Ireland day 0654. Friday 14 July 2023- Rainy Ardgillan *

Ireland day 0654. Friday 14 July 2023- Rainy Ardgillan

Today’s summary	EPA video lecture on Ireland’s greenhouse Gas emissions, then trip to Ardgillan in the rain in the afternoon
Today’s weather	Very heavy rain almost all day, not brightening up at all until late evening. Moderate south westerly wind. Appx 15C

Today’s overview location (The grey mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Rainy Ardgillan

Commentary

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

When we woke up this morning, it was raining hard and I don’t think it properly stopped until almost 12 hours later. So today was possibly the wettest day we’ve had since we came to Ireland.

I spent the morning hoping it was going to dry up, and watching a webinar by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 – which are declining slightly but not fast enough to meet 2025 or 2030 targets.

Once that slightly depressing call was over, I made some packed lunches and, despite the continuing torrential rain, we set off in the car to head down to Wicklow to try out a walk I’ve had my eye on for some time. But even before we got to the motorway we were stuck in traffic, and Google maps was telling us we had at least another 40 minutes of delays on the M50 – presumably as a result of flooding-related congestion.

So at Val’s suggestion we made an on-the-spot decision to head north up the R232 to Ardgillan – one of our favourite easy-to-access (and free!) country houses close to Malahide.

As it turned out, the rain got even harder as we drove so when we eventually arrived in the car park, we spent the first 45 minutes eating our sandwiches in the relative comfort of the car. Eventually the torrent eased a bit so we donned full waterproof gear and ventured out for a quick walk round the perimeter of the estate demesne. We pretty much had the place to ourselves (rain does have its benefits) and the rose garden in particular was looking lovely, if a bit bedraggled. The greenhouse at the back of the rose garden was especially magnificent. Apparently, it was transported there from the Jameson orchard – which is the big arts-and-crafts type house near the top of Paddy’s Hill – and today it looked spectacular. Full of perfumed lilies, vivid bougainvilleas and fruitful citrus trees.

We eventually left the seductive Mediterranean illusion of the greenhouse and headed back up to the car, looking a bit lonely and forlorn all by itself in the car park. We finished off our flask of coffee then headed back down the still-soaking motorway and were back in the flat half an hour later.

Now it’s time for jacket potatoes and beans, and then perhaps we will seek out a decent film on Netflix. And – miracle of miracles – it has finally stopped raining now and I think I can actually see a bit of blue sky. Tomorrow will definitely be a better day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Field of yellow daisies doing their best to look bright and cheerful despite the weather	Oh dear! Val seems to have shrunk

Lemon tree in the greenhouse. Citrus plants are unusual in that they flower and fruit at the same time	Beautiful bougainvillea – one of my favourites (though my efforts to grow them have never been as spectacularly successful as this specimen)

*Two-coloured pineapple lily (Eucomis biscolor) apparently thriving in the greenhouse*	The trusty Yaris looking a bit lonely in the deserted car park

A bit bedraggled but powering through. Mid July in Ireland!