Ireland day 1427. Monday 25 August 2025- From Chester

Today’s summary	Spent most of the day returning from the UK to Malahide. After breakfast and a chat with our friends at their house near Chester, we drove along the north Wales coast to catch a ferry to Ireland from Holyhead. Quite a slow journey because of the Bank Holiday traffic. The Stena Adventurer left on time at 3:15pm and it was a relatively smooth crossing to Dublin. Then a quick drive to Malahide and we were back in the flat before 8pm.
Today’s weather	Warm dry and sunny. Southerly wind. Appx 25c in UK.  Light rain and 20c in Malahide
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)			Close-up location (No GPX today)

Commentary

It’s been just a flying visit to the UK but it feels like we have packed a lot in. Val, even more so, as she also spent a few days in Bristol before coming up to meet me in Chester.

But today, following our brief stay, today it was time to return to Ireland once more. After a good, and much-needed, night’s sleep, we enjoyed breakfast, coffee and a last catch-up with our friends at their house near Chester. Then at 11am we set off to tackle the bank holiday traffic.

We had allowed 3 hours to travel to Holyhead, which is twice as long as it is supposed to take. But the A55 road along the north Wales coast is notoriously slow, and we didn’t want the stress of running out of time on a Bank Holiday when the traffic would most likely be heavy.

As it was, there were a lot of delays and hold ups, and the journey took well over two hours, but we made it to the ferry terminal in Holyhead in time. There was even time to look round the deeply unimpressive duty free at the Stena line terminal, from which we came out unsurprisingly empty-handed.   We did however admire the distant views of the Snowdonia (Eryri) – which you can see in the banner image at the top of this blog.

The drive through Wales, by the way, was most notable for being quite warm. The Yaris’ thermometer at one point registered 26c which is the first time in the almost four years we have owned it that it has ever been that high. But note to self: the trusty Yaris doesn’t have air conditioning and while you mostly don’t need it when driving in Ireland, we probably will if we are ever driving anywhere else in the summer. Something for us to bear in mind if we start thinking about getting another car.

We boarded the ferry – which was the same Stena Adventurer that had carried me from Dublin on Friday – a good half hour before the scheduled departure time at 3:15pm. Then we settled into the Stena Plus lounge (which was well worth the supplement we paid to get in, as the rest of the boat was packed) to enjoy our mini international cruise.

We set sail exactly on time and the crossing was very smooth, despite a 1.5m swell. It didn’t seem too long before we were at Dublin, though getting off the ship, through immigration and customs then out of the port onto the motorway was a slow affair as usual. But patience is a virtue and we were back in the flat by about 7pm.   Just time for a video catch up with family in Oxfordshire and Canada, once we had unpacked and got something to drink.

So now it’s time to figure out what to eat for dinner and then put our feet up for a bit in front of the TV. What a weekend.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

The super-deluxe Stena terminal in Holyhead	Exploring the cell-like cabins which you can book for a (big) premium.   Not an attractive option  to me – especially if you are stuck on the inside with no view
About to depart Anglesey – with Holyhead Mountain behind

Interactive map

(No map today)

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