Ireland day 0825. Monday 01 January 2024- Wet Start *

Ireland day 0825. Monday 01 January 2024- Wet Start

Today’s summary	Val’s shift at the museum didn’t start until 12:30 today, so we had time to listen to a podcast, have lunch and make a phone call (Val) before she went off. While she was at work I walked out to explore the “new” hill I found hidden in the middle of Malahide last week. We have a brief dinner together as Val flitted through the flat en route from museum to Wonderlights. More Sopranos later
Today’s weather	Overcast with heavy rain most of the day. Moderate westerly wind. Appx 8c

Today’s overview location (The grey 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): Hidden Hill exploration

Commentary

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

It was a miserable cold wet start to 2024 today. Unfortunately Val bore the brunt of it. The heating in the Casino has failed, so they were shivering all afternoon at the museum (fortunately it was only a half-day) and then she had to head out again into the pouring rain to the castle this evening for her shift at Wonderlights. Good job she is made of tough stuff.

Anyway, notwithstanding the poor weather and various commitments, we made the best of the day. After listening to podcasts in bed over a cup of tea, we got up and caught up with tasks we’d been putting off for a while – Val made a phone call while I practiced my Spanish in anticipation of classes starting up again in a couple of weeks. Given how unpleasant the weather was, I heated up some left over dinners from the fridge, so we could have a hot lunch, then Val set off to her frigid domain in the museum.

While she was away, I decided to head out and explore the “Hidden Hill” that I had “discovered” lurking in the middle of Malahide last week. It turned out to be quite interesting – a large grassy area with some impressive trees and excellent if misty views west towards the airport and east towards the estuary and Lambay Island. I enjoyed my walk, and by a miracle I largely managed to avoid getting soaked in the rain. The drier interlude even lasted long enough to let me do some shopping on the way back.

I heated up some of the Lough Avalla beef casserole that I’d made when the freezer broke down before Christmas, and prepared some vegetables to go with it. Val rushed through the flat for all of 10 minutes at about 5:30, so just had time for another hot meal before starting off again. She only has tonight and tomorrow nights to go now. What an epic!

I spent the rest of the evening preparing for my own return to work tomorrow, then watching some Netflix. A good use of the day, all round.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Wintry looking cricket pitch, soaking up the rain	The new housing site to the north of Seamount Road. The path to the Hidden Hill goes up the right hand side of it, behind a wire fence

Malahide’s Hidden Hill!	View from the top of the hill roughly south west, looking towards Dublin and the airport

Round the corner behind me is the northern entrance to the path leading from Hidden Hill. It’s at the top of Seapark Hill Road	Looking the other way down Seapark Hill Road to the coast

Lots of interesting trees on the top. I think, from the exceptionally long needles, that they may actually be Canary Island pines