Ireland day 1558. Saturday 03 January 2026- Frosty

Today’s summary	Val went off to work first thing so I got up and did some sorting out in the flat. Later, went to town to get a few essentials and to pick up some lunch. Also dropped off some surplus items at the charity shop. After lunch, I walked round the Demesne and back via Seapark Hill. Lots of frost everywhere but the first daffodils just coming into bloom along the Coast Road. Once Val was back we finished off the Kajjal curry and watched TV, as in previous evenings.
Today’s weather	Cold and frosty with a brilliant blue sky and sun all day. Light north westerly wind. Appx 2c

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): Frosty Demesne and Seapark

Commentary

Well if I thought yesterday was the coldest day of the year, today was ever colder. The temperature struggled to get above freezing all day, which is really quite unusual for Ireland, even at this time of year. Anyway the plus side of the chill was that the sky was brilliantly blue and the sun shone all day.

We woke up quite early – it was still pitch dark as we enjoyed our breakfast teas in bed. But we were soon up and about as Val had a shift at the museum booked, so there were packed lunches to be pulled together before she headed off for a 9:30 start.

Once she was safely despatched to work, I started tackling a few jobs round the flat that I’d been putting off – tidying , sorting, and generally trying to fix a things that had broken. That took me until about 11, at which point I decided a change of direction was needed. So I pulled on a warm jacket and made for the shops.

First I went to the charity shop in Church Road to drop off a couple of surplus items that seemed to have accumulated themselves in our flat. Then I needed to pick up a few bits for Val from “Jules” (a shop not a person – though I suppose it might have been once). Finally I decided to treat myself to a posh sandwich for lunch from Donnybrook Fair. It was expensive but what the heck. You only live once.

On my return to the fly, I discovered that I was quite hungry so I had the sandwich straightaway, even though it wasn’t even half past twelve. I added in a cup of coffee at the end then decided to go out and enjoy the sunshine. So the down jacket, woolly hat and gloves were donned once more and I headed out across the road and into the Demesne.

Another relatively short and relaxed walk ensued. An anticlockwise circuit of the Demesne – crunching through the frost in the shady stretches. Then out to Seamount and up to the top of Seapark Hill. The clear air meant there were excellent views in all directions. I paused for a few moments to enjoy the scene before heading down and making for the Coast Road.

I was surprised to see that a few brave daffodils were showing their yellow faces today – defying the cold to enjoy the sunshine. A very cheering sight and I do remember from previous years the these ones have a habit of flowering early.

A made my way briskly along the coast and back to the flat and arrived in time to have a cup of tea and do some more tidying up before Val got back.

Once she had returned from her travails, I made another cup of tea and we discussed the day’s developments. Then, as the darkness gathered outside, we closed the blinds to shut out the winter and reheated the rest of yesterday’s Kajjal curry for dinner. Finally, as has become the norm lately, we rounded off the day with a couple of episodes of “Chef’s Table” and the last episode of “The Night Manager”.

So I’d say it was a pretty good day all round, where we both achieved quite a lot in our own different ways. Now I need to crank up the central heating once more, as the flat is already cooling down. Our usual couple of hours a day just isn’t enough at the moment. Goodness knows what our gas bill will be!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Posh lunch of toasted turkey ciabatta roll from Donnybrook Fair. Delicious but…€8.50!	Oystercatchers and brent geese lunching cheek-by-jowl on the cricket pitch. I think they are getting more value from it than the cricket club did this wet wet wet summer!

Looking south to the Dublin Mountains from close to the top of Seapark Hill	From the other side of the hill – looking over the Malahide estuary to Donabate beach and Portrane



A cheerful sign of spring despite the chill – the first daffodils of the season showing their colours alongside the Coast Road