Ireland day 1139. Sunday 10 November 2024- UK Guests Day 1

Ireland day 1139. Sunday 10 November 2024- UK Guests Day 1
Today’s summary Spent the morning making a chicken casserole.   Then picked up some UK friends from the airport in the early afternoon.   They are staying with us until Friday.   Val went out to work mid afternoon then our friends and I went up to Wonderlights as Val’s guests, to see her in her working habitat.  Had the chicken casserole for dinner.   Val back just after 10pm
Today’s weather Mostly overcast but a little brighter than yesterday.   Dry all day after overnight rain.   Almost no wind.   Appx 14c
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):
Wonderlights 2024
Commentary

Some good friends from the UK are staying with us for the next few days – mainly so they can do some research on ancestry – which is entwined with that of the Guinness family.   A really interesting story.  Anyway, they will be with us until Friday, while they do their researches in various Dublin-based archives.

In anticipation of their arrival, I got up relatively early this morning to make a chicken casserole, while Val prepared the guest bedroom.   I also dropped down to the shops to pick up some more last minute items and also to do the recycling – using one of the fantastic new recycling machines which you can see pictured below.   Then, after a light lunch, Val went off to work and I drove to the airport to pick our guests up.   Their flight was actually early which gave us a good afternoon to catch up on all the news from both sides of the Irish Sea over a cup of tea and some soup.

In the evening, Val had arranged for us to to have a complementary look round “Wonderlights”.   So at about 6:30, we wandered up to the castle and met up with Val, looking resplendent in her hi-viz jacket, surrounded by her staff and busily supervising proceedings.   We followed the Wonderlights trail – which was excellent – then pitched up in the food court for a glass (or rather a “plastic”) of mulled wine to round off the evening nicely.

Back at the flat, we had the casserole I’d made in the morning, along with broccoli, roast potatoes and peas.   We finished off with a Tesco frozen lemon meringue pie, which was surprisingly good.   Especially when it was all accompanied with a nice glass of Rioja.

Val returned to base just after 10pm, then after a quick chat to review the day’s proceedings, we retired to bed, ready for another busy day tomorrow.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

Bottle and can recycling machine outside SuperValu.   Here in Ireland, most drink cans and bottles have a deposit on them which you get back when you return them to one of these recycling machines The machine gobbles up your bottle on a conveyer belt then it disappears with a loud satisfying crunching noise into the bowels of the machine.   But I have no idea what happens to the crushed remains afterwards.   Probably best not to ask
The castle, in all its Wonderlit glory Val in full work mode, with our friends at the end of our walk-through
One of the many illuminated tunnels up at Wonderlights.   It was nicely done
Interactive map

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

Total distance: 5263 m
Max elevation: 27 m
Min elevation: 10 m
Total climbing: 75 m
Total descent: -75 m
Total time: 01:55:26
Download file: Wonderlights-2024-compressed-corrected.gpx

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