Ireland day 0996. Thursday 20 June 2024- Sutton and Back

Today’s summary	After Val went to work, I walked over the hill and down to Sutton, then back via the coast. A longer walk than I expected but very enjoyable and weather was good. Listened to a webinar as I walked
Today’s weather	Bright with some sunshine and just a light shower mid afternoon. Moderate south easterly wind. Appx 16c

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): Sutton and Back

Commentary

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

Val had lined up for another day at work today, leaving me to my own devices while she was away. As the weather looked quite good, I decided to make the most of it and head off on a decent long walk.

First though I had to deal with a few emails and other admin matters. But once that was out of the way, and after a bit of deliberation, I chose to test out a new route to Sutton station and back. Well actually to be more precise I just joined up a few of my favourite walks to make a new, hybrid, walk.

I started off in familiar territory – through the demesne and then up Seamount to Paddy’s Hill. Then on and down through Portmarnock to the Baldoyle Greenway. From there it’s only a relatively short hop on to the station (and café) at Sutton, which was the southern terminus of my journey.

I stocked up on drinks and snacks for lunch from the café, then spun round on my heels and set off back for Malahide.

I reversed the outward route as far as Portmarnock then struck off to the east and through the golf course car park to the beach (the beach access boardwalk has been repaired and widened and is much better now). As I walked I listened to a webinar by KPMG on the likely impact of the UK General Election on the prospects for UK businesses. The speakers were quite positive, actually, though clearly there will be some pretty big challenges. Nevertheless it was surprisingly cheering.

I stopped for my lunch at the pavilion at the north end of the Velvet Strand, then completed the rest of the walk back to Malahide quite swiftly. Though I did pause at Tesco to get some ingredients for tonight’s dinner (we’re having roast beef salad) along the way. All in all it was a good walk, despite being quite a bit longer than I had expected. But the generally pleasant weather and the cheering webinar all helped to make it a very pleasant peri-midsummer outing.

Anyway I better start assembling the dinner now, before Val gets back. Then we have a video call with friends to look forward to so I’m going to sign off now and get on with the rest of my tasks for the day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Ready for the concert season – up at the demesne	I had to wait for ages to cross the level crossing at Sutton, as two DARTs (one in each direction) slowly proceeded along their way

Vibrant valerian lined the path alongside the coast	Scarlet pimpernel in the sward on Paddy’s Hill

Heron in the Sluice River estuary from Portmarnock beach	Heading up the Velvet Strand towards the bathing shelter (where I stopped for lunch)

Curious chimaeric ragwort on the Baldoyle greenway – never seen one before that’s exactly half green and half albino