Ireland day 1366. Wednesday 25 June 2025- Iron Maiden

Today’s summary	Spent the morning finishing off our UK tax return then went to the Grand Hotel for lunch. We were surrounded by ageing Iron Maiden fans eating salads and who were here for tonight’s concert at Malahide Castle. Walked up to the Demesne to check out the stage and listen to the soundcheck. Had a look at Val’s yellow rattle plants in the meadow by the model railway museum on the way back. Snacks for dinner, then “Mad Men” and second hand Iron Maiden in the evening.
Today’s weather	Overcast with an occasional shower. Light southerly wind. Appx 18c

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): Iron Maiden walk

Commentary

Today was a day of two halves. A half of tax and a half of relaxation.

So our morning today started as so many do these days – with a cup of tea in bed with a few minutes spent putting the world to rights. Then, after we had successfully resisted the temptation of a third cup we got up and set about the days activities. Top of my list was tax.

Oh how I dislike working on tax. It seems ironic that you have to spend hours doing it, just so the Government can work out how much you have to pay them for the privilege. Still, it keeps society functioning I guess. Anyway, today we finished gathering together all the data the taxman will need, and entered it all into our various spreadsheets. Finally, we sent the whole lot off for processing and – with any luck – that should be both our Irish and our UK returns finished for another year.

The second half of the day was more fun. With tax out of the way, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the Grand Hotel, just down the road here in Malahide. It was very enjoyable but perhaps the most fascinating aspect was the generally curious experience of being in this luxurious restaurant surrounded by ageing Iron Maiden fans, here in advance of tonight’s concert. Strangest of all, they all seemed to be heartily tucking into crispy salads and drinking mineral water. Oh how times have changed.

On the way out of the hotel, I dropped in at the adjacent “Arena” gym. If my hips are going to be problematic, I might need to pivot from walking to swimming and exercise bike as alternative forms of aerobic training. So I’ll probably sign up once the refurbishment currently underway in the changing rooms, is complete.

From there we walked up the “secret” hill and admired the view from the top. A short stroll down the hill from there took us to the Demesne where of course we walked over to Paupers Hill to have a look at the preparations for tonight’s concert. The fans were already massing, listening to the soundcheck as they waited patiently to be allowed into the arena. We chatted to one of them who told us he had driven up from Cork specially for the event. He was “putting to bed the ghost of 1991” when he’d had a ticket to an Iron Maiden concert but had been unable to go. I think the band was already getting a bit long in the tooth even then.

We left the Demesne and walked back to the flat by way of the meadow outside the model railway museum. Val wanted to show me her yellow rattle plants, of which she is justifiably proud. And even to my untrained eye they were indeed impressive.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a snacky supper, finishing off a bottle of red wine, and watching one of the last episodes of “Mad Men”. All the while of course setting this to the second hand soundtrack of Iron Maiden echoing over the treetops. All very relaxing, in a heavy metal sort of way.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Heading to the Paddy Ryan lounge in the Grand Hotel – where a suitably hard rock lunch awaits	In the Arena Gym. The changing rooms are being refurbished at the moment – which is probably a good thing as they were looking a bit tatty last time I was there. The works should be finished next week

Up on the Secret Hill. Very flattering light…	The Castle getting ready for tonight’s concert. It’s seen it all before, many many times

*We found this tree growing up in the Demesne but couldn’t immediately identify it. Google images tell me it is likely to be Nothofagus alpina* – a kind of Southern Hemisphere beech**	The Yellow Rattle Queen (rattle is the small yellow-flowered plant Val is holding in her left hand)

Mmmm. Festival food