Ireland day 1254. Wednesday 05 March 2025- Sun Sea Sky Shops

Today’s summary	Dealt with some admin and shopping in the morning, then in the afternoon went on a sunny circular walk over hill and coast, while having a video call with Val midway. In the evening, did some reading, listened to some podcasts, and watched a Vancouver festival film.
Today’s weather	Dry sunny and bright. Moderate to strong south westerly wind. Appx 12c

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): Sun Sea Sky and Shopping

Commentary

Today dawned sunny and bright and while I can hardly say I leapt out of bed at the prospect, I certainly got up with a bit of a spring in my step. Two cups of tea were despatched speedily, and I set about the day’s tasks.

I realised that I needed some toothpaste and teabags so first off I went into town to do some shopping. One way or another, despite ostensibly only going out to buy these relatively modest commodities, I ended up spending well over €50 on items I came across that I didn’t realise I needed but suddenly thought I might. Ah the dangers of impulse shopping.

On my return, I had to deal with the car tax and a couple of other admin matters that I’d put off since Christmas but could delay no longer. At this point, I had been due to join a video call with a friend, but that got pushed back to tomorrow, so I had a whole free day ahead of me, to fill as I wanted.

It didn’t take long to decide that as the weather was looking so good, I’d head back outside and into the sun, and make the most of it with a short walk over the hill and down to the coast at Portmarnock. It’s one of my favourite circular walks from Malahide and I last did it several weeks ago, before we went on holiday.

The route lived up to expectations, with burgeoning green grass below and limpid blue skies above. It would be nice to suppose that Spring might be almost upon us but I think more normal (for which read – wet) conditions will be back at the end of the week. My walk took my right past Dunnes store and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to duck inside and pick up a few more bits and pieces that I didn’t realise I needed (and probably didn’t). Ah well. One day I am sure I will enjoy those herb and sea salt crispbreads that looked so attractive on the shelf but which probably have the consistency of emery paper.

Also in Dunnes, I bought a croissant and a drink, which I took with me down to the shore to enjoy in a sunny spot. The number of such spots was actually significantly reduced by the rising tide and awkward wind direction which seemed to blast you from unexpected directions no matter where you tried to sit.

While I was eating, I had a quick video call with Val in London, which was great. She seems to be getting a lot out of her trip and catching up with plenty of friends and family while she’s over there.

I didn’t hang around once I’d finished my call and my snacks, as the persistent wind persisted and I was in danger of freezing solid.

The rest of the walk back was straightforward and enjoyable and once in Malahide I took the opportunity to do yet more shopping. I realised that the one thing I actually needed today – oatcakes – was the one thing I’d singularly forgotten to buy so far despite my various expeditions. So I dropped into Tesco and managed pick up a packet – albeit at a ridiculously high price. As an aside, it’s curious just how hard oatcakes are to get in Ireland, and how extortionately expensive they are when you do find them. I must remember to ask Val to brings some back with her from London where they are about a quarter of the price.

Once back at the flat, I sat on the sofa to enjoy a cup of tea from the teabags that I had remarkably managed to remember to buy, and promptly fell asleep. Eventually after what felt like about ten seconds but was probably really closer to half an hour, I woke up again and contemplated the evening.

It was about 6pm by that time, so I had a reasonably long time to do all the things I wanted to do – a little reading, a couple of podcasts and finally a mountaineering film from the a Vancouver festival. So a good all-round day, I’d say, even though my bank balance did take a bit of a battering.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The bulbs that we planted on our balcony last Autumn are bursting into flower now. A real delight to see	Entering the Demesne, with the bulb bed on the right and the redwood in the left-distance

An oddly out of place horse box appeared at the top of Seamount Road as I got there, and two rather wild looking horses were manhandled out. To the accompaniment of much neighing, they were taken into what appeared to be the front garden of an adjoining private house. Very strange	Brent Geese were pottering around in the sun in the estuary this afternoon. They will be heading off north again, soon



An abundance of miniature daffodils in the demesne today. Really delightful and at their very best just now