Ireland day 1561. Tuesday 06 January 2026- Keeping Going

Today’s summary	Had a fairly relaxed morning then packed some more belongings into the car prior to UK trip tomorrow. Then we drove to South Dublin for an appointment. On the way back stopped in at Ikea for lunch and to get some packing cases. Also filled up with petrol at Applegreen on the way. In the evening did the final bit of packing, had frozen Tesco pop pop meals for dinner, and watched “Chef’s Kitchen” on the iPad.
Today’s weather	Cool and dry but more cloud and a bit milder than yesterday. Light westerly wind. Appx 5c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red mark shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Having made the decision that we’re going to be moving, for the time being, at the end of the month, it feels like we are on a bit of an exit trajectory now. We are keeping on going with our packing which meant that much of today was mostly focused on on getting ready for our car trip to the UK tomorrow, when we’re taking back our heavy and bulky things.

We allowed ourselves a relatively relaxed morning though, with time for tea and toast. Then once we were organised for the day, we started loading the next batch of belongings into the car. Christmas decorations, walking boots and frying pans, among many others. Poor old Trusty the Yaris looks fit to burst!

Once we had done that, we went on a short jaunt in the car to South Dublin – we had a longstanding engagement and needed to be there by 2:30pm. Then once that was finished, we decided as we were passing to call into Ikea. Mainly to get some lunch (I do like their salmon and mozzarella though sadly today the mozzarella had sold out).

But also we needed a few packing boxes to use when we get to the storage depot on Thursday. And while we were in the shop, Val also got some rather neat compression bags that you fill with your stuff then seal up and suck the air out of with a vacuum cleaner. She successfully used one of them this evening to reduce the volume of a duvet by about 90%. What a great invention.

From Ikea we beat a path to Malahide, stopping in en route at Applegreen to top up with fuel ready for our long drive tomorrow. Eventually we made it back and decided to try and find room for just one more thing in the car (the printer). I do hope it doesn’t turn out to be the straw that breaks the camels back!

Finally, for dinner we had a couple of Tesco pop pop ready meals that I bought a few weeks ago and rounded everything off with an episode of “Chef’s Kitchen”. We are making do with the iPad to catch up on our Netflix, which is OK but not quite such an immersive experience as a proper TV.

We have an early start for our trip tomorrow, so I better get my toothbrush and clean socks ready!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


A curious name for a storage facility..	..obviously named after Sweden’s most iconic nuclear power station

Catching up with a slippery friend in Ikea	Half price Colins at the Applegreen mini-M&S. Too good an opportunity to be missed!



Vacuum packed duvet. What a great idea