19 April – We headed north thru Limerick (an industrial town) and then out to the coast to a village called Doolin where we camped overlooking the Atlantic. The village was very quaint with a couple of pubs and several shops. The ferry to the Aaron Islands (famous for a knitting style) leaves from here. Our reason for coming here was to see the Cliffs of Moher. We cycled about 8kms (all up hill) and a walk across some fields for a great view of them. After a glide back to “Lefty” we walked, in thick mist, to a pub for more Guinness and a night of traditional music.

20 April – We drove around the Burren coastline to Galway. The moonlike landscape was amazing. This is “Father Ted” country with all the small fields divided by dry stone walls. (plenty of stones to choose from!) We stopped in Galway to shop and walked into the centre of town. A busy town overlooking Galway Bay. Off again inland to Cong between Lake Mask and Lake Corrib for the night. It started to drizzle again.

21 April – We woke early to Skype the kids. Had to park outside the office but got good internet. We drove thru to Sligo with a stop at Knock to see the huge Catholic church (largest in Ireland seating 20,000!) located at a site of shrine. The camp at Sligo overlooked the Atlantic beside a great golf course where the Irish Amateur Open was being played. The camp soon filled with locals as it was the Thursday of Easter. We caught a local bus back into the centre of Sligo. The drivers are great, chatting to everyone and at one stage hopping off the bus to carrying an old lady’s bags to her door. Val’s rallies come from here. The town is either side of the fast flowing Garavogue River. Back to “Lefty” to watch a great sunset over the sea.

22 April – After a walk along the beach we set off to Carrick-on-Shannon. We were going stay at a thatched pub but as it is Easter Friday the pub is closed. We continued on to Kingscourt Forest where we had read that we could stay. No luck there either but a nice walk. Eventually we asked the local garage where we could stay and a nice colleen suggested Lake Ballyhoe, a fishing lake. She drew us a map and we found it easily. A great spot. Near dusk I chatted to some locals fishing. They were surprised we were staying the night as the local wild horses cause all sorts of damage to parked vehicles. Too late to shift so we risked it.

23 April – We saw the wild horses as we left this morning. They must have decided to leave “Lefty” alone! It was only a short drive today thru to Rush, a seaside village about 30kms north of Dublin. The camp has great sea views overlooking the Irish Sea. We caught the local double-decker bus into Dublin. (1 hour trip). The city was alive and we had great 4 hours wandering the streets and looking at the beautiful buildings. A highlight was the Jameson’s Distillery where we sampled the whiskey.

24 April – We are staying an extra night here before heading to the ferry tomorrow at 7:00 am. A very quiet day with a planning session for France, a walk along the beach, and some washing of the camper and clothes before lunch. A cool breeze sprung up in the afternoon and another walk around Rush. We walked up to the local pub for a very nice feed. We have had a great time in Ireland. The people are great, the scenery is beautiful, the pubs are fun and the Guinness and the Jameson’s whiskey top it all off.

25 April – Alarm went off at 6:00 am so that we could shower and head down the motorway and tunnel to the ferry. We had breakfast after checking in (lined up to board). This was a smaller ferry and only took 1:40 to Holyhead in Wales. Off the ferry and across Anglesey Island only slowed by the single lane bridge to the mainland. All the locals are returning from their Easter break so the roads are very busy. We followed the A5 thru Snowdonia. This was a great drive thru the mountains, valleys and lakes of a beautiful part of Wales. We stopped for lunch in a lay-by where we could see a steam train chuffing up a valley. We also spied the Pontcysylite, an aqueduct across a valley for the longboats to travel down. We stayed overnight in a lovely farm close to Shrewsbury. (as in biscuits)

26 April – A long trip following the motorways of England, around Birmingham and London to end up 60 kms from Dover. The motorway driving is quite stressful as often you are travelling at 100 kms with huge lorries ½ a meter either side you. We had a shop and lunch in a Tesco car park and again, have stopped overnight at a great farm with horses and a new born foal in the next field.

27 April – After a short drive down the motorway to Dover we caught an earlier ferry to Calais. This is the shortest crossing (1:30) on a huge ferry. Off onto the French motorways. It’s great to be sitting on the correct side of the camper while driving!!
We decided to go a little further than planned to a camp in a village just past Lille. On the way we came thru WW1 country, Flanders with towns like Ypres and Armentieres (as in mademoiselle from) (Older readers only)

13 April – Woke to a rainy day in St David’s on the extreme S.W. of Wales. Walked into town and posted the last blog at pub. In the evening we went back to the cathedral for Evensong. (I can hear you all gasp in surprise!!!). Beautiful singing and organ but the choir was cloistered away and we could not see them. This might be usual for high Anglican?? Walked to a pub (The Farmers Arms) for dinner. (Life back to normal).

14 April – Thick mist this morning. Found a supermarket and did some shopping before driving to the ferry at Pembroke, via Milford Haven, for our crossing to Ireland.
A pleasant crossing in fog in a huge ferry about a 10th full. We found a camp in Ireland close to the terminal at St Margaret’s beach.

