Ireland day 1199. Thursday 09 January 2025- Gloves
Today’s summary | Spent the morning speaking on a video call with a friend back in the UK. Then did some shopping in Malahide and cleaned and tidied the flat ready for Val’s return. In the afternoon, took the train (with free pass!) to Dublin to get some new gloves. Had sandwich lunch in Epic centre before shopping. In the evening had light dinner than collected Val from the airport. | ||||
Today’s weather | Cold clear and dry with plenty of sun. Light north westerly wind. Appx 2c | ||||
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Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route) |
Close-up location (The blue 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): New Gloves from Dublin |
Commentary
Today was a rare day when I went shopping, found exactly what I wanted, and it cost about a tenth of what I had expected to pay. But that momentous event came later. First there were a few commitments here in a Malahide to attend to.
Top of my list was a video call with a friend back in Hampshire, UK which lasted the best part of an hour an a half. A thoroughly enjoyable exchange discussing the challenges and excitements of our lives.
Next on the agenda was grocery shopping. Nothing major, as I have been eating left-overs from Christmas for the last couple of weeks so haven’t really needed to buy much. Just some milk and tomatoes today. I rounded off this morning of domestic industry with a quick hoover round the flat, and a bit of a tidy-up. I wanted the place to look decent for when Val came back later this evening.
Once all those duties were discharged, I made myself a packed lunch, grabbed my free travel card (yippee!) and caught the first train into Dublin. By the time I got there, it was after 1pm and I was hungry. Given that it was so cold, I headed over to the Epic centre to enjoy my sandwiches in the relative comfort of the indoor dining atrium.
Soon enough, I’d finished eating and was beginning to get cold – despite being indoors, I don’t think the dining atrium is heated, so it gets a bit chilly. So I stirred myself and headed off. A short stroll took me to the north bank of the Liffey, and I followed the embankment a few blocks west to O’Connell Street, where I hoped to do my shopping.
What I was after today was a pair of soft, lightweight, gloves that wouldn’t be too tight on my fingers. I must have exceptionally large hands or something because I find the even “XXL” gloves often squeeze my fingers, leaving them even colder than if I hadn’t been wearing gloves at all.
It turned out that Decathlon had exactly what I wanted – and at the bargain price of just €4 a pair. I would gladly have paid ten times that amount! I bought two sets just in case they never appeared again.
Afterwards, I went on to Mountain Warehouse to try and get a new down jacket to replace my current one, which is beginning to look a bit tatty. They did have one which would have been ideal – and a nice colour too – but unfortunately not in my size. Apparently more are due in next week and, seeing as I have free travel now ( 🙂 ), I might just go in on the off chance and take a look.
Triumphant with my new gloves, I stopped off for a coffee in the Abbey Street theatre – which was very nice but I think cost me more than the gloves did. Ah well. I’m still ahead of where I thought I’d be.
I completed the loop back to Connolly and after a brief wait, caught a fast nonstop train to Malahide. Back in the flat, I made a light dinner then listened to a podcast before heading off to the airport in the Yaris to collect Val from her late evening flight. It’s good to be reunited again!
Today’s photos (click to enlarge)
Interactive map
(Elevations corrected at GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )
Max elevation: 9 m
Min elevation: 2 m
Total climbing: 25 m
Total descent: -25 m
Total time: 02:39:01