Cycling on a summer's day in the Dublin hills

All during the Covid-19 lockdown the sun shone across Ireland, indeed, so much so that there is now a hosepipe ban in the country. And then, once the first restrictions are lifted, what happens, the rain comes.

But we are still dangerously short of water. The reservoir at Bohernabreena is low as are all the reservoirs on the island.

Thursday and Friday the rains came and Thursday night it was heavy, even the colour of the Dodder changed to brownish. You knew by the look of it that there had been rain.

Prayers went out on Friday for a rainless Saturday. And so it happened. The rain stayed away.

A friend and I cycled from Rathgar to Tallaght, on to the reservoir at Bohernabreena, also known as the water works, though I did hear someone call it the dam. From there, towards the Featherbed and back down to Tallaght, on to Templeogue, through Terenure and home. A round trip of 45 kilometres. Every kilometre magic.

There was an early hitch: two punctures. One fixed in Rathgar, the other in Templeogue, €14 a pop. If my late father knew that I left a bicycle into a shop to fix a puncture he would swivel in his grave at great speed. And even faster, if he realised shops don't repair punctures, instead  replace the tube.

While it may not have been all blue skies, it was an afternoon of magic, wonder and delight. There was a mist on the mountains, we could smell it.

And the people we met, a man fishing for trout. He promised us some if we came back his way. A man in his 70s heading for Kippure, a walking group. But surprising how few people in the waterworks.

Why would anyone want to take off on a jet plane and those hills within cycling distance of Dublin City centre?