Ireland day 0490. Tuesday 31 January 2023- Gym and Spanish 3 *

Ireland day 0490. Tuesday 31 January 2023- Gym and Spanish 3

Today’s summary	Val was at work so I went to the gym, had a short walk, and practiced some Spanish. Went to Spanish class in the evening.
Today’s weather	Dry and sunny all day. Strong westerly wind. Feeling cold in the wind at 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): Hanlons Lane Marina and Shops circuit

Commentary

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

Val was working today so once she was despatched with packed lunch (a healthy roast beef salad ) I pottered off to the gym for a quick bash on the machines then a few lengths in the swimming pool.

Suitably re-energised, I returned to the flat for lunch (roast beef salad for me too) then practiced Spanish in preparation for tonight’s lesson at Portmarnock. I managed a quick walk round the block – down Hanlon’s Lane and out to the Marina – as well as doing the shopping.

We finished off the Moroccan chickpea soup for dinner once Val was back from work, then I went down to Spanish which, I am pleased to report, went well. Onwards and upwards.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Our local bus stop, opposite the cricket club. the start (and finish) of many epic adventures	Hanlon’s Lane. I like this road – quiet, with views to the sea and close to town centre

Some interesting tidal research in the lagoon today. It was pretty low, as you can tell from the water level which is well below the second set of railings..	..which fits with my theory that the lowest tides are about 2 hours after low tide in the outer lagoon, on a neap tide. The graph shows that actually this was pretty much the case when I passed at 4pm this afternoon.

And if you look closely, you can see that the moon had just passed the first quarter – which would explain why it was a neap tide (earth, moon and sun at right angles to each other)	I’m always surprised how the exotic-looking cyclamen continue to stay in bloom all winter, even in the coldest weather (mind you Ireland is never really all that cold)

St Sylvester’s church at sunset, from the Green by the Marina