Ireland day 1256. Friday 07 March 2025- Dull

Today’s summary	Quite a busy day. In the morning, did another couple of loads of washing and my Spanish homework. After a video call with Val and then lunch, did some shopping and made a lamb casserole. Then a short circular walk to Centra in the murky damp gloom. A couple of Vancouver mountain films and another video call to Val in the evening. Early-ish to bed and read my book.
Today’s weather	Dull and grey with drizzle or light rain all day. Light south easterly wind. Appx 10c

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): Dull damp dawdle

Commentary

I didn’t have any specific plans for today, so in an idle moment yesterday I’d been giving some thought to how I might make best use of my free time. A train ride somewhere, perhaps? Or a walk to Howth? What about a lagoon circumnavigation to Newbridge?

In the end I did none of these things. The tides were wrong for a lagoon walk, and the weather not conducive to trips further afield. Plus – I realised that I still had quite a few flat-related chores to deal with.

So once I was up and about and had checked the weather outside (dull and damp), first off I got another couple of loads of washing underway. Then I set about tackling my Spanish deberes. It wasn’t too difficult today, but the audio was long and it took me ages to decipher what was going on. I have to say I’m getting a bit despondent about my Spanish. I just don’t seem to be getting any better and at the moment we are focusing on elaborate grammatical constructions which are of very little practical use in real life. Anyway, it keeps my brain ticking over.

All this mental activity was making me hungry, so after a snatched quick video call to Val, I paused to make lunch (smoked salmon on crisp-breads, again) and to get a cup of coffee.

Next, I wandered down to the town to buy some shopping and to do the recycling. My main objective was to pick up the ingredients for a lamb casserole. I successfully managed to find everything I needed, giving me no excuse not to set-to immediately on my return to the flat, and begin weaving my culinary magic (!).

The lamb casserole was duly washed peeled chopped browned and despatched to the oven for a long slow cook. I do find cooking quite tiring (pathetic really) so I paused at this stage for a refreshing cup of tea.

By now it was already coming up to 4:30pm and the contemporary gloom of rain and cloud was starting to fade into the structural gloom of evening. So I girded my loins, pulled on my waterproof trainers, and headed out to get some exercise.

I decided to keep things short and simple, as I didn’t particularly want to get soaked. So I restricted myself to a short loop out through the Demesne to the Centra store, and back along the lagoon shore. It was a straightforward and unremarkable plod, notably mainly for the almost complete absence of any other colours than green and grey. I say “almost” because the daffodils and other spring flowers which are defying the last vestiges of winter, shone like beacons with vivid splashes of yellow and white punctuating the darkness.

I made it back to the flat in about an hour then had another Tesco pop-pop meal for dinner which I enjoyed while making another video call to Val and watching a couple more videos from the Vancouver mountain film festival. Then I think an early night beckons, and the opportunity to finish off another couple of chapters of my book.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In my favourite bulb-flower bed at the entrance to the castle demesne	Alexanders – that versatile Roman plant – launching into its life all-too-brief cycle. It will all be over in three or four months

More daffodils – outside the carpet shop – cum – petrol station at the La Mancha Cross	Pretty primulas in a flowerbed at the end of Millview



A healthy-looking (though I don’t know if it actually is) lichen has taken up residence on the traffic sign by the Centra store at the end of the Yellow Walls Road