Ireland day 0696. Friday 25 August 2023- Dry Feet Wet Hair *

Ireland day 0696. Friday 25 August 2023- Dry Feet Wet Hair

Today’s summary	Video call with a friend in the UK first thing, then walked round the Broadmeadow Lagoon to Newbridge. The tide was very low but it rained so I got a bit wet although feet stayed dry. Thunderstorm in the evening
Today’s weather	Bright and blowy with sunny intervals until mid afternoon. Then sunshine and showers followed by a massive thunderstorm in the early evening (but after I was back). Moderate westerly wind. Appx 18C

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange 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): Dry Feet Wet Hair Broadmeadow

Commentary

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

I said yesterday that when Val is away, I like to have at least one thing scheduled every day to build a structure for the rest of my activities around. My fixed point today was another video call with a friend back in the UK Ia different one from yesterday) at 10:00. which took an hour and a half, and gave me a great start to the day.

Once that was finished, I made a packed lunch and decided to head round the Broadmeadow Lagoon, and to try my luck with the water levels. The sun was shining when I left, and I had every hope that the tide would be out. Indeed, when I got down to the shore, I realised that my luck was in on the second count – the foreshore was well exposed, meaning that I’d be able to get round with dry feet. And with blue skies overhead, it gave every indication of being a stress-free and dry circumnavigation.

Unfortunately, though, the weather didn’t last. Within an hour, I felt the first spots of rain starting to fall. It dried up briefly then started coming down more purposefully. So I had no choice but to stop and don my waterproof tops and bottoms. I plodded on and discovered to my delight that the tide was so low that the Flood Road was completely exposed along its whole length – only the second time that I’ve actually seen this. So I was able to keep my feet dry, even though i was getting soaked from above.

The rain eventually stopped and by the time I’d got round as far as the Newbridge Demesne, the sun was shining again. Once there, I was able to find a bench in the sun to enjoy my packed lunch and dry off my soaked waterproofs. As soon as I was refuelled and at least partially dried out, I walked a bit further up to the café and treated myself to a cup of tea and a biscuit. And from there it was only a 15 minute walk to Donabate station and to my great good fortune, a train came in just as I arrived on the platform. So I was in Malahide only about five minutes after walking out of the Demesne. Just time to buy some bathroom descaler and then to head on back to the flat.

In another stoke of luck, a massive but brief deluge struck Malahide just as I was ambling round the aisles in SuperValu. So I stayed dry this time. And then about five minutes after I got into the flat, the heavens opened once again and we were hit by the most almighty thunderstorm. So now it’s time to finish off yesterday’s pizza, and reflect on the various fortunes of the day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Cottage on the coast road just along from the bottom of Hanlon’s Lane getting a new thatch. Would have had a good test of its waterproofness today	Flood road above the water line today, as a result of the state of the tide. Only the second time in two years that I’ve seen this. I decided not to walk on the exposed road surface as the last time I did it was extremely slippery. I have to protect my hips!

Unexpected item in walking area! An abandoned and beached boat	Kilcrea Road – which leads from the north shore of the Broadmeadow lagoon to the Newbridge estate. It always looks attractive, especially in the spring and summer

Amazing vivid yellow lichen on a fallen branch in Kilcrea Road. Must mean the air is fairly clean, I think	Well earned (well I considered it to be at any rate) drink and biscuit in the Newbridge café

The red dot shows the state of the tide when I was walking by the Flood Road. Fits my theory perfectly – the water level in the lagoon is lowest a couple of hours after low-water (in the outer estuary) on a Neap tide. In fact I think the level may continue to fall continuously for the next 2 days or so, as the peak high tide in the outer estuary isn’t actually high enough to flood over the embankment separating the inner Broadmeadow lagoon from the outer Malahide estuary