Ireland day 0594. Monday 15 May 2023- Airport Gym and Park *

Ireland day 0594. Monday 15 May 2023- Airport Gym and Park

Today’s summary	First thing, took Val to the airport for a flying visit to the UK. Then I went to the gym, finished off my Ice Ages paper, and walked round the demesne
Today’s weather	Bright and dry all day, with good sunny spells. Light north westerly wind. Appx 13C

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 trees

Commentary

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

It was another early start today, as Val needed a lift to the airport at the ungodly hour of 5:45 am. She’s on a flying visit to london, returning on Wednesday. I’m ashamed to say that when I got back to Malahide, rather than taking advantage of the beautiful early morning tranquillity, I went back to bed and slept for another two hours.

Once I had finally woken up, I just had time to get dressed before starting a very enjoyable 2 hour video call with a friend in the UK. Lots of catching up to be done! After that, I did a couple of loads of washing then headed down to the gym. I spent a over an hour extending my workout regimen to include the cross-trainer as well as the bike and rowing machine. I finished off with a 500m swim, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

On return from the gym, I had a late lunch. I should add that I feel as if I have put on weight while I’ve been semi-immobile after the hip operation, so I decided just to have soup and fruit today in an effort to shed some of the excess kilos. It left me feeling virtuous, if somewhat hungry.

After lunch, I made some final amendments to my Ice Ages paper, having had it reviewed by a professor of Quaternary palaeontology at Trinity College, then submitted it to the Geol Soc in London.

Once all that was out of the way, I went for a short but swift walk round the demesne (where I bumped into a friend from Spanish classes – again) then returned for a ham salad, and more fruit, for dinner. Still feeling hungry, I’m going to watch a bit of Netflix now, in an effort to distract myself from the hunger pangs.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Another tree turning brown and dying – up in the Back Road car park. I hope it’s something non-infectious like soil compaction as a result of all the passing traffic, and not something more sinister like the dreaded Phytophthera	In the demesne – I wish there were more grassy paths like this in Ireland!

I noticed a couple of Wych Elm trees in the demesne, both of which seemed to have shed loads of young branches and leaves. I don’t know what caused it – but it doesn’t look like Dutch Elm Disease to me.



Close up of the Alliums, now in full bloom, in the magnificent bulb bed by the entrance to the demesne