Ireland day 1439. Saturday 06 September 2025- Plan B Again

Today’s summary	Val still away and my planned geology trip to Lambay Island was cancelled because of bad weather. So I suddenly had a free day and I used it to do the hoovering and then to go on a walk round the Demesne and over the hill to the coast. Very enjoyable but very windy. Collected Val from the airport around 7pm after her brief trip to London.
Today’s weather	Very windy and overcast but dry. Strong to gale force south easterly wind. Appx 18c

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): Plan B Demesne Hill Coast

Commentary

The best laid plans… – and all that.

Yes, today was one of those occasions when things didn’t work out quite as planned. It’s not the first time it’s happened since we moved to Ireland, of course, but nevertheless it’s frustrating.

A field trip today to Lambay Island had been organised by the Irish Geological Association and I had signed up to go. With Val still being away in London until later in the evening, a trip to this interesting island would have been fitted very well into the day. Anyway, it wasn’t to be as a sudden period of windy weather has hit Ireland and the boatman deemed it too hazardous to make the crossing to the island. So I need to do some quick thinking to come up with a Plan B that would make the best use of the suddenly-free time.

I was a bit lacking in imagination first thing, so until I composed my thoughts, I got the vacuum cleaner out and mindlessly hoovered the flat. By the time I’d finished, I had come up with a straightforward if unimaginative plan. Basically, I decided I’d do my favourite hill and coast walk, but extend it a bit by walking round the Demesne first.

So that’s what I did. It was an enjoyable excursion, and at almost 12km, it felt like a decent leg-stretch. It was windy all the way round and especially so on the coast. There was no doubt that trying to take a group over to Lambay in these conditions would have been uncomfortable, at the least.

On the way round I stopped in Dunnes to get a few bits and pieces, then picked up a cup of tea at the Spar shop, which I enjoyed, along with a Dunnes banana, on the beach at Portmarnock. I ate it quickly but didn’t hang around because it was quite uncomfortable in the gale and the wind direction made it difficult to find anywhere with shelter.

I completed the walk back along the coast quite quickly and after a brief stop in Tesco to get some tomatoes, made it back to the flat by 3pm. After a couple of cups of tea and a few minutes to get my things together ready for a Club walk tomorrow, I did a final quick tidy round the flat and set off to pick up Val at the airport, ready for her 7pm arrival.

So, quite a decent day despite the initial disappointment. And it’s great to have Val back, too. Onwards and outwards!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Watery sun in a stormy sky on my circuit of the demesne	Schools training at the sports fields in the demesne. A regular feature of autumn and winter Saturdays

Fairy circles on Paddy’s Hill looking lurid after the rain	Trying to look like I am relishing the prospect of eating a banana. I promised myself a chocolate biscuit if I managed it. Well at least I enjoyed the biscuit



Looking a bit rough for a crossing to Lambay – definitely a good call to cancel. And it got even windier later. (The forecast for tomorrow is worse still)