If the CAA are feeling difficult ("Never!", I hear you cry) they look at the straight-line distance between the airfields you use for your cross-country qualifier.

However, provided you keep your PLOG for the flights, I am almost certain you could argue that an Elstree, Cranfield, Southend (or similar) series of flights, which snake around the Stansted Zone in order to give you a longer flight, would be accepted.

The reality is that they probably won't check the distances. They're more interested in other ways of being pedantic. :*