Ireland day 1470. Tuesday 07 October 2025- Back to Ireland

Today’s summary	Got up early and Val went to a meeting for the morning in King’s Cross. After breakfast, I went for a walk along the South Bank to look at the Tate Modern. Once Val was back we had Sushi for lunch then left at about 2pm to go to Blackfriars station for a train to Gatwick. Caught a Ryanair flight to Dublin at 1720 then the 102 bus from the airport to Malahide. Back in the flat before 8pm.
Today’s weather	Overcast but quite bright and dry. Light westerly wind. Appx 17c. Rain in Dublin

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Tate Modern

Commentary

Today was our last day in London. Val had a busy morning attending a meeting in King’s Cross, but I didn’t have anything specific organised. It was quite nice to have some time to myself!

So we both got up early – despite slightly thick heads from the nice bottle of red wine – oh and the beers – which we had finished off with our family last night. Anyway, I made a quick breakfast and Val was away by 7:30am. I on the other hand had another cup of tea and started planning a rather more leisurely morning.

So once I was bright eyed and bushy tailed again, I decided that I’d like to go and take a look at the Tate Modern art gallery. It’s quite a nice walk along the South Bank to get there, and the building itself is always worth a look, even if the contents aren’t.

Today was one of those days when sadly the major displays in the turbine hall left me completely baffled. One looked like a series of animal skins hanging from the roof, the other looked like a collection of sticks. Somewhat unimpressed, I decided to call it a day and to go on a slightly extended walk rather than perusing the galleries.

So I rounded off my loop by heading over to St Paul’s, then back through the legal district north of Fleet Street. I paused at Waitrose on the way to get some sushi, which Val and I had for lunch once her meeting had finished and she got back.

By now it was 2pm, so it was time to gather our things and make our way to Blackfriars station. From there, we caught a Thameslink train to Gatwick and subsequently a 17:20 Ryanair flight to Dublin.

Once safely back in the Emerald Isle, we managed to get a 102 bus with no wait at all – it was standing at the bus stop when we arrived. We were finally in the flat in Malahide by 7:50pm. A record – five hours and fifty minutes door to door London-Dublin!

It’s been a great break – very varied and just what the doctor ordered. Now it’s time to start thinking about the next chapter of lives in Ireland. Exciting times!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Doing a beach-clean along the south shore of the Thames at low tide – just before Blackfriars Bridge	Wooded avenue leading up to the Tate Modern just beginning to show the first hints of Autumn

The main display in the upstream end of the Tate Modern. It’s the thing hanging from the roof, but I couldn’t tell you what it is supposed to be	The one in the downstream gallery was equally incomprehensible, unless you are an expert in sticks

On the “Wobbly” Millennium Bridge, crossing North from the gallery to St Pauls	Back in Dublin this evening. Yes you guessed it – it’s raining!

An iconic view downstream from one bridge to another bridge