Ireland day 0444. Friday 16 December 2022- Frozen Sea

Today’s summary	Val was working at the castle in the late afternoon and evening so after a leisurely morning together, once she went to work I walked down the coast to Sutton.   A cold evening and the sea was freezing as the tide came in over the beach at Portmarnock.   DART via Howth Junction back to Malahdie afterwards
Today’s weather	Cold and clear again, plenty of sun and no rain or snow.   Light westerly wind.   Appx 1C
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): Frozen sea Portmarnock walk

Commentary

(Summary blog only.   Last full blog was Day 0368).

Val had a day off the museum so we had a leisurely breakfast then had video calls with a friend in France and then another call with more friends in Chester.   Modern comms technology certainly makes the world seem a lot smaller.

Val was working up at the castle in the evening so after lunch, and when she left about 3:30, I decided to walk down the coast to Sutton, an easy but enjoyable walk direct from the flat, with bus or train back at the end.   A cold, refreshing and thoroughly enjoyable walk as darkness fell.

Perhaps the most unexpected feature was seeing the ice forming on the shore at Portmarnock, as the rising tide flowed over the cold sand.  Never seen that happen before.

Arrived in Sutton just in time to catch a Dart and a swift change at Howth Junction saw me back in Malahide in under 15 minutes.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

Sunset by the estuary	The tennis courts have been out of action for about a week now – the frost and snow still hasn’t cleared away
The Malahide Martello – converted to a house (and conical roof added) some years ago by a local artist.   The Portmarnock Martello, also converted into a private house, is in the banner image at the top of this page	Down on the Baldoyle greenway – brightly lit at night, even though tonight very few people were using it
Ice beginning to form where the sea washes over the gently sloping sand at the northern end of the Velvet Strand, Portmarnock

Interactive map

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

Download file: Frozen Sea compressed corrected 2.gpx

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