Ireland day 1135. Wednesday 06 November 2024- From Manchester

Today’s summary	Final leg of our journey back to Malahide today. Had breakfast in the hotel and even time for a quick dip in the pool, then caught a 3pm flight from Manchester airport. All worked remarkably well, and we even caught a 102 bus from Dublin airport to Malahide after only a 10 minute wait. We were back in the flat by 5:30pm, so had plenty of time to get a Thai takeaway for dinner and to watch some analysis of the US election results.
Today’s weather	Overcast but dry in Manchester and Dublin. Light southerly wind. Appx 14c

Today’s overview location (The red and blue marks shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue mark shows where are tonight) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Today our Canary Island holiday officially concluded. We spent last night in the Radisson hotel at Manchester airport, and had enjoyed evening dinner yesterday with our friends at the hotel before they set off back to their home in Cheshire. This morning, we had had our statutory cup of tea in bed, then enjoyed a pretty decent Radisson breakfast where, as usual we were the last to leave the dining room when the buffet finally closed at 11am. That still left a couple of hours for us head down to the gym, where I did 20 impressive sounding lengths in the microscopic pool, and Val managed a respectable run on the treadmill.

Eventually, when we had finished being virtuous, it was time to make our way back to the airport proper, and to seek out the Dublin departures from terminal 3. We made it through security without too much fuss (apart from my hips) then got coffees and refreshments from “Kiosco” – a coffee bar uncannily similar in name to our favourite bar in Vallehermoso. The 3pm flight across the Irish Sea took about 30 minutes end to end, so we were through Immigration and waiting for the 102 outside Dublin airport in seemingly no time at all.

The bus duly arrived and whisked us through to Malahide as it got fully dark – almost two hours sooner here than in the Canaries. We were back in the flat by 5:30pm, a mere two and a half hours after boarding our aircraft in Manchester.

We decided to allow ourselves one final treat this evening – of a Thai takeaway courtesy of Siam Kitchen, then watched the coverage of the US election results (which have been described as “historic”). Now, in view of the fact that Val, impressively, starts her six-week stint at Wonderlights tomorrow, I’m going to sign off, so we can get an early-ish night, meaning that we should both be refreshed and ready to go again in the morning. Let’s just hope that Iarnród Éireann don’t decide to start some of their interminable engineering works again tonight.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The view from our hotel bedroom window. Quite an interesting live show, actually	Checking out from the Radisson this morning. A hotel, like so many others. But it did the job, was convenient, quiet and comfortable. And it had a half-decent gym and pool

El Kiosco! Vallehermoso comes to Manchester Airport	Takeaway dinner tonight. Well why not. We are (sort of) still officially on holiday



Pole position (for a small fee!)