Ireland day 0999. Sunday 23 June 2024- A Day Off

Today’s summary	Decided to have a day off to recharge the batteries. Had a relaxing morning then walked down to Dunnes in Portmarnock to get some groceries. Picked up snack lunch in the Spar shop on the promenade and then enjoyed it sitting in the sun on the beach. Finished off watching “The Wire” series 1 in the evening.
Today’s weather	Dry bright and sunny all day. Moderate easterly wind. Appx 17c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange 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): Portmarnock Dunnes and Beach

Commentary

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

There was a Walking Club hike scheduled for today which we both felt we would like to do. But weighed against that was the temptation of having a lie-in and of not having to talk to anyone for a day. After the to-ing and fro-ing of the last days, we succumbed to temptation and had a day off.

It was a lovely sunny day, too, so actually a couple of hours on the beach felt they wouldn’t go amiss either. Accordingly, once we’d finished our umpteenth cup of tea in bed and had some porridge and freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast, we did the washing and then decided to walk down to Portmarnock.

We followed our well-worn route south through the demesne and up over Paddy’s Hill. But rather than making a bee-line for the beach, as we normally do, we diverted into Dunnes supermarket to get some salad for dinner and some snacks for lunch.

Armed with our purchases, we walked on down to the promenade, and stopped in at the Spar shop to get a couple of cups of tea and a pastry to supplement our snacks. Then it was down onto the beach where we found a sunny spot to enjoy our super-healthy repast.

We could have stayed in the beach all afternoon- after all the sun was shining and there was lots going on. But actually, despite the blue sky and bright outlook, the wind was quite chilly and without shelter eventually we began to feel quite cold.

So loins were girded and we hauled ourselves back onto the coast path, fired-up and ready for the brisk walk back to base. As soon as we had returned to the flat, washing was sorted out, tea was prepared, and feet were put up.

We rounded off a perfectly relaxing and much-needed day off with a couple of hours of Amazon Prime, finishing off the final two episodes or “The Wire” season 1. Now the most difficult decision we have to make is whether or not to download series 2!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


St Sylvester’s framed by the football posts up in the demesne	Val making her way up through the meadows on Paddy’s Hill

One of our favourite shops! Spar, on Portmarnock promenade	Thronging Portmarnock beach today



Lone pyramidal orchid putting on a show on the coast road