Ireland day 1201. Saturday 11 January 2025- Dunnes Slowly

Today’s summary	A quiet day. Val went on a run at around lunchtime and I walked over the hill to Portmarnock Dunnes to do some shopping. I followed the shopping with coffee and a pastry on the beach. In the evening I made dinner of reheated curry from yesterday with salad while Val went off to do some more shopping, then we watched some TV and read
Today’s weather	Mostly dry but overcast with some drizzle. Light westerly wind. Appx 7c

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): Slow walk to Dunnes

Commentary

With Val being back from London for a couple of days now, we have settled into a comfortable routine again. We spent the morning relaxing over cups of tea and planning our outline diaries for the rest of the year, then around lunchtime we decided to go off and resume our respective exercise programmes. Val wanted something a bit more challenging than me, so headed off on a run, while I decided to combine exercise with shopping with a walk over to Dunnes in Portmarnock.

So I headed off up through the demesne and over Paddy’s Hill, getting to Dunnes in a little under an hour – despite getting lost in the Martello estate on the way. It’s a bit of a rabbit-warren of roads over there and I never seem to be able to pick the right one to gain access into Dunnes. Eventually, though, after a couple of wrong turns and dead ends, I made it and got the things I wanted from the shop. Basically, some soap and definitely not the tempting Seville oranges that I spotted in a rather attractive wooden crate at the front of the fruit and vegetable section.

From there, it was only a short walk down to the promenade, where I picked up a coffee and croissant to enjoy down on the beach (under the watchful eye of a nearby black-headed gull I should add). A pleasant and easy walk along the coast eventually took me back to Malahide and the flat – though I took it slowly as I am still decompressing from the Sutton walk. I was slightly surprised at just how long it took compared to Wednesday.

Once back in the flat, we had a cup of tea then Val announced she was going back to Dunnes (in the car) to get all the things I had forgotten to buy. Suitably chastened, I made the tea which tonight is reheated lentil curry from yesterday (delicious, I should add) with a side salad, followed by leftover Christmas cake with custard. Mmmm.

Afterwards, time for a little TV and some reading. Another very enjoyable easy quiet day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


I can’t resist photographing the giant Irish elk carved from the tree-stump in the Castle demesne. I’m amazed at how long it’s lasted, actually. Two years and counting, so far	Interesting use of recycled Christmas trees – chipped and scattered on the forest floor in the children’s play area

*Attractive blue Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) showing a welcome early sign of spring up on the corner of Martello Court*	A worrying development for Clooney followers everywhere. (Actually, Val – who knows about these things – tells me the headline is not quite what it seems. He has just gone a long business trip, basically)

Val was enormously relieved that I resisted the temptation to make yet more marmalade, as we are still chomping our way through the batch I made in 2015	A slightly different perspective on the Malahide coast, looking north from near the Portmarnock boundary sign

This watchful seagull had his beady eye firmly fixed on my croissant as I relaxed on Portmarnock beach. Being kind-hearted, I left him a couple of crumbs