Ireland day 0185. Friday 01 April 2022- Catchup

Ireland day 0185. Friday 01 April 2022- Catchup
Today’s summary Spent the morning responding to the DART Plus consultation, and doing the cleaning and shopping.   Meandering wander round the castle gardens and greenhouses in the afternoon
Today’s weather Overcast and damp.   Some rain in the evening.   Light northerly breeze.  About 6C
Today’s overview location
(The blue mark shows the location of my route)
Close-up location
(The green 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):
Demesne walk like a maze
Commentary

Just because you’ve been ill, it doesn’t mean that the dust and dirt stops accumulating in your flat.   So once Val was safely despatched off to work, I got the hoover out and had a quick whizz round to clean the place up.   I really like living in a flat, by the way, because it is small so you can do the whole thing in under ten minutes, and all from one plug.

Once that major domestic chore was out of the way, and I’d had breakfast, I decided to have a go at responding to the “DART Plus” public consultation.

I think I have mentioned this before, but in case you’ve forgotten, it’s about a plan to electrify the rail network north of Malahide, as far as Drogheda, and to introduce new, more modern trains.   As I’m an outsider, I’m not really sure if I should express a view on this Ireland-specific investment, but I did anyway.   Basically I said I supported the project (even though it’s hard to find any data on the actual costs) because it is an investment in infrastructure which will stand the country in good stead in the future.   But I thought that it rather lacked in ambition, as there were no plans to build new rail lines to connect either the airport or the docks to the city centre.   Nor any plans to modernise the ancient Dublin to Belfast “Enterprise” rail service.   So perhaps a bit of an opportunity missed.

Once I’d got that off my chest, it was time to go and do the shopping.   Even though we’ve got a car now, with petrol prices going through the roof, I decided to try and get everything locally in Malahide, rather than taking the easy option and driving down to the Clare Hall Tesco.   I was largely successful although, try as I might, I couldn’t get anchovies anywhere.  They aren’t essential – a bit of a luxury treat to add to sandwiches.   It looks like I might have to try and pick some up next time we are in Dublin – perhaps the Spanish deli I discovered near Capel Street a few weeks ago might have them.   (By the way – I did spot the offering outside the local butcher’s shop which is featured at the top of this blog.   I assume they are there for the benefit of canines rather than people – but I did wonder if actually they might also make rather good stock?   I decided against giving it a try.)

I decided that I needed a bit of light relief after the morning’s travails, so I headed out into the Castle grounds – always a sure-fire favourite whatever the weather and season – to see how spring was progressing.   Given that it was starting drizzle a bit, I made straight for the warmth and cheer of the greenhouses, to admire the prolific subtropical (and often antipodean) flowers that were decorating the vines, and to try and spot the latest Lepidoptera to have taken up residence in the butterfly house.   Everything was looking in great shape – both the plants and the butterflies – and rapidly emerging from their lengthy winter hibernation.

Inspection of the gardens complete, I dodged the showers back to the flat, and got on with making tomorrow’s lunch (we have a long walk in the offing – read about that tomorrow night) and then tonight’s dinner.   It is a bacon and egg fry up – so a bit of a breakfast reversal – but bacon was on special offer at the supermarket so how could I resist?

 

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

In the public library there is a display about the Fingal Development Plan.   It’s full of fascinating documents – including Natura 2000 survey, Strategic Environmental Analysis and Impact evaluation.   But none of them describe what the Development Plan actually is, so it was a bit hard to estimate whether it was any good or not.   Wood for the trees, and all that Yellow lantana in flower in the Butterfly house
Paeonies in full bloom in the Dutch House, pictured below Kangaroo Paw flower – in the conservatory.   There are lots of different coloured hybrids, and apparently it’s the national floral emblem of Western Australia, from where it hails
The parterre behind the conservatory.   Fingal Council built it, so I hope it features somewhere in the Development Plan. Trailing Thunbergia – or Mysore trumpetvine – in the butterfly house.   A wonderful splash of colour on a grey day
In the Dutch House – so called because of the design, not the contents.   It houses a collection of cacti and succulents and smells wonderfully Mediterranean-ey
Interactive map

(Elevations corrected at  GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )

Total distance: 5823 m
Max elevation: 30 m
Min elevation: 9 m
Total climbing: 107 m
Total descent: -105 m
Total time: 01:23:58
Download file: Looks Like A Maze corrected.gpx

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