Ireland day 1411. Saturday 09 August 2025- Malahide Mountains

Today’s summary	Still in the process of recovery. Val was working at the museum all day and I stayed in the flat for the morning and did my Spanish deberes. Went on a short walk round some new areas of Malahide in the afternoon. Val cooked a delicious fish finger curry for dinner and I cleared up. Watched some more TV in the evening.
Today’s weather	Dry and bright with long sunny intervals. Blustery south westerly wind. Appx 19c.

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): Malahide Mountains

Commentary

Life is beginning to fall back into a kind of post- viral norm. On account of Covid and ongoing issues with my hip, I have decided to step aside from Walking Club activities for the time being. That gave us a free weekend to contemplate.

As it happened, Val had been asked to put in a shift at the museum today, and I knew that would work well for me as I had a lot of Spanish deberes to catch up on. So she pottered off to work around 9:30 am and I got up, made her breakfast and a packed lunch, and then set about my homework.

It took me quite a long time to get through it – mainly because I struggle to understand the audios. And also because I find it difficult to know when to use the Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive cases. And that’s on top of all the tenses and conjugations! I think it’s just a case of practice, practice and more practice but my goodness it’s hard work.

Eventually I’d had enough and so by early afternoon I stopped and accepted that I’d have to finish off tomorrow. I got myself a light lunch (roast chicken and tomatoes on toast, followed by some biscuits and a cup of coffee) then thought about the afternoon.

It was a lovely day outside and I didn’t want to miss it. So I got my fleece (always needed in Ireland and even on sunny days) and headed out. I wandered through the edge of the Demesne then up through Seamount Abbey to the new Seamount Rise estate. I explored a new route through the flats, leading to a different way of accessing Seamount Hill (which I’m beginning to christen the Malahide Mountain range in my head – though clearly it isn’t).

Once I’d completed my mountaineering expedition, I dropped down to the coast and walked back through town, keeping everyone at arm’s length, of course. Many cups of tea were consumed back at the flat, then Val returned and all was right with the world once again.

Duly refreshed, she pulled together an absolutely superb fish finger curry (you should try it one day) and I did the washing up afterwards. This is a much better division of labour as whenever I cook it always seem to end up involving toast.

We will probably spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of TV. We have been following the BBC3 series “Normal People” on Netflix recently. It’s quite compelling and we need to finish it off tonight. Though I have to say that if Marianne and Connell are “normal” I’ll happily remain abnormal. Two of the most self indulgent, miserable and generally unpleasant people I’ve ever come across!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Old-Man’s Beard (Clematis vit-alba) blooming in the hedgerow alongside the GAA pitches in the demesne. Actually there’s quite a lot of interesting stuff growing in this hedge. You could probably write a whole thesis on it	And here is the old man himself (minus beard) doing his best to keep hanging on in there

OK I know its a bit of a stretch but if you squint and look hard at this view from Seamount Hill, you might just be able to see the Cooleys on the far horizon	New Street Malahide with Gibneys clientele enjoying the sunshine



Quiet please. Genius at work. If only.