Ireland day 1228. Friday 07 February 2025- Cold Newbridge

Today’s summary	Another relatively quiet day. After brunch, we drove over to Newbridge for a short circular walk around the demesne followed by coffee and cake in the café. Once back in the flat, we listened to a podcast and jointly did some admin work. In the evening, Val was out for dinner with friends from work at The Casino, and I did some more Spanish homework
Today’s weather	Dry and bright first thing but clouded over in the afternoon. Moderate easterly wind. Appx 6c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue 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): Cold Newbridge Circuit

Commentary

It’s nice for us both to be in the same place at the same time for once, and we’re enjoying living life at a slightly slower pace for a few days. So we had a relaxing morning in the flat, rounded off with a sandwich brunch just before noon. Then, as it looked decent outside, we decided to take the trusty Yaris out for a spin over to the Newbridge estate, far away on the other side of the estuary (so tantalisingly close but as yet unconnected by the new Greenway viaduct).

Neither of us felt like indulging in vigorous exercise, so we just went for a short stroll round the perimeter of the demesne. We had planned to walk right round, but as there was a cold wind whipping through, we thought there was no point in prolonging the chill, so cut it short and headed straight for the café. Although it was relatively quiet in there, only one person was serving and also trying to clear away the tables, and it felt desperately short staffed. Understaffing seems to be a global problem at the moment, and I don’t really know why.

Once we’d enjoyed our coffee and cakes, we made our way back to the car and drove over to Malahide. Another cup of tea was called for on our return, which we enjoyed while listening to a podcast. We certainly seem to live in interesting times at the moment. Once that had finished, we worked on some admin together then Val had to head out again for dinner with a couple of her colleagues from The Casino model railway museum. They are trying out a new Japanese restaurant that has just appeared in Malahide, and it will be interesting to see what she makes of it.

While Val was out tripping the light fantastic, I spent a good hour or more finishing off this week’s Spanish homework. We’ve just learned the future tense, so I am having to get around a completely new set of conjugations. I’m sure it’s good for my mental faculties, but I do find it really hard work! Anyway, that’s all finished now so I’m going to round off the evening by checking out some travel videos until Val gets back. Then perhaps we will watch a bit more of “The Godfather II” which we started on Amazon last night. It’s a 3hr+ epic and is good but a bit indigestible in one go. I’m quite surprised I’ve never seen it before. I guess I’ve just never had enough time.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


A brief break in the cloud turned the lawns brilliant emerald	Lots of storm damage from Storm Éowyn’s visit. Much more so than in the Malahide castle demesne

I love the magnificent Redwoods in Ireland’s parks – and Newbridge has more than its fair share. I wonder how long it will be before they can no longer withstand the ferocity of the Irish winter storms?	By the old lime kiln (now mostly used as a scruffy litter bin)

Bridge over the Pill River. Little more than a stagnant stream really. And Val wishing I’d hurry up and take the photo	Hurrah! Refreshments await!

What a fabulous den in the woods! I would have loved this as a child