Ireland day 1498. Tuesday 04 November 2025- Wet Clare Hall

Today’s summary	Spent the first part of the morning dealing with some paperwork and then on a call to a friend in London. In the afternoon had another video call, this one with my Houston friend. Afterwards, walked to Clare Hall Tesco to get some bits that I couldn’t find in Malahide. Was caught in heavy rain and got soaked. Caught the no 42 bus back then finished off the curry for dinner. Picked up Val from the airport later in the evening.
Today’s weather	Rain on and off all day, especially in the afternoon. Light southerly breeze. Appx 14c

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): Clare Hall rainy walk

Commentary

With Val being away, I used the time this morning to catch up on a tonne of paperwork and filing. Part of my admin duties involved printing and scanning some key documents. Naturally of course successively the printer and scanner both broke down so I wasted a good hour trying to work out what was wrong and then fixing them.

Anyway eventually I was done, just in time for my 11:45 video call to a friend in London. We spoke for an enjoyable half hour before they had to dash off.

With the morning productively completed, I got a couple of snacks for lunch then dialled in to my next video call. This was with my friend in Houston. We have been speaking regularly every month since we arrived here in Ireland, so today must have been about our fiftieth chat. It’s a good routine.

By this time even though it was only about 3pm it was starting to get dark outside. But despite the gloom and the threat of rain, I decided I’d head out anyway. There were a few bits and pieces that I wanted to get but couldn’t find in Malahide. So I thought I’d walk down to Tesco Clare Hall to try my luck there instead.

The rain changed from being a threat to being a physical thing pouring out of the sky almost the second I stepped out of the front door. So waterproof jackets and trousers were donned and I plodded off through the puddles in the general direction of the Malahide Road and ultimately Clare Hall.

It took me about 80 minutes to get there, and when I did arrive, my waterproofs were soaking but for the most part, they did a good job of keeping me dry. I whizzed round the shop and got most of what I’d come for. By this time it was pitch dark and still raining so I immediately discarded any notion of walking back. I crossed over the dual carriageway at the front of Tesco and managed to hop on a no 42 bus which arrived a few seconds later.

I was delivered back to Malahide efficiently and, as I was hungry by then, I wasted no time in heating up the last of the curry from a few days ago, and scoffing the lot.

I had a few moments then to catch my breath and put my feet up, before making my way down to the basement to retrieve the Yaris and driving over to the airport. Val’s flight arrived more or less on time at 9:20pm and we were soon back in the flat, catching up on the news and enjoying a glass of red wine. It’s great to have her back!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


New traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing have been installed at the junction of the Back Road and Malahide Road in the last few weeks. they aren’t operating yet but when they are it will make a huge difference. At the moment, trying to pull out in a car, or to cross the road on foot, is deadly	Entranceway to former Taoiseach Charles Haughey’s house on the Dublin Road. It must have been a wonderful oasis of peace and calm

St Doulagh’s Church, still standing after 800 years	This walkway and cycle path in Belmayne (just this side of Clare Hall) has been finished but blocked off for at least four years. Anyway, in the last few weeks it has finally been opened up to traffic. I must go and take a walk down there one day, to find out where it goes



Admittedly, I haven’t walked to Clare Hall for a few months, but in the intervening time since I was last on this route, a huge programme of residential house-building work seems to have sprung up alongside the Malahide Road. Quite astonishing! I counted at least a dozen new sites between here and Clare Hall. A partial response, perhaps, to Ireland’s housing crisis. The No. 42 is going to get very busy!