Ireland day 1049. Monday 12 August 2024- Beach

Today’s summary	An unusually relaxing day today. Val went running in the morning while I had a video call with family back in the UK and caught up on some paperwork. Once she was back, we had a light lunch then packed our things and walked over the hill to Portmanock Beach where we went for a swim and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in the sun. A quiet evening, sadly lacking in Olympics
Today’s weather	Some overnight rain then warm sunny and dry pretty much all the rest of the day. Light westerly wind. Appx 20c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked (and swam)) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Hills of Howth walk

Commentary

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

Today we actually spent the day relaxing on the beach. Highly irregular!

Anyway, things started off in pretty much the same way as many other days recently – Val went on a run round the demesne (very impressive) while I had a good hour on a video call with family back in the UK, catching up on all the news. Then I did my time-boxed hour of paperwork, by which time Val was back from her run and champing at the bit to get on with the next activity. I can hardly keep up!

So after a moment or two’s thought, we decided to push the boat out (metaphorically speaking) and go swimming. So we gathered our things, pulled on our trainers, and headed off in the direction of Portmarnock . We followed our normal route through the edge of the demesne and up Paddy’s Hill, before dropping down to the promenade in Portmarnock via the Carrickhills estate.

We found a suitable spot on the Velvet Strand and, before hesitation got the better of us, pulled on our swimming things and jumped into the sea. It was absolutely freezing – and to me, it felt even colder than when we last went in a couple of weeks ago. So I probably remained submerged for all of about two minutes before calling it a day and heading off to the beach shower (cold) to wash the salt off. Val decided that seeing as she had gone through the pain of getting acclimatised she would stay in a bit longer. Sooner her than me!

Once showered and dried, I was despatched off to the local Spar to get cups of tea and some snacks (half price Danish pastries – what’s not to like!!) which we enjoyed while sitting on the shore and watching the various antics of our fellow beachgoers. At that point, the sun on our skin just felt too nice to leave early, so we actually lay soaking up the rays for a good hour (and I MAY have – very briefly – fallen asleep) before packing up and meandering back to the flat along the coast.

Back in the flat, we are having a Kerrigan’s Kung-Po Chicken dinner, and making a couple more family phone calls. Then, as there is sadly no more Olympics to invite into our living room, we will probably resort to another episode of “The Wire”. A slightly less-that-wholesome finale, but overall a brilliant relaxing day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Luscious orange rowan berries on one of the verges on Limetree Avenue – shame you can’t eat them (or at least I don’t think you can)	These rather substantial new granite gateposts have just appeared outside the big old Jameson Orchard house at the top of Seamount Road. Perhaps presages redevelopment of the house? I foresee flats.

The rocks along the Malahide shore were decorated with these small birds and we couldn’t decide what they were. I though Dunlins and Val thought Turnstones…	…but according to the information board, they were actually probably neither. Most likely ringed plovers



On the beach. Lots of space on a weekday like today, especially when the tide is out.