club, and walked along the Harbour as the lights began to cast shimmering reflection on the harbour waters.

I have often suggested in the past that with its choice of restaurants and coffee shops and its pretty harbour setting, Skerries has the potential to be the Kinsale of Fingal, and so was reassuring to see that a number of new restaurants and cafés have opened throughout the town in the past two years.

Recycled blades provide the colourful bars for a window at Skerries Rowing Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Even on a dark mid-winter evening, there was a long queue for ice creams at ‘Storm in a Teacup’ on the harbour front.

Beside this unique ice cream parlour, a once-abandoned building has been turned into new premises for Skerries Rowing Club, with recycled blades providing the colourful bars for a window.

Since moving to Askeaton almost two years ago, I have missed my regular walks on the beach and around the harbour in Skerries, and missed these changes and developments. But I hope I never become a stranger here.

Evening darkness covers the harbour at Skerries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)