Ireland day 0878. Friday 23 February 2024- UK Guests 1 *

Ireland day 0878. Friday 23 February 2024- UK Guests 1

Today’s summary	Got up early with significant hangovers. Our friends caught an 8:40 am train from Malahide to spend the day visiting the galleries of Dublin. We stayed behind and went to Howth to get some scallops for dinner. Had fish and chips for lunch in Beshoff’s restaurant
Today’s weather	Bright breezy and cool with no rain but plenty of sun. Moderate westerly wind. Appx 7c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (No GPX today)

Commentary

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

I realised this morning why I am rapidly going off the idea of drinking lots of alcohol in the evening. It’s because increasingly I don’t sleep well afterwards, and I feel rotten the morning after. Today was a case in point as we spent until 1:30 am last night with our friends catching up on the news over a couple of bottles of Crémant de Bourgogne which was fantastic at the time but came at a cost later.

Our friends wanted to visit a number of museums and galleries in Dublin today but as we had been several times before, we elected to stay behind in Malahide. So I just got them safely onto an 0840 DART into town, then came back to the flat and relaxed briefly before doing some Spanish practice. Eventually, though, we decided we had to galvanise ourselves into action and got in the car to drive down to Howth to get some scallops (again) for tonight’s dinner.

Howth was buzzing – as usual – and in fact we had some difficulty finding anywhere to park. Fortunately, though, someone pulled out of a slot just before we drove past so we were able to dive in and nab it quickly before anyone else arrived. We managed to get the scallops without difficulty at Beshoffs then, as it was lunchtime by now, we decided to be spontaneous and go into the restaurant next door for lunch. I had cod and chips and Val had calamari, both of which were delicious. A real treat, and one of the joys of not working.

After lunch, we had a quick walk down the harbour pier to watch the endlessly fascinating (and definitely well-fed) seals before jumping in the car and returning to Malahide.

Once back in the flat I am shocked to admit that as soon as we had enjoyed a cup of tea, we both more or less immediately fell asleep for half an hour. I have just woken up now and probably feel even more groggy than I did before. I am definitely out of practice with this alcohol thing – it never used to be this hard!

Anyway, I need to sign off now and start preparing dinner for when our friends get back. They will doubtless have plenty to say about their day in Dublin. I hope they enjoyed it.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


An abundance of seafood in Beshoff’s fishmongers shop	Seafood galore being landed in Howth harbour bringing happiness all round

Happy seagull	Happy seal



Happy wife