Ireland day 0659. Wednesday 19 July 2023- Gym and Clare Hall *

Ireland day 0659. Wednesday 19 July 2023- Gym and Clare Hall

Today’s summary	Val in UK. Gym in the morning, walk to Clare Hall in the afternoon
Today’s weather	Mostly dry and overcast with occasional sunning spell. Strong north westerly wind. Appx 18C

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): Clare Hall roadside walk again

Commentary

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

With Val being away in the UK, I was left to my own devices today. Always a dangerous situation. But I got up reasonably early despite the temptation to loll around in bed drinking tea, and took a couple of video calls with friends in the UK before packing my things and heading off to the gym for another workout and swim. I actually really enjoyed it, though came back a bit dehydrated after spending a full egg-timer’s worth in the sauna.

After a reasonably healthy roast beef salad for lunch (complete with chocolate biscuits) I realised there were some household essentials that we needed and which our small supermarkets here in Malahide don’t stock. Things like washing up brushes and freezer defroster. So I decided to walk down to the nearest big Tesco at Clare Hall to see if I could get them there. So I headed off through the demesne then down the R107 to see what I could find.

It’s not my favourite walk, despite the passing interest of St Doulagh’s stone-roofed church along the way. There’s only a hard tarmac pavement and lots of fumes. So I didn’t linger and got to the supermarket quite quickly. I managed to get some of the things I wanted and lots that I didn’t but which I thought might come in useful. Except the freezer de-icer. Maybe it’s not a thing anymore. Or maybe it never was and I’m just mis-remembering.

I wanted to get a cup of tea before coming back, but it was a bit late and all the cafés were closed. So I cut my losses and headed over to the bus stop. A no. 42 arrived after about 10 minutes and I was soon back at the flat, where a couple of loads of washing and some tidying up awaited me. It’s amazing how the jobs pile up as soon as you are temporarily left in your own!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In the demesne woods. It’s a pity the whole walk to Clare Hall isn’t like this	Lodge at the Back Road entrance to the castle demesne

When you see a sign saying “Private Entrance” at the start of an interesting-looking road, it just invites you to go down it and find out where it goes	The unique stand-alone baptistry at St Doulagh’s church. One of the many scenic wonders (along with Charlie Haughey’s house) visible from the verges of the R107

Dreary storm clouds rolled around overhead all afternoon and evening, but never came to anything	Welcome to Dublin City. Dublin county is split into three administrative areas, of which Dublin City is one. The other two are Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, and Fingal (where we live)

A vignette of sylvan tranquillity from the R107. Totally misrepresentative of what the route is actually like