Ireland day 1572. Saturday 17 January 2026- To London Again

Today’s summary	For the third time in six days, I am returning to the UK today. Val and I took an early 102 bus to Dublin Airport and then caught an 11:35 flight to Gatwick. We are taking another few large cases of baggage back to London in advance of our final return. A straightforward journey but the novelty is wearing off a bit now. In London for a couple of nights before starting travelling again
Today’s weather	Overcast and showery with occasional brighter spells. Light south easterly wind. Appx 7c. London similar but dry and a couple of degrees warmer

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

Commentary

Well here we go again! After recent flights and car trips to the UK, we have managed to get the bulk of our belongings back to the UK now, but there were still some things left that needed transporting even after all these endeavours. So today we did it all again – and embarked on what was, for me, the third Ireland-UK trip in six days.

Yesterday we spent packing up and managed to fill three large-ish cases and a couple of rucksacks with our possessions – just about the most that the two of us could reasonably manage on a flight (and all the faffing around to get to and from the airport at either end). So yet another early morning beckoned. We were up by 6 am and then out to the bus stop with our luggage, waiting for the 102 at about 7:45am.

The bus duly arrived and we managed to climb onboard just before the heavens opened and it poured with rain. Of course we arrived miles too early at the airport and even after we had grappled with the self-scan bag drop, we still had well over the recommended two hours until our 11:35 departure.

I’m writing this from Gate 106 at Dublin airport, keeping fingers crossed that the rest of the journey goes smoothly. Everything seems OK so far although the Thameslink service to London from Gatwick isn’t working this weekend, so we may have to take the more expensive and less convenient Gatwick Express to Victoria instead.

Once in London, we are staying overnight before starting some more European travelling – this time for pleasure, though, so less encumbered with baggage than we currently are. Stay tuned for further updates on that.

But right now I am in desperate need of a cup of coffee and a croissant, so I’m going to sign off for the day – unless of course anything unexpected happens which needs reporting. Be prepared, as they say!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Waiting for the 102 – and hoping that the rain, which had been threatening to pour down ever since we stepped out of the front door – would hold off for just a few minutes more	Off goes our case! no human interaction at all in the whole bag drop process.

The endless corridors leading to gate 106	Text here

Text here	Text here

On the wall at Dublin departures. This Antonov is (or was) one of the world’s largest aircraft. I think it was Ukrainian, though I could be wrong. I also think that one of the first class 201 diesel rail locomotives – now used to haul the “Enterprise” trains – was flown to Ireland from the USA in one of these.