Ireland day 1400. Tuesday 29 July 2025- Three Part Day

Today’s summary	Went to the gym in the morning for usual cycle/swim routine. Had delicious sausages in cider that Val had made for lunch. In the afternoon, we went to the shops then walked on up Seapark Hill (the “Secret” hill) and back via the Demesne. More sausages again for dinner, then some light TV to round off the evening.
Today’s weather	A brief shower in the morning then dry with quite a lot of sun in the afternoon. Light north westerly wind. Appx 21c.

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): Seapark Hill with Val

Commentary

Well the first thing I have to report back is that the Cervantes Spanish last night wasn’t as daunting as I had feared. And there was someone on the course that I knew from Portmarnock Spanish classes, which was nice. And there were only six students, which made it all a bit more manageable.

So the day today was split into three parts.

For part 1, after breakfast I went off to the gym to blast through my usual cycle / run routine. Like last time, the holiday season meant that it was relatively quiet down there, which was nice. Val meanwhile did her domestic goddess bit and rustled up a delicious sausage-and-cider casserole (courtesy of Delia Smith) which we had for both lunch and dinner.

Part two, in the early afternoon, comprised a bit of down-time for Val while I did my first instalment of Spanish deberes, inherited from last night’s class.

Finally our third part consolidated the day into a quick trip into town with Val to get some essential supplies (ok I will fess up – it was beer). We followed that up with a walk up Seapark Hill to admire the new housing estate (penthouses €1.5million) and the views over the Dublin mountains. We came back via the Demesne.

There was of course a sort of part 3a as well – casserole with the beers we picked up earlier, and a James Bond film (yes that’s our latest fad) to round things off afterwards.

So a pretty good day all round, I’d say. Then it’s back to Cervantes tomorrow for a re-run!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Val’s super-delicious sausage in cider casserole. So good it lasted just one day!	Yes it’s us again. By the way I have noticed I almost always appear on the left of these selfies. I must try to remember to mix things up a bit next time

Looking back to the new development at the top of Seamount Rise – the penthouses in the block on the centre horizon retail for a cool €1.5 million each	Couldn’t resist my favourite tree looking lovely again in the late afternoon sun

A nice introduction to the “Secret Garden”, tucked away here on the Casino estate	Val checking out this hidden gem

End of the day winding-down ingredients. At least I hope so