Ireland day 1431. Friday 29 August 2025- Swallows

Today’s summary	Val was at work so as soon as she left I started the remainder of my Spanish homework. Finished after 90 minutes then went shopping and did the recycling. Tuna on oatcakes for lunch then walked to Sutton. Saw beautiful swallows on Paddy’s Hill then caught the bus back from Sutton at the end. Chicken and broccoli for dinner once Val got returned.
Today’s weather	Sunny first thing then clouded over mid morning but remaining dry. Strong westerly wind. Appx 17c

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): Swallows Hill and Sutton

Commentary

We both had relatively productive days today. Val, it has to be said, probably the more so, as she spent most of it at work in the museum. I admire her dedication.

Anyway, once breakfast and lunches were sorted out, and breakfast teas drunk, Val pottered off to take care of the model railway and I settled down to do my Spanish deberes. I was determined do it quickly so I could have the rest of the day free. If I don’t get cracking early on, it has a tendency to drag on all day.

Despite my determination, it still took an hour and a half – but that’s the last lot for now and as next Monday’s class is the final in the series, I should soon be getting some of my mornings back. Hooray!

Once deberes was completed, I headed into town to do the bottle and can recycling (important, to get the deposits back) and to get some shopping. Then it was time for lunch, so I had some rather nice spicy tinned tuna, which Val had bought at SuperValu, served on oatcakes. Tasty, quick and reasonably healthy, I think.

After lunch, I felt like I needed some exercise, so I strolled over the hill and down the coast to Sutton. It was a lovely walk – bright and breezy and not too cold. The icing on the cake was the flock of beautiful swallows swooping and diving over the playing field near Paddy’s Hill. Sublime.

Once I got to Sutton station, I treated myself to a cup of tea and a slice of Rocky Road. The latter was anything but sublime and should supply me with enough carbohydrate to last until Christmas. Anyway, I enjoyed it while I waited for the 102 bus to arrive, which it duly did and whisked me back to Malahide.

It wasn’t long after I had returned to the flat that Val got back from work. So we had (another) cup of tea before Val set about making the dinner. I am charged with doing the washing up afterwards – I’m not very good at cooking and anyway the kitchen is too small to accommodate both of us at the same time without disharmony ensuing(!)

Tonight we had chicken in a Teriyaki-style oriental sauce, with roast broccoli and rice. Once again it was fabulous.

Eventually we had cooked, dined and washed up, and it was time to settle down with some TV. Not quite sure what is on the agenda tonight, but at the moment we are seeking out lighter viewing, so probably something humorous. We have decided that it’s definitely best to go to bed in a cheerful frame of mind.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


My reward for finishing my Spanish before noon	Lots of these half-finished burrows (if there can be such a thing as half a hole) have appeared on the GAA fields up by the demesne. Often with scat. I have no idea what’s making them – the poo didn’t look like rabbits’, and the holes weren’t big enough for badgers. A big squirrel perhaps?

I really like this view of the Sugarloaf from Seamount Road.	Looking north from Paddy’s Hill to the swallows’ playing fields (the green area in the distance)

On the Baldoyle greenway. The new houses are springing up. Everything changes so fast! There was no sign of them last time I was here – which I think was 24 July, just five weeks ago	A beautiful view of a new DART pantograph (in red) from the passenger footbridge at Sutton Station

“A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips” as they say. Definitely a moment of weakness, that’s for sure