Left on Sunday afternoon for Wales first time in the camper! Said goodbye to Marilyn and John with whom we had an amazing time with and who were so good to us – it just made it so much easier to find a camper and see London with having a base and the internet etc.
We pretty much drove straight to a little place called Llangollen. It was just gorgeous and found a free carpark easily and big enough for the camper. Fortunately the shops were mostly closed – included a scrapbook shop (first one I have seen Laura!) and a craft shop – so guess that stopped us from spending money! Bought fish and chips tonight from a real Welsh fish and chips shop – it was fascinating just sitting there listening to their way of speaking. Then back to the campervan to eat it. We then went to find the camp I had sourced from the internet but on the way spotted a fabulous little camp – so green and so beautiful so spent our first night in our camper there (James Caravan park, Ruabon near Wrexham). Only 15 pound for the night and great showers and toilets.
21st June 2010 – WALES to IRELAND
Monday morning the camp was so quiet and peaceful we slept in and just soaked up the atmosphere. Geoff cooked our usual egg on toast (no salt as we had forgotten to buy it). I also have no pillow as have not found a shop with decent ones so stuffed a pillowcase for Sunday night. We finally got going and first stop was Trevor where there was canal boats and an impressive aquaduct – just a narrow stretch of water high on a viaduct (really need to see the photos).
Headed to Betws-y-Coed where it was a pie in the park for lunch. Cute little place and roads were just awesome. Went to Llanberis incredible scenery on the way, Geoff got us into a real tight spot here by going the wrong way fortunately we didn’t meet any other cars and could turn around at the end! I was going mad! Then headed to Caernarfon where Geoff wanted to see the Castle. The castle was within a walled city and was right on the Coast. Very picturesque. Then full steam ahead to Holyhead to catch the ferry. Found a supermarket right by the Port but alas no pillow!
Arrived in Dublin, Ireland and used the GPS called Tom (sorry Mark we have ditched Doris – Marilyn and John bringing back as Geoff could not operate it!) to avoid toll roads and take us to North Beach, Rush. Well our first introduction to Ireland was right through the residential areas on narrow little back streets – maybe we should pay the tolls! Finally hit the motorway out to Rush. Arrived at a beautiful camping ground with 180 degree views of the beach. The weather other than Singapore has been just superb. Very very warm here in Ireland – camp lady said unusual but looks pretty settled for our week here. We are parked overlooking this beach and are here for two nights. 23 euros a night here but we can bus into Dublin for 5 euros each and this will allow us to ride the buses all day in Dublin so probably won’t do the hop on hop off bus tour there. Apparently Dublin is relatively compact but will know more tomorrow. Meantime walked into the little village here and got some really yummy turkey and chicken salads for tea and only 3.99 euro’s each. However only started dinner at 10.00pm it is so light here and hard to get to bed before about 11.00pm or midnight,
22nd June 2010 – DUBLIN
Missed bus to town by one minute this morning so a half hour wait until the next one. Geoff’s calf muscle still sore so slows us down! Bus took an hour into town and we thought a great seat would be up the top right at the front of the double decker bus– it was scary! I was ducking for every tree and lamp post – we seemed to go so close I guess because the roads are so narrow. Eventually I got used to it!
The day spent sightseeing – I guess the highlight being the Guinness factory – quite interesting. On the whole though we are not impressed with Dublin – it is dreary and full of strange people, lots of homeless begging on the main streets and lots of very shady looking characters. Pleased to come back to our lovely camp spot at North Beach!
23rd June 2010 – DUBLIN to WATERFORD
Got away nice and early this morning however had a little problem with Tom and ended up driving around in circles trying to find the Malahide Castle! Finally got there – castle set in awesome grounds. Then off to a little fishing village called Howth where we found an Australian in an Italian coffee shop that made quite good coffee. Then we shared a haddock and chips for lunch in the camper. Beautiful tree lined roads.
Off to Blessington Lakes and through the mountain pass of Wicklow – stopped at the top at the Wicklow Gap and had a coffee in the van. Off then to Avoca handweavers – I would have been very tempted to buy a scarf from here but none leapt out “buy me” fortunately. Also lovely village and church here.
Today we have been down some very very back roads of Ireland and once again the weather has been nice to us and its very warm. These roads are very very beautiful all tree lined avenues and quite narrow.
Off to Waterford and then out to Newton to find a camping ground as too late for the Waterford factory tonight.
Poor Geoff a bit miserable as has really bad cold and still limping from calf muscle injury in London.
24th June 2010 WATERFORD to KILLARNEY
Slow morning this morning doing a load of washing, updating the blog and skyping home so about 11.00am before we finally set off. I told Tom the road to go to for the Waterford Crystal place however we ended up at an unknown place! From there we followed the road signs which were a much better option! Anyway Tom must have got annoyed with me because he blew the fuse on the cigarette lighter and that was that – no GPS!! Our map very sketchy at best – its going to be a good day!
