Ireland day 1149. Wednesday 20 November 2024- Snow?

Today’s summary	Val went on a short run in the morning and I caught up on a backlog of paperwork. After a Kerrigan’s chicken tray-bake for lunch, I went out for a walk over the hill and in the distance I spotted the snow-covered Mournes, 100km to the north. Once back, we spent the evening on a couple of video calls to friends back in the UK then enjoyed a glass or two of rioja while watching TV
Today’s weather	Dry, cold and sunny in the morning, clouded over slightly later. Hardly any wind. Appx 4c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Snow on the distant Mournes

Commentary

Today was a day with no specific commitments apart from a couple of phone calls to friends in the evening. Not even any deberes to tackle – well not at least until 4pm when the next lot plopped into my electronic in-box. Anyway – that can wait a day or two before I make a start again.

Given the free diary, we had hoped to go to Swords to watch a film this afternoon – yes, I’ll admit it, we were going to go and see the film about Paddington bear in Peru. Well, we felt something light would suit us nicely. But even with all this spare time, we somehow never quite got round to it. Other things kept coming along and before we knew it, it was getting dark and was time to crack open the Rioja!

The first thing that came along was a load of admin. I got a new credit card a couple of days ago, so had to work out how to activate it (which involved going to a shop and sticking it in a card reader) and to add it to my Apple Pay – a lengthy call to the Bank of Ireland was needed. Then I realised that the EHIC (European Health Insurance) cards that I had so smugly ordered a month ago, still hadn’t arrived. A couple more calls to the relevant health authority revealed that they had been sent to the wrong address – Apartment 18 not 108 – so new ones had to be arranged. Then finally some more Government forms had to be filled in.

Once all this had been done, it was lunchtime and Val cooked up a delicious chicken tray-back, courtesy of Kerrigan’s butchers, which we had with some rather nice baked shredded cabbage. Then as soon as lunch was done and dusted, Val decided to head out for another run (she has far more determination than me) and I set off to complete my usual “Hill and Coast” walk which I enjoyed immensely.

There were two particular reasons for my immense enjoyment today, actually. One was the view north from the top of Paddy’s Hill, where the Mourne mountains, some 100 km away and not even in Europe, were catching the late afternoon sun on striking snow-covered slopes. I don’t think I have ever seen them looking quite so impressive, especially as extensive snow is actually quite rare in the island of Ireland. The other reason was the reward of coffee and chocolate which I allowed myself once I got to Portmarnock beach. I know I am supposed still to be watching my waistline and this certainly wouldn’t have helped. But it did feel well deserved, and indeed even necessary, on this chilly wintry day.

Eventually I made it back to the flat, where Val was relaxing after her run. We finished off the day with a couple of calls to friends in the UK, accompanied by a nice bottle of Rioja, and then a bit of TV courtesy of Netflix. I really don’t know where all the time went!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The giant redwood always looks good from every angle	Flock of oystercatchers hunting for lunch on the GAA playing fields at Malahide castle

The Bawn Grove – I do like this view	Looking south from Jameson Orchard – the Dublin Mountains were just visible in the distance but they had the sun behind them so I couldn’t tell if they were snow covered or not

*Still plenty of colour about despite the chill – this winter flowering cherry (Prunus incisa* I think) just starting to come into bloom on Limetree avenue (shame it’s not Cherrytree)**	Solitary egret on Malahide beach pecking away with the regular seagulls

A bit blurry but you get the snowy idea – Slieve Donard, highest summit in Northern Ireland, is on the right