The Crossing
The cache is hidden at a bridge – or 2 bridges…. which allow the newly constructed Baldolye to Portmarnock Greenway to cross the Mayne river. It’s a very welcome addition as there was no formal path linking these two areas. The new bridges span two culvert sections and the midpoint is supported on an existing gabion basket revetment – that D shaped section - the baskets full of rocks are gabions.
The Greenway
The Greenway cost some 2.5 million Euros and runs about 2km…..and is already well used and is intended as part of the Fingal Coastal Way project. It will eventually form part of a Sutton to Malahide Greenway…which will in turn link to the planned Broadmeadow Greenway to Donabate which will take in the railway viaduct. It sits within the area of the new planned regional park – Racecourse Park which is part of two Local Area Plans (LAPs) and will separate housing developments.
One of the other reasons for the route was to take people away from the other side of the road – the estuary side is home to a lot of migratory birds.
Mayne River
The Mayne river is a designated EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) water course. The river Mayne starts up near the airport and runs about 6km in length. It has a monitoring station near Castlemoyne – and the data I found says it was classed as moderately polluted/poor in 2016. The river along its length varies from flowing beside open fields to being heavily covered in scrub – in terms of the “degree of naturalness” the River Hydromorphology Assessment Technique (RHAT) assesses the river as poor – the river has been modified/urbanised along much of the length. That said many creatures call this river home - including Otters and Kingfishers.
Near the airport the start the river takes in the delightfully named Cuckoo Stream and the Turnapin stream as tributaries. The river runs parallel to the R139 (partly underground), North of Northern Cross, through Belmayne where they have landscaped the “River Mayne corridor”, to the north of the current Clongriffen development and through the old racecourse area to this bridge. From here it flows into Baldoyle Estuary – which is in itself is an area full of acronyms – the estuary is a SPA (Special Protection Area), SAC (Special Area Of Conservation) and pNHA (Proposed Natural Heritage Area). Even the method of construction of this bridge was carefully considered to minimise impact and disruption to the natural habitat and wildlife.
The Cache
Find the cache, sign the log, put the cache back. Simples.
The FTFer(s)
Congratulations to {Your Name could be here} for the FTF.