Ireland day 1111. Sunday 13 October 2024- Club Saunter

Ireland day 1111. Sunday 13 October 2024- Club Saunter
Today’s summary I went on a club walk round the Demesne, after a leisurely 12 noon start from the station.   Val happened to be working at the castle today so walkers were able to see her in her native habitat.   We all had a cup of tea together once we had all finished walking and working.   Quick dash to Tesco Swords for wine in the evening then roast chicken and Netflix for dinner.
Today’s weather Dry and bright with light cloud.   Light southerly wind.   Appx 9c
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):
Club Stroll Malahide castle demesne DWC
Commentary

Today was a relaxed but wonderfully sociable day.   Neither of us had any commitments until late morning, when Val had to go up to the castle for a lunchtime shift, and when I had to meet up with the walking club for a gentle Sunday Saunter.   So we had plenty of time to enjoy cups of tea and to reflect on the state of the world.

Eventually though we were up and off.   Coincidentally, my Club walk today was in the Malahide Castle demesne, so of course we made sure that our paths crossed with Val at the Front Desk, so I could show off my uniformed and hard working wife!

Those of us in the walking contingent met up at the station at noon – though not before I had first dropped into Tesco to pick up a meal deal for lunch (fear not – the diet was not imperilled as I had salad).   There were eight of us on the walk – only a partial group today as many of the others had gone away for a few days on Club break in Tullamore.   We set off on a conventional clockwise circuit of the demesne but to be honest I didn’t notice much of the surroundings as I was so busy chatting.   Excellent therapy!

We ended up at the visitor centre where Val was, as predicted, hard at work.   We paused briefly to say hello then went into the Talbot Botanic Gardens for a quick look round.   The butterfly house seemed to be especially popular today, and especially the stripy caterpillars which I’d never seen before, which were busily chomping their collective way through one of the plants.   Once we’d finished in the garden, four of us went into the Avoca café for post walk refreshments (the other four peeled off earlier to go to the Pavilion for their own coffees and cakes).   Val was able to join us once she had clocked off her shift, which rounded off the afternoon perfectly.

Eventually we said our farewells and we made our respective ways back to home or to the car park or to the station.   Once back, and after a cup of tea, Val and I headed out to Tesco in Swords to get some wine and chicken for tonight’s dinner.   Then once eventually back again, we settled down in front of Netflix while the chicken gently roasted away in the oven.

So we had all the ingredients for an excellent day today, and of course the recipe turned out perfectly!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

The wildflower meadow near the main entrance is still showing some signs of life.   I still haven’t really worked out how they keep it going from one year the the next – replanting or natural re-seeding?   Need to keep a closer watch over the winter The Gunnera by the tree fern avenue have been felled by something – I wondered if actually there had been an early frost?
If you go down to the woods today you can definitely be sure of a big surprise In the Talbot Botanic Garden.   I do like this greenhouse.   So much so in fact that Val bought me the fridge magnet.   Wow!
In the butterfly greenhouse, these caterpillars were hungrily gobbling up an unfortunate Asclepias plant.   I assume they were supposed to be there but I don’t know what they were.   When I googled “stripy yellow and black caterpillar” I got over three million results.   Most likely it’s a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar but I can’t be sure
Interactive map

(Elevations corrected at  GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )

Total distance: 9202 m
Max elevation: 30 m
Min elevation: 3 m
Total climbing: 122 m
Total descent: -121 m
Total time: 04:26:33
Download file: Ambling-with-the-Club-compressed-corrected.gpx

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