Last Saturday, my mother and I spent the day in Dublin. We flew out at 8am from Birmingham Airport and back at 8.30pm.

This was the first time that Mum had stepped foot on the Emerald Isle. It was my second time, having travelled to the Republic of Ireland for the Tall Ships Race in 2005.

Weather-wise it was a very mixed day. There were moments of sunshine but the sky mostly alternated between dark grey and light grey.

While this makes the photographs a little lacklustre, it didn’t dampen our spirits, and we wandered Dublin’s streets and used the hop on, hop off tourist bus for most of the day.