Ireland day 0725. Saturday 23 September 2023- No Trains *

Ireland day 0725. Saturday 23 September 2023- No Trains

Today’s summary	Val was at work so I spent the first part of the morning dealing with some admin and other chores. Then walked round the Broadmeadow lagoon to Donabate and caught the bus back as there were no trains.
Today’s weather	Dry, sunny and bright until mid afternoon, then clouded over with the threat of rain later. Calm at first but strong southerly wind by evening. Appx 14C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Broadmeadow but no trains back

Commentary

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

After the busy-ness of the last few days, it was quite nice to have a day with fewer commitments today. Val was at work, so after she left, I took the opportunity to catch up on a bit of laundry and some miscellaneous admin. But my enthusiasm for paperwork and chores is limited so after an hour or so, I called it a day and started to focus on the rest of the day.

As it had started off sunny and bright, but with a poor forecast later, I thought I would head out and get some fresh air while the going was good. I knew from the state of the moon (it was a day past First Quarter) that we would be in a state of Neap tides, so the water levels in the Broadmeadow lagoon would be low. So I decided to take advantage of the favourable disposition of the lunar cycle to walk round the coast to Newbridge, and on to Donabate where I planned to catch the train back. It’s one of my favourite walks.

My predictions about the tide were correct, so I managed to complete the circumnavigation with dry feet. And as I walked, the sun shone, and the sky was blue, so it was a really enjoyable excursion. Even the swans, out in family groups of adults and yearling cygnets today, seemed contented. For some reason, I found the going very easy – I was much less tired than I have been on recent walks – and I barely noticed that it was time to pause for lunch until I pitched up virtually at the front door of the Newbridge café.

I have to admit that I sneaked my sandwich lunch into the café, under the disguise of a coffee I bought to cover up the fact that the sandwiches I was eating actually came from my rucksack, not the deli counter. Still, the café was only half full, so I doubt they would really have cared.

By the time I finished lunch, it was getting quite windy outside and feeling cold. So I hurried along to the station in anticipation of getting a quick train for the short hop back over the embankment to Malahide.

It was at this point that I realised I should have done my homework before I set off. Because when I got to the station, I discovered that, because of engineering works, there were no trains running north of Malahide today. There was an alternative rail replacement bus service, but it was going direct from Donabate to Connolly, so not much use to anyone, like me, wanting to go to intermediate stations.

In the end, I caught the 33B bus to Swords, and then the 102 to Malahide, and as the timings worked well for once, the journey was very slick and I was back at the right side of the causeway in not much over half an hour.

So now, Val is back, and it’s time to relax with a beer and, as a special treat, a Thai takeaway from the local Siam restaurant. Must stop – the prawn crackers are calling!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Egret (and a seagull) hanging around near the shore, waiting to see what tasty morsels might be lurking in the mud	Parent and cygnet. They will be fully grown soon

At the end of the wet (potentially) feet section of the north shore path	The cat clearly didn’t read the warning sign

Scaffolding beginning to be removed from Newbridge House. The bits of the roof that you can see, and which have been renovated, look very smart	I think it’s going to be a good year for conkers

*I think this is probably Panaeolus papilionaceus, the Petticoat Mottlegill fungus. Growing in the path verge, along the southern estuary shore*