Ireland day 1357. Monday 16 June 2025- Turning Japanese

Today’s summary	In the morning we both went out to take advantage of today’s good weather. Val went on a run round the Demesne while I walked up and over Seamount then did some shopping. Spent the afternoon preparing a Japanese meal for two Walking Club friends who gave us useful guidance before our own trip to the far east earlier this year. Guests in the evening and much sake and good cheer was enjoyed.
Today’s weather	Beautiful warm dry and sunny all day. Moderate south westerly wind. Appx 20c

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): Seamount exploration

Commentary

What a contrast! After the cool wet weather of the last few days, today dawned dry and sunny, and it stayed that way all day. What a delight actually to be warm!

I didn’t wake up until about 8:30 this morning so that only left a short time for a quick cup of tea before getting up and getting on with the day. Val decided to go out on a run round the Demesne while I went on a rather more modest walking exploration of the Seamount estate, up near what I call Malahide’s “secret” hill.

It’s very nice up there, especially on a day like today. But I do envy Val and her running. It’s a source of some frustration that my hips won’t allow it. But on the other hand, I can do pretty much everything else I want, so I’m not really complaining (not much anyway).

On the way back from my hilly wander, I dropped into the shops to get some day to day essentials and also some (reduced!) sandwiches for lunch. I also managed to get some pop-pop meals 2/3rds off from Tescos. They always make a useful standby to have in the freezer.

Back in the flat, after enjoying our cheap sandwiches, we started getting ready for this evening. We’re hosting a couple of friends from the Walking Club for dinner this evening. They gave us lots of practical advice before we went on our trip to Japan this spring, based on their own visit last year. So by way of a thank you, we are making them a Japanese dinner tonight.

So it’s time to put down the keyboard now, and get the rice boiling, the sake chilling and the tempura frying. Really looking forward to it!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


It’s barely even officially summer yet, but the harbingers of a forthcoming season of mists and mellow fruitfulness are already here	On the footpath into Seamount Abbey. It’s nice up there, but I’d only walked that way once before as it used to be a dead-end until the new flats on Seamount Hill were finished

These are the Seamount Hill flats. They have been under construction almost all the time that we have been in Ireland but appear to be almost finished now. They look pretty good now but the real test will be what they look like after a couple of decades’ wear and tear – and exposure to Irish weather	Whatever happens, they do have nice views though

Pyramidal orchids popping up everywhere in the grassland by the foreshore	Low tide on the beach leading into Malahide

Looking a bit pained because I just pulled a muscle in my back. Quite uncomfortable but I’ve done it before and I know it will get better on its own – just needs time.