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After abusing with no remorse the included breakfast of the SleepZone Hostel (recommended), I took the train towards Dublin, but dropped off midway, at Athlone. I would have loved to see more nature of the Republic of Ireland, but by train it’s a bit complicated. So when I saw the huge Lough Ree on the map, I thought it could be a nice stop for today.

The walk there was pretty nice, seeing a tiny bit of Irish countryside, but the lake itself was disappointing to say the least. The road stopped at a place where there is no good point of view on the water, so I didn’t stay long and headed back. Of course it started to rain, and even though that was two hours of easy walk, I had my full backpack with me. So when I finally reached the city centre, I was starving!

And what did I order to quench that hunger?

A soup.

Genius move, bravo. But at least it was cheap-ish and delicious. Also it’s only then that I realized I forgot to activate the GPS trace this morning.

Not much time to explore Athlone more, as I take the next train to Dublin. I had planned another stop in Kildare, but the weather discouraged me.

In Dublin, I had to take the tram as my airbnb for tonight is pretty far off the centre. I would have loved to stay again at the Clink i Lar hostel (heartily recommended!), but it was too expensive on a Friday night. This Airbnb is fully automatically managed, and is more like an hostel but without the friendly staff. My bed was already taken by someone having his best nap rn, so I have to take the top of the bunk bed, which is shaky as hell.