Ireland day 0193. Saturday 09 April 2022- Weekend!
Today’s summary | Leisurely morning, then a nice sunny walk down the coast (at low tide) and back over Robswall Hill. Out for dinner in Ardcath tonight | ||||
Today’s weather | Cool, dry and bright. Long sunny intervals in the morning, more cloudy in the afternoon. Light south easterly wind. About 9C | ||||
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route) |
Close-up location (The green 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): Portmarnock Potter |
Commentary
Today was a slightly special day, particularly for Val. Pretty much continuously for the last month, she has been on the go. First doing the ski marathon in Switzerland, then catching Covid, then walking part of the Wicklow Way, then nursing three sick friends and family, then climbing Lugnaquilla and the Cooleys, then searching out a long lost great-great-grandfather and then starting a new job. So more then anything, today she was adamant that she wanted to have a “proper” weekend day off. I have to say I thought that sounded entirely reasonable to me.
So that is pretty much what we have been doing today. Enjoying a leisurely start to the day – no rushing to make packed lunches – then definitely no household chores. Instead we had a late breakfast in bed, then as the sun was (still) shining brilliantly, we wandered off down Hanlon’s Lane to the shore, and then out onto the beach.
The tide was coming in but still very low when we got to the shore – which had some interesting consequences for the prospects of walking round the Broadmeadow Lagoon – as you can see in the caption to the big photo below.. We decided to take a chance and head out onto the vast expanse of sand flats that are exposed at low tide – knowing that the tide would start rising at any moment, so our time out there was strictly limited. But if the circumstances are right – as they were today – it’s lovely out there. The sea and sky were azure, and the air was so clear it felt like you could almost reach out and touch Lambay Island.
We noticed that the little streams and pools in the sand around us were starting to fill up alarmingly fast, so we decided not to push our luck and headed swiftly shoreward, to the safe refuge of Lithostrotion beach. Back on dry land again, it was an easy walk round the coast to Portmarnock, then back up Paddy’s Hill into Robswall Park and finally back down into Malahide.
So it’s been a very nice, laid back sort of a day. But Saturday hasn’t quite done with us tonight. Because we have been invited back up to Ardcath for dinner tonight, by our very first landlord in Ireland. Now that we have a car, getting there and back late at night is a practical proposition – it’s just a shame I won’t be able to drink anything (Val really does need to familiarise herself with the Yaris…). Anyway it’s really exciting to be invited out like this – our first dinner invitation in a foreign country. We’re looking forward to it very much indeed.
Today’s photos (click to enlarge)
Interactive map
(Elevations corrected at GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )
Max elevation: 50 m
Min elevation: 0 m
Total climbing: 140 m
Total descent: -140 m
Total time: 02:40:56