Ireland day 1291. Friday 11 April 2025- Wet Feet Lagoon

Today’s summary	Val and I walked together round the Broadmeadow lagoon to Donabate and came back on the train. Had to paddle part of the way because the moon was almost full and the tide high. Stopped at Newbridge for coffee and I did some shopping in Donabate while we waited for the train. In the evening Val had a video call with a friend and then we had poached eggs and mash for dinner followed by G&Ts and “Mad Men”
Today’s weather	Another dry bright and sunny day. Light south easterly wind. Appx 16c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Paddling to Donabate

Commentary

Another sunny day! The forecast is for all change over the weekend, so we are making the most of it while we can. So today followed a somewhat similar routine to the ones that preceded it. In a nutshell, admin, sunny walk, dinner and “Mad men”.

Perhaps that’s all I really need to say, though I feel I should add a bit of colour to the day’s proceedings. The good news is that the “admin” component was minimised today – in my case it was just doing some Spanish practice and thinking about travel arrangements for later in the year, and in Val’s case it was doing some of her sewing.

Soon, though, it was time to go so we picked up a few things, shoved them in my rucksack, and set off for the coast. Today our goal was to walk around the Broadmeadow lagoon to Donabate and although I knew the tides wouldn’t be right (the moon was almost full and you really need first or last quarter for the lagoon to drain properly) I thought there was a reasonable chance we could get round with only a bit of paddling and so avoid having to walk along the Hearse Road.

And that’s how it worked out. It was a wonderful walk – everywhere is wonderful in the sunshine, in my view(!) – and we soon arrived at the Flood Road on the north side of the lagoon. It was, predictably, flooded. But only in a couple of short stretches. So we pulled off our shoes and socks and braved the elements to reach the dry sanctuary of the far side with only a few wet toes to show for it. Feet were dried out, shoes and socks put back on, and we finished our walk up Kilcrea Road and into Newbridge Demesne in seemingly no time at all.

The café was busy – the good weather had brought out flocks of ladies who lunch, pensioners (i.e. me!) and young mothers with toddlers. It was good to see the place thriving. After coffees, teas, crisps and cakes (we know how to live) we finished off our walk through the demesne and arrived at Donabate station just in time to miss a train. We had 37 minutes until the next one was due but it was no hardship as the platform was bathed in warm sunshine, and there was no wind. So it was a pleasure to and wait. But I, as so often happens in these situations, soon got fidgety and so was despatched off to SuperValu to do some shopping while Val enjoyed the P&Q.

Once over the causeway courtesy of Iarnród Éireann and then back in the flat, Val had a call to a friend in the UK then set about making some delicious mashed potato parathas which we had for dinner with some poached eggs. It was a delicious combination which we enhanced with our now obligatory Arbutus gin G&Ts. The day was rounded off, as foretold at the top of this blog, with an episode of “Mad Men”, which continues to hold our attention despite being well into the fourth season. Highly recommended if you are a box-set fan.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Massive road-harvesting machine in Seatown Park	Massive turnip-harvesting machine off Kilcrea Road

Swans in the swannery – the next season’s cygnets will be with us soon	Teetering along the coast path

Newbridge House – it always looks great, and especially when the sun shines	Easter treat for Val

All hands to the pump on Seatown road!