15 April – After exploring St Margaret’s beach we drove thru beautiful country side to Kilkenny. A great cycle ride from the camp along the Nore River into the town. A cute little town which seemed to be very busy. We climbed a 9th century tower at the cathedral for a view. After sampling a Kilkenny’s at one pub and we tried the Smithwick’s which is brewed by the same brewery at another pub. After a look around the Kilkenny Castle we cycled back to the camp.

16 April – Today we drove thru Waterford (Crystal fame) to Cork and a camp site at Blarney. Now if you think the quality of my writing has improved you probably are right, as today we visited the Blarney castle and kissed the Blarney stone which is reputed to make one more eloquent. The castle was great. You queue up to kiss the stone and a nice Irish gentleman assists you to assume the position (on your back). He also makes sure no-one takes too long!!! No long pashes permitted!!! The grounds are also beautiful and we spent about 3 hours wandering around. The weather has come right again.

17 April – I’m not sure about the virtues of kissing the Blarney Stone as both Val and I have come down with colds since then! Another nice spring day. We drove back into Cork and parked in a suburb close to Pairc Ui Chaoimh where we decide to go to the Hurling. We cycled into Cork City centre and down the main streets before returning to “Lefty” for lunch. Back on the bikes and off to the Hurling park. (unprenouncable name above). Cork were playing Dublin for a place in the league final. The ground would have had a capacity of around 25,000 with about 12,000 in for the game. Hurling (we discovered) is very like Aussie Rules with bats. The bats are used to hit, juggle, and scoop the ball and whack your opponent. Very rough but very exciting. Dublin won by 1 point unfortunately. We drove about 100kms to a free camping place on the shores of Lake Leane near Killarney.

18 April – Another sunny day for our drive around “The Ring of Kerry”. This is a 180km loop around some stunning scenery. It is a mixture of lakes, rivers, beaches, coves, cliffs and mountains. In places the road was narrow and rough but the views made the effort well worth while. Tonight we are in Tralee. After dinner we walked into town to a pub recommended by the camp manager. It was a typical Irish pub with low ceilings, beams and open fire and many photos (including some of the Kennedy family). When we arrived at 8:30 there were only a few local characters but it soon filled up and after a couple of Guinesses the place was packed including a couple of poker schools in full swing. Not bad for a Monday night!

Europe Adventures 2011

5 April/6 April

Well here we go again. Europe trip two! We have used Lufthansa for our flights to London via Singapore and Frankfurt. We ran into Mike Hyphen on the flight to Singapore, going to India for IPL. Small world!! Not a bad trip except for a 7 hour stop over in Singapore (thank god we still have lounge access) and a very old 747 with no individual screens for the 12 hour Singapore to Frankfurt leg. John and Jackie Sollis met us at Heathrow and took us down to the storage place where our camper (Lefty) has been hibernating. After a check of all facilities on board (all OK) we drove to the nearest post office to renew the road tax. Then on to Val’s cousin’s, Denise and Ian, where we overnighted and caught up on some sleep.

April 7

After a big shop up, we drove down into Dorset where we meet up with John and Jackie again in their caravan at a camp site near Dorchester. After lunch we walked up to a monument dedicated to Hardy (of Napolean “kiss me Hardy” fame). Great views. Later we had a great night of story telling and cards.

April 8

We packed a picnic lunch and drove with John and Jackie to Lulworth Cove (very pretty) and then walked to Durdle Door, a huge arch in the rocks in the sea. This area is called the Jurassic Coast and is very spectacular.

April 9

Another picnic lunch packed and trip to explore Corfe Castle which is a spectacular ruin originally built by William the Conqueror in the 13th century and eventually destroyed by the government in 1650. After lunch highlighted by a great steam train going past, we continued on to Swanage, a lovely seaside town. The weather has been great with temperatures into the low 20s but today there was a cold wind off the sea. There were lots of families on the beach and even some swimming. Crazy poms!!!

April 10

Sadly we left John and Jackie to continue their holiday and headed into Wales with a deadline of Thursday to be in Pembroke to catch the ferry to Ireland. Tonight we are camped near Abergavenny (made famous by the Beatles). Truly a great area and well worth singing about.

April 11

We drove on up the inland valleys of Wales in misty rain which seemed appropriate for this part of Wales. Our lunch time stop was at Aberaeron on the west coast. The stone houses are quite different painted in a variety of pastel colours. Our overnight stop was at Fishguard, an historic fishing village.

12 April

Don spent a large part of the morning sorting out “Lefty’s” drainage. (blocked pipes) before cycling back into the fishing port of Fishguard for a look around. We drove along the coast to Abercastle, another picturesque fishing village, for lunch and continued on to St David’s. This is the smallest city in the UK because it has a cathedral. The sun shone all day but the wind is cold. We will stay another night here and explore the town and the cathedral tomorrow and hopefully post this blog.