Ireland day 0550. Saturday 01 April 2023- Museum Opening *

Ireland day 0550. Saturday 01 April 2023- Museum Opening

Today’s summary	Val was back at work and I went up to the Malahide Historical Society museum official opening at their building in the castle grounds. An interesting event, then I finished off the afternoon with a walk out to Seabury.
Today’s weather	Dull and wet almost all day. Light northerly breeze. Appx 10C

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): Demesne and Broadmeadow on crutches

Commentary

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

Val was at work again today – and now it’s April her shift starts half an hour earlier than it did over the winter. So the first task of the day was to get up at 7:30 to make breakfast and packed lunches. On the latter I was a bit more successful than yesterday, as I had a whole new loaf of bread (which I made last night) to go at.

Once Val had left, my main objective for the day was to go up to the castle at noon for the official opening of the new Malahide Historical Society museum. I got invited because Val is a member of the society and I am friends with one of the museum volunteers. A significant coterie of sages and luminaries turned up for the event – the keynote attendant being Minister Darragh O’Brien TD, who did the actual unveiling of the plaque. Minister O’Brien is TD for Dublin Fingal – a region which includes Malahide. He is also Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which must surely be one of the most unenviable portfolios in Ireland at the moment, given the housing crisis in this country.

There were various speeches made, backs patted and hands shaken then everyone retired to the main castle admin centre for coffee and pastries. I had a quick look round the museum afterwards – it’s small but well done and interesting, then went back to the flat for lunch.

A brief interval in the wet weather opened up in the early afternoon, so I took the opportunity to fire up the crutches and head off for a plod through the demesne then down through the Seabury estate to the coast, and back alongside the Broadmeadow estuary. I fitted in a bit of shopping at the end (though had difficulty carrying it and managing my crutches, as I had left my rucksack at home) and am now going to try and concoct some soup and fish for dinner. It’s been a busy day!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Waiting outside the museum for the imminent arrival of the Minister	Those roped-off miniature daffodils up in the demesne seem to be just getting better and better every day at the moment. The cool damp weather has probably kept them looking their best a bit longer. My favourite sequoia is in the background

Heading into Killeen Park and the Seabury estate, by the Gaybrook stream	Coast path flooded again – though this time by heavy rain rather than high tide

Southbound Connolly train on the Broadmeadow embankment

Minister Darragh O’Brien TD (on the left) and Cllr Howard Mahony, Mayor of Fingal (on the right)