Ireland day 1509. Saturday 15 November 2025- Heliotrope 5

Today’s summary	Spent the morning sorting out spare clothes and taking them to the charity shop. Then beef salad for lunch and a walk to Centra in the afternoon. Refreshments on the way back and found the first heliotropes of 2025 in flower. Our fifth winter heliotrope season. Val made a delicious curry for dinner, then we had a video call with friends in Chester and watched a bit of TV to finish the day.
Today’s weather	Overcast all day and wet in the morning. A bit drier in the afternoon but still very dull. Light easterly wind. Appx 11c

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): Heliotrope 5

Commentary

Storm Claudia finally blew herself out this morning after rattling and lashing at our windows all night. I’d say it was probably the severest storm we’ve had since arriving in Ireland in 2021. There was plenty of evidence of her passing, in the form of fallen branches and leaves – and even a bit of wood that fallen off our own block of flats.

Anyway once Claudia was safely on her way to Norway, we started thinking about the day’s possibilities. First of all, I had decided to do some wardrobe rationalisation. I seem to accumulate more and more bits of clothing and never discard the ones I have stopped wearing. So I went through my collection and picked out a dozen shirts and t-shirts that were in good condition but no longer loved. I took them down to the charity shop where hopefully someone will be able to give them a new home.

By the time I had dropped them off and also done the rest of our shopping, it was time for lunch. We had a roast beef salad followed by satsumas, which was both tasty and nutritious.

Afterwards we thought we better get some fresh air so we did a short walk through the Demesne and down the Swords Rad to the Centra shop, and back along the coast. Of course we had to call in at the shop to get some refreshments, which we enjoyed while sitting on the bench overlooking the Broadmeadow estuary.

From there we walked round the (newly resurfaced) coast path and back to Malahide. Alongside the Gaybrook stream we came across the ever-expanding beds of heliotrope. The Petasites pyrenaicus plants were bursting into life, as they do in the autumn and winter, and the very first early blooms had just appeared. This is the fifth winter we’ve seen the heliotopes in flower in Ireland, and for us they are a certain reminder of the passage of the seasons.

We were soon back at the flat and after a few moments to catch our breath, Val started preparing the dinner (roast beef) while I chopped the onions. Before eating, though, we slotted in a video call to friends in Chester, UK – a very enjoyable hour or so spent catching up on all our comings and goings.

Finally, we had the curry, which was of course delicious (all down to the way I chopped the onions, I’m sure) and finished off a nice relaxing day by watching a few minutes of TV. Perfect.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Flooding in the cricket area up at the demesne. Everywhere is absolutely saturated now	The Centra shop was selling this Dubai chocolate. It’s all the rage at the moment but I don’t think I have ever actually tried it. It’s ridiculously expensive though, so perhaps Santa might smile on me and drop some down the chimney on 25 December?

Enjoying our drinks on the bench by the Broadmeadow lagoon	Statuesque egret fishing in one of the ponds along the shoreline. Apparently there were hardly any egrets in Ireland until about twenty years ago. Nobody knows for sure why they suddenly started arriving here. Climate change, perhaps

Even though the path has been relaid – probably to try and iron out the wettest and muddiest section of the old surface – it was still flooded today. Still, the rainfall has been exceptional	Petasytes coming into bloom. Soon the air will be full of its heavy vanilla fragrance. I’m 100% not sure I like it, to be honest

This chunk of wood blew off our apartment block last night. I couldn’t see any obvious gap to indicate where it had come from, though. But there are some pretty ugly nails sticking out of it, so it’s fortunate that nobody was standing underneath when it fell off