Ireland day 0544. Sunday 26 March 2023- To Swords! *

Ireland day 0544. Sunday 26 March 2023- To Swords!

Today’s summary	Walked to Swords along the coast while Val was at work. Caught the 102 back though had to wait over an hour for the bus to come. thankfully the weather was decent
Today’s weather	Drizzly, cold and cloudy much of the day, though some sun later. Moderate northerly wind. Appx 7C

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): Swords on crutches

Commentary

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

I’m not a fan of early mornings, so although I love the lighter evenings that the shifting of the clocks brings, this morning when the alarm went off at 7:30am, my body complained that it was really only 6:30. I have to admit it did take quite a lot of will power to drag myself out of bed and start making breakfast and packed lunches.

Anyway once that had been done, and Val was safely despatched to work, I got up properly (it takes ages to get showered and dressed when one of your legs has all the mobility of a tree trunk) and started contemplating the day. Once again, I had no specific plans, so I decided to continue my coastal exploration on crutches, and head off in the other direction to yesterday – along the shore of the Broadmeadow lagoon to Swords.

It was grey, cold and drizzly when I set off, and indeed for much of the day. But good to see the migratory birds staring to assemble for their journeys to summer breeding grounds, and good also to see the burgeoning signs of spring in the woods and hedgerows – albeit temporarily on hold today because of the colder weather. It took me nearly two hours to reach Swords castle – my journey was not aided by a wrong turn near the motorway which meant I had to make a lengthy diversion alongside the R132 to get back on track.

Once I reached the relative shelter of the castle keep I stopped to have my packed lunch – though I kept it brief because it was feeling cold and raw. From there, after lunch, I walked down to the Pavilions shopping centre, and dropped into SuperValu to pick up some groceries. By the time I emerged from the shops, the weather had perked up a bit and the sun had come out. Which was a good thing as I had to wait 65 minutes for the no. 102 bus to take me back to Malahide. In fact I was just on the point of giving up and walking when it did finally appear – and fortunately too I was able to get a seat, despite the huge crowd of passengers, all fed up with the extended wait, jostling to get on. At least the abundant bank of spurge flowers by the bus stop gave me something to look at as I waited, especially as they seemed to have attracted an abundance of busy bees looking out for an easy meal of nectar.

Anyway I eventually made it safely back to Malahide about 4:30, and now I’m going to have a cup of tea and contemplate what I can pull together for dinner tonight.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Brent geese, curlews (I think) and starlings all in their separate flocks on someone’s front lawn just by the Broadmeadow estuary	I took a wrong turn and had to hike back down the R132 to get on track. Not the most fun part of the outing

Beautiful cherry blossom by the R132 footbridge	Sign outside “The Pound and the Attic” pub in Swords

Looking into the castle keep – a good lunch spot as it is reasonably sheltered and has picnic tables	Swords Pavilions shopping centre. I quite like it – mainly because it is warm and dry!

Seatown Castle by the Broadmeadow lagoon. I have driven or walked this route dozens of times in the past but never noticed it before. Apparently, Malahide Historical Society organised a visit a few weeks ago, though sadly I missed it.