Ireland day 1515. Friday 21 November 2025- Chilly

Today’s summary	Spent the morning shredding out-of-date paperwork and then making lunch of rollmop herrings and salmon. In the afternoon we did our usual hill and coast circular walk but didn’t pause for long for refreshments on Portmarnock beach because it was cold. On the way back, Val stopped at one of the clothes shops to buy a new jacket while I went back to the flat. Salmon salad for tea, followed by “Goldfinger” on Amazon.
Today’s weather	Cold and bright with sun in the morning but more cloud and a little drizzle later in the afternoon. Light westerly breeze. Appx 5c.

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): Chilly hill and coast walk

Commentary

We don’t have any major engagements in our diaries at the moment, so we are using the spare time to get some of our bits and pieces in order. The last few days have been all about clearing out excess clothes from my wardrobe, and today it was the turn of my files of paperwork.

Before tackling the bureaucracy, we had a tea and toast breakfast, then I started attacking the files. Over the past four or five years in Ireland, I seem to have accumulated reams and reams of documents which at one time seemed important, but which now just feel like dusty relics of the past. I’d put off dealing with this particular situation, mainly because it always seemed too difficult and because there was usually something I’d rather be doing instead.

But today, the rationalisation could wait no longer, because otherwise my ring-binders would have exploded with the volume of their contents. To make the task more manageable, I just started on one of my many binders. After a bit of work I managed to extract about 300 sheets, which I duly shredded and took down to the recycling. There can be no going back now – but it felt very cathartic. While I was working on this, Val went on a run round the Demesne, which was also cathartic in its own way.

Next, I made a light lunch of baked salmon (which Val prepared yesterday) with rollmop herrings and hummus. Tasty and it felt nutritious too.

By the time we’d eaten and tidied up, I was feeling a bit cooped up so persuaded Val to join me on our favourite “hill and coast” walk. It was clear and cold outside, and it felt good to in the fresh air. We dropped into the shop at Portmarnock where we got refreshments. I made the mistake of buying a Stroopwafel which was practically inedible because the cold had hardened the syrup to the point of being like sticky concrete. So I abandoned my efforts to eat it and took it back to the flat for subsequent consumption.

On the return journey through Malahide, Val stopped off at one of the clothes shops to get herself a rather nice new jacket, while I went in to Tesco to pick up some provisions for the next few days.

On return to the flat, we had a cup of tea and I made us another light salad for dinner. Smoked salmon, lettuce, tomatoes and beetroot. Very nice. Then finally, as we have done a few times lately, we watched a James Bond film on Amazon. We’re making best use of the “free” Bond season (it finishes in ten days) and tonight it’s “Goldfinger”. Blissful escapism.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


I was surprised to see hollies in flower up in the demesne, because many bushes hereabouts are full of ripe red berries already. Perhaps this bush is flowering in anticipation of next autumn’s fruiting season, taking a full year to mature and ripen. I’ll have to do some research on the life cycle of Ilex europaeus	My favourite view of the serpentine path through the demesne woodlands

Keeping warm on the top of Paddy’s Hill	A disastrous choice of snack. The caramel milkshake was nice, if sickly, but the stroopwafel was so cold the syrup had set hard, rendering it temporarily inedible

Lots of seaweed washed up on the beach after storm Claudia. If you look carefully, you can see someone collecting it up – presumably to use as garden fertiliser	The heliotropes on the seaward side of the embankment are withered and scorched brown. Another casualty of Claudia’s salty spray, probably

Lunch. Quite tasty, even though I say so myself