Ireland day 1438. Friday 05 September 2025- Level Walk

Today’s summary	Val still away in London. First thing, I had a a long video call with a committee member from a UK walking club that I used to be involved with, to discuss their IT strategy. Then after a quick video call with Val, followed by a cup of coffee and some biscuits, I walked right along the coastal route to Howth, finishing up in Insomnia for refreshments. A very enjoyable hike. Caught the Dart and bus back to Malahide, which took some time. More beef casserole for dinner, then a couple of YouTube hiking videos to round off the evening
Today’s weather	Bright, dry and breezy. Light south westerly wind. Appx 17c

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

Commentary

I had a slight sense of deja vu this morning.

For a few years before moving to Ireland I used to be the IT manager for a walking club back in the UK. And today I was called by one of the committee members of the organisation to discuss their up-coming IT strategy. I enjoyed the chat and catching up on all the news. And it’s always good to be able to sprinkle fairy dust from a great distance, rather than actually having to do anything.

Once I’d finished, and as Val is away for another day, I treated myself to brunch of coffee and biscuits. Oh dear. I can almost hear the eyeballs rolling. Am I completely incapable of eating properly when I don’t have a wife nearby to keep me under control?

Well I really liked my meal anyway. And then, once I’d finished and tidied up, I started to thinking about what to do next. I’ve been making a conscious effort to try and keep my diary a bit clearer lately, so that meant I had a completely free day in front of me. After a bit of consideration, and a glance at the tide times, I concluded that a level walk along the coast to Howth would be a good idea.

I like this walk because there’s a decent café at the end, as well as two or three along the way. Likewise, there are reasonable public transport links back from Howth to Malahide, as well as several intermediate coastal bus stops. So lots of easy escape routes if the weather suddenly deteriorated, or if I just go bored, and I needed to bail out early.

Anyway none of these emergency contingencies were needed. The weather stayed fine – although, as usual, there was a headwind. I soon dropped into an easy rhythm on the flat surfaces and just plodded on, uninterrupted.

I really enjoyed the walk. I spent some minutes looking at the fossil corals on Malahide beach, the fossil crinoids near Howth, and the eyecatching Pleistocene-Carboniferous unconformity at Burrow beach. The whole thing took 3¼ hours and came in at just over 17km. And with the grand total of just 50 or so metres of climbing. Surely one of the flattest walks in Ireland.

Once I’d had a quick look round Howth, I dropped into Insomnia for a coffee (a flat white, of course) and toasted croissant. Much better than yesterday’s effort, I have to say.

Eventually I dragged myself away from these earthly delights and caught a Dart and 102 back to Malahide. I must have just missed the bus connection at Sutton because I had nearly half an hour to wait for the next one. But it wasn’t too bothersome because the weather was OK and it wasn’t too cold.

After a brief visit to Malahide SuperValu to get some frozen peas, I made it back to the flat just before 7. That left plenty of time to heat up and enjoy some more beef casserole for dinner, and then to finish off the evening with a couple of hiking videos on YouTube.

A very worthwhile day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


On the first stage of today’s long, level walk	A little way further down Malahide beach with Lambay Island in the distance beyond the estuary outlet into the Irish Sea. All the coastal lifeguard stations are closed now, and will presumably be transported away in the next few weeks, for safe keeping somewhere offsite. A sure sign of the end of summer

From the hoof-prints and wheel ruts, it looks like some sulky carriage-horse racing was going on at low tide on Portmarnock beach today	I am eternally fascinated by the remarkably abrupt unconformity between the upper layer of quaternary glacial till (10,000 years old) and the underlying carboniferous limestone bedrock (300,000,000 years old) on the coast by the headland between Burrow beach and Howth

Crinoid remains, probably about 300 million years old, in the bedrock near the Burrow beach, on the way to Howth	He [or she] is always hanging about in Howth harbour. It’s easy pickings from the fishing boats and gawping tourists. Too easy, probably, as I think he’s getting fat

What a shame I don’t like oysters (well to be fair I don’t know if I like them or not, as I have never actually eaten them, shucked or not – they just seem too revolting to contemplate)