Ireland day 1151. Friday 22 November 2024- Loopy

Today’s summary	Val was working in the evening so we made the most of the daylight hours with a walk up to Centra for coffees in the cold sun by the estuary, then a healthy salmon salad lunch. Once Val was off to work, I added an extra loop walk round the demesne then spent the rest of the evening on Spanish homework and travel videos(!)
Today’s weather	Cold clear dry and bright. Light westerly wind. Appx 5c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The grey 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): Malahide Loops Extra

Commentary

One of the merits of writing this daily blog is that it forces me to think about what I am going to say about the day that’s just passed. Perhaps, too, the pressure of having to report on our activities forces us to get off our backsides and go out to do something interesting. More so than if our days just went unreported and unremembered. But actually, one of the reasons for writing this journal is so that in years to come I can look back on this chapter in our lives and recall not just the highlights, but also all the day to day routine that goes inbetween.

So what about today? Well, to be honest, it was rather one of the days inbetween, rather than one of the highlights. Which isn’t too surprising perhaps as the inbetweens vastly outnumber the highlights. As such, our day followed a now-familiar pattern. Tea in bed, followed by a walk out to Centra for a coffee by the Broadmeadow, then a healthy lunch (salmon salad), a bit of Spanish homework, and then Val off to work mid-afternoon. To this staple, I added on another round-the-demesne stroll, a couple of YouTube travel videos, and another salad for my dinner. And even a third loop (taking in the shops) afterwards! Then once Val was back we cranked up the heating and battened down the hatches, metaphorically speaking, in anticipation of the much-discussed overnight arrival of Storm Bert.

Well there you have it – the diary of an ordinary day. I hope that when I look back in my dotage, I feel like I did enough to make the mundane seem interesting.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


My favourite Redwood, looking spectacular, as ever	I’m sure a meteorologist could tell me what these clouds mean. Perhaps they herald Bert’s arrival?

Gaggle of geese (Brent) on the mouth of the Gaybrook stream	Off she goes! Val heads off to the castle for work on the trusty Brompton

*Ivy (Hedera helix) seems to like flowering at this time of year. It’s interesting to see how the whole plant morphology changes into a more tree-like form when it reaches flowering age*	Gunnera (foreground) and Dicksonia (background) crowns protecting themselves with furry coats against the winter chill (though in the case of the tree-fern, it’s artificial, placed there by diligent gardeners)

Here we are! Large as life and twice as lovely