Ireland day 1116. Friday 18 October 2024- Soaked!

Today’s summary	Went out to Swords in the morning to keep an appointment for Val then she dropped into see colleagues at the Museum on the way back while I made lunch. In the afternoon we did our usual hill/tea/coast walk but went via the bank so Val could pay a cheque in. Got absolutely soaked in a downpour on the way back. Had more of yesterday’s roast lamb heated up for dinner.
Today’s weather	Overcast and murky but dry in the morning, torrential rain in the afternoon. Drier later in the evening. Strong south easterly wind. Appx 16c

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): Soaked on the Coast

Commentary

Last night I woke up around 2am with a bit of a sore throat. So I thought I would nip it in the bud by taking some ibuprofen to try and stop the inflammation getting worse. The remedy seemed to work because this morning the soreness had gone. But increasingly I have been finding that ibuprofen, while excellent at dealing with pain, tends to make me sleepy. Well that certainly happened on this occasion because when I woke up I discovered that it was already past 9 am – I had slept pretty much solidly for ten hours. But, annoyingly, this side effect also seems to make me feel dopey all day. Only now, at 8pm, do I feel as if I am slowly beginning to wake up properly. Very odd.

So against this soporific backdrop, I went about my day’s activities. First off, we drove into Swords to keep an appointment for Val at 10:30. Once that had been sorted out, we did some shopping in the giant Dunnes (it’s quite good, and has clothing upstairs as well as groceries on the ground floor). By then it was gone 11m which meant it was time for a cup of coffee at one of the many bistro type places in the centre. Being situated under a huge atrium, you can sit “outside” the café on a terrace, which given the weather in the “real” outside is a passable substitute for the actual thing.

Once we’d finished and had driven back to the flat, I made a healthy lunch for us both while Val went over to the Museum to meet some colleagues and deal with a business matter. Later on, after lunch, we headed into town so Val could pay in a cheque at the bank (it’s a long time since I actually saw a cheque and the first ever in Ireland). From there we walked over Malahide’s “Secret” hill to Paddy’s Hill and on to Portmarnock where of course we had to have coffee no 2 from the Spar shop.

We had intended to have our drinks on the beach but by then it was exceptionally windy and had just started to rain. So instead we relaxed in the bathing shelter and watched the angry sea churning on the beach. From there, we headed for home and it was at this point that things really headed south. The light rain and wind gave way to an absolutely torrential downpour, and the wind picked up to near gale force. We were almost instantly soaked, and certainly before we could find any shelter, so we just gritted our teeth and got back to the flat as quickly as we could.

A restorative bag of crisps soon built our spirits again and then the rain stopped almost as fast as it had started. Val decided to use the pause in the weather, and before it got completely dark, to go out for a run round the hurling pitches by the castle. I, being less adventurous and still feeling somewhat less than fully awake, put my soaking clothes in the washing machine, had a shower and started to get dinner ready. Tonight, we’re having reheated roast lamb from yesterday, which is tasty, quick and nutritious. And the microwave has just pinged so clearly it’s time now to go and dine before it gets cold!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


I never believe the weather warnings but perhaps today I should have	In the Swords Pavilions shopping centre. I was surprised how busy it was for a weekday. There was a massive queue for the car park and I think we got one of the last slots

Healthy lunch awaits Val’s return from her meeting with colleagues at the museum	Looking at the new estate off Seamount, from the top of the Malahide’s “Secret” hill (I don’t actually know if it has a name). Looks smart but it’s very public

Getting blown away as we try and make it to the bathing shelter clutching our cups of tea	There was a whole field of Shaggy Inkcap toadstools popping up in the Jameson Orchard lawn. Not that far from where I spotted the solitary one in the playing fields a couple of days ago, actually

A picture is as good as a thousand words!