Well Waterford Crystal was absolutely awesome – yes, I was tempted. Mel & Nick we have sent a piece to your place. Can you open it and check its not broken and give to Laura to keep with all our stuff. It is a beautiful cake stand plate. Picture below. Had a lovely cup of coffee in the sun here.
Next stop was Cobh the town the Titanic left from on its fateful journey – lots of Titanic stuff in this town including a monument – picture below. The town itself was very colourful in its buildings, lovely boats on the harbor and the usual big church towering over the town. Picked up lovely French baguettes and ham for lunch.
Next was Cork – another city – nothing of note to mention. We arrived here in rush hour traffic so took a long time to get through the town and without Tom we went round and round so had our own bus tour with plenty of time (as we were moving so slow) to see the sights.
Then on to Blarney where we wanted to see the castle and kiss the blarney stone – quite an experience. Very narrow stairs up – wouldn’t want to be any bigger especially with backpack on. You will see the photo below of me kissing the stone so I now am full of eloquence. Geoff also did and after came up for air – he became quite dizzy then dropped his phone – just lucky it didn’t drop out when he was upside down kissing the stone!
Off to Killarney another neat town and nice camping ground although when I told her they were the most expensive camp yet she dropped the price! Still paid 27 euros and showers an extra 1 euro each!
25th June 2010 - KILLARNEY, RING OF KERRY, DINGLE, GALWAY to FERMANAGH
Big day ahead so we got up at 6.00am and got organized and off by 7.15am. However after about quarter an hour Geoff realized his phone was not in his pocket so it was back to the camp and sure enough by the waste water dump there was his phone – lucky. He has fixed the fuse so
Tom is working again.
Next issue was Tom finds the fastest route and we wanted to drive the Ring of Kerry so I put in a town at the end of the ring but Tom was taking us cross country to it rather than around the ring road. When we realized we then put in a town at the bottom of the ring road – well Tom had a fit and he took us down what were really walking lanes not a road, we lost GPS signal many times and were being scratched on both sides of the van by trees at the same time. I am sure this is the worst track/road we will encounter in our OE. It was not a nice experience especially having no idea when we would find a main road and hoping that we wouldn’t meet any oncoming traffic. We did meet some pedestrians and they had to climb off the side of the track to let us pass – they didn’t seem too perturbed but I bet they didn’t often see a campervan down their walking track!!
Ring of Kerry was a terrible road especially the first half – very very rough and the camper bounced around. I opened a cupboard and the whole top shelf and plates fell out! Scenery was okay but nothing to write home about. It is 100 miles around and took 3 hours which in hindsight we shouldn’t have done but had heard so much about the Ring of Kerry.
I had liked photos of Dingle so we made our own ring road of the Dingle Pennisula which is right beside Ring of Kerry. This was fabulous and thoroughly recommend it – fantastic panoramic views. Dingle was a cute town.
We decided to skip the Cliffs of Moher and went straight to Galway. Galway was not what I imagined. I had thought it a fishing town but as photos will show there was a war ship in port and very little else. The town was nicer than Dublin but the cities make me feel a bit nervous with all our stuff in a backpack as we don’t leave anything in the camper.
It was 8.00pm before we left Galway and we hadn’t had dinner however as we needed to be at Fermanagh Saturday morning decided to press on to Sligo. Sligo was a really neat little town but there were no caravan parks in sight and by this time it was about 10.30pm and getting too late to check in to one so we made the big decision to freedom camp!! This would have been great until we discovered we were completely out of water. I was not impressed. Geoff had neglected to fill up at the camp in the morning and we couldn’t have a shower or do the dishes etc.
26th June 2010 Enniskillen to Fermanagh
After a very very short night – got up at 5.30am we went through to Enniskillen about 40km from where we had camped. Every garage we called in at but alas no hose and no water until we finally found a car wash machine that had one. Filled up and then off to a little layby to get organized to go to Fermanagh cons this morning.
Breakfast, tidy camper, shower and dressed and off. First mtg was 10.30am but bit nervous about finding it as Tom does not even recognize Enniskillen. It tells us we are there on the map but you cannot put it in as a destination or location????? Also the cigarette lighter has blown a fuse again so Tom won’t last much longer anyway.
Well discovered why Tom didn’t recognize Enniskillen we should have had UK instead of Ireland in the settings!!!??? This part of Ireland is considered UK for telephone, GPS, currency etc.
Found our way easily with the directions we had been given. We were greeted by Ken Gregg who owns these grounds and made to feel very welcome. Amazing meals, great facility, great speakers – all in all a fantastic cons.
Met John and Jan, Marilyn and John, and Jason and his girlfriend Eleanor. Good to see some familiar faces!!
In the evening Jason and Eleanor very kindly gave us a lift into a fabulous hotel not far from here for dessert and coffee hosted by her parents John and Eileen also with John and Marilyn, photos below. Beautiful grand hotel and beautiful food – a real highlight. Jason and Eleanor drove us back to Fermanagh and we sneaked over the fence into our camper! Still light here but had a great sleep as been a busy few days.
