Ireland day 1442. Tuesday 09 September 2025- UK Again

Today’s summary	Took a morning flight to London Stansted. Wanted to get to the UK in plenty of time for a hip-check up consultation in Southampton tomorrow. Val gave me a lift to the airport bright and early but my 9:30 flight was delayed an hour so we need not have rushed. Eventually made it successfully to central London despite flight delays and a tube strike. Afternoon meetings in London then met up with family in the evening for a pub dinner
Today’s weather	Cool and wet in Dublin. Warmer and dry with some sun in London. Strong south easterly wind. Appx 15c

Today’s overview location (The red line shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The red mark shows where I flew to) (No GPX today)

Commentary

The next couple of days I’m going to be travelling while Val is keeping the home fires burning back in Malahide. I have another hip check-up consultation in Southampton, UK, tomorrow but rather than chancing my luck and doing it in a one-day round trip, I have taken the precaution of going to the UK a day early and staying overnight tonight in London.

Normally I fly from Dublin to Gatwick but the schedules didn’t work so well today, so I took a flight to Stansted, to the north east of London, instead. Ryanair were scheduled to transport me there at 9:30am so we were up bright and early and Val gave me a lift to the airport to get me there early for my flight. It took 20 minutes to clear security – it was a bit busier than normal – but when I got through and checked the live departures board, I discovered that the flight was delayed for an hour so we need not have rushed. Oh well – plenty of time to get a much needed cup of coffee and some breakfast.

Eventually we took off and after a quick and comfortable flight, I made it to London where I encountered the next challenge – a tube strike. I got into Liverpool Street on the Stansted Express train OK, and had expected to have to walk the final 3km to my destination. But the fabulous Elizabeth Line came to the rescue and got me almost all the way to where I needed to be in about five minutes flat. Then I had a busy afternoon in a meeting attending to a domestic matter, and finally an evening pub dinner with family. A good way to end a busy day!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


A galaxy of possibilities! But mine is an hour late..	..at least a Pret has just opened at Dublin airport

A good aerial view of Chester. Possibly my favourite English city	HS2 railway works visible at a couple of points along the journey to Stansted. I think it’s great to see infrastructure progress like this – though it is controversial, I know

Speedy and efficient (but expensive at £25 one way) Stansted Express train service from the airport to Liverpool Street in 45 minutes	OK the tube system was largely closed down today because of a strike but the Elizabeth Line was still working and it’s great. An example for Ireland, perhaps? (but not the strike bit!)

Is this the UK’s “Air Force One”?