Ireland day 1170. Wednesday 11 December 2024- Scouts Pace

Today’s summary	Spent the day in Malahide. First of all, I had a video call with a friend in the UK, then went on a “Scouts’ Pace” walk/run round the demesne. Did some shopping and made bread in the afternoon. Val also did the a “Scouts’ Pace” and some shopping, though separately. Watched “Fat Friends” and “Black Doves” in the evening
Today’s weather	Dry and bright but no sun. Very light easterly breeze. Appx 6c

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

Commentary

We’ve both made a big effort to maintain contact with friends back in the UK since we left, so in that vein I spent the first couple of hours of the morning on a video call with a former colleague who has recently moved to Shropshire. It was interesting to compare his experience of living in rented property with our own – he really doesn’t like it, but it works quite well for us.

Next on the agenda was fitness. I am feeling very much as if I have not been active enough lately, whilst at the same time probably eating too much. So I don’t feel as fit I would like. This has happened to me several times in the past and normally when I reach this state, I embark on a programme of running to get things back on track. For me, running is the most effective, easiest and accessible way of gaining fitness and losing weight in the shortest possible time. But since I had my hips resurfaced I’m not really supposed to do that anymore, so I tend to go walking instead.

The trouble with walking is that it doesn’t really get the pulse racing, and it takes a long time to have any discernible effect on fitness or weight. So Val suggested I should follow in her footsteps (almost literally) and try “Scouts’ Pace” exercise instead. Basically this means brisk walking for ten paces or so, then slow jogging another ten. And so-on right around your course.

I decided to give it a try round the demesne this afternoon – and you can see the results in the map at the bottom. I managed the 4.59km in 34m 53s which equates to 7m 36s / km (equivalent to a Marathon in 5h 21m if I just went round another nine times). Anyway, I felt reasonably pleased with the result. I’m not going to break any records, but hopefully I won’t wreck my hips either, so I count it as a success which will definitely be worth repeating at some point.

Once back, Val was clearly inspired by my magnificent efforts so, once she returned from the shops, she set off and did a Scouts’ Pace circuit too. Then it was my turn to do some shopping while she was out – I was despatched to get a Kerrigan’s Stir Fry which I’ve just eaten and thoroughly enjoyed.

Once we were both finally back in the flat at the same time, it was starting to get dark but not yet time to open the wine (well – it was fully deserved today). So as I had recently discovered an old packet of bread mix on the top of one of our kitchen cupboards (or “presses” to use their Irish name) I thought perhaps I could try my hand at making some bread. It was eighteen months past its sell-by date, I must admit, but Val found some packets of dried yeast, so I stuck one of those in along the mix as I was kneading it all together.

Anyway, the stir fry has been polished off now, and the bread does actually appear to be rising (hooray!) so I better prepare it for its second rise and then get it in the oven. Or else we will be here all night and we won’t get time to tune into our nightly dose of “Fat Friends” and “Black Doves” on Netflix!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Beginning of my expedition..	..the middle..

..the end.	Hanlons Lane – I went on a short walk in the afternoon, too – periwinkle spotting (see banner image) and shopping.



Can’t wait to see how it turns out!