Café Paradiso

What a blooming awful night. The gales were mighty and the sleet and hail thunderous, I hardly slept a wink. The garden is underwater but no damage done. We awoke to clearish skies, the first for about five days, and decided to get out while we could - first having a lovely long skype with New Zealand. By the time we were organised, the murk had descended but it wasn't raining and the wind had dropped and it was warmer, so, picnic packed , we did a long one. Down along the old green road towards Kilcrohane, left down to Farranamanagh Lake, up onto the cliffs and moorland, then back along the road - around 11/12 squelchy kilometres I reckon. We stopped for picnic lunch, at a handy little cafe with steaming coffee and sticky buns in a ruined cabin, affording some shelter from the wind and mizzle, See extras for the position! Who lived here? Maybe a herdsman. It's not entirely on it's own for about 200m further on is another little cluster of derelict cabins. 

Just to add to the excitement, Birdwatch Ireland have a Valentine weekend challenge - count as many birds as you can on your 5km walk so I was busy jotting down all sightings. It was actually pretty quiet but, including the garden, there were over 30 different species recorded.

We watched News of the World with Tom Hanks last night - recommended for lockdown - well made, well acted, unchallenging and pretty predictable! Makes a change from Scandi noir.