Woodend Wanderer

The 215 miles drive home was of no real value to thee trip. It was just to get home the quickest way possible, empty the van of all our stuff and give it a brief clean. But what it did do was give us time to reflect on the past month on tour. In no particular order here are our thoughts should you ever choose to do something similar yourself. Here are our 10 tips:

1. Choose your van carefully. We wanted a permanent bunk so we did not have to worry about making it up every night. Particularly if we were tired or just wanted to go to bed early, or have an afternoon snooze. Ours lifted up to the ceiling of the van and we kept the duvet and pillows on it so it was just a case of lowering it and voila!. The down side was that it was across ways and needed some ladders to get into it even when it was down. Great if you are in your 20s, 30s etc, not 60s. Also to get to the loo one had to crawl over the other to get out. Make sure your van rental company uses Calor gas. It is readily available all over Ireland in supermarkets etc. Our rental company van had Flogas. Disaster. No suppliers in Ireland. Calor gas bottles will fit but you pay more. Also note that UK and Ireland gas bottle fittings differ. We were asked whether we had northern or Southern fittings by a supplier when I phoned them. I did not know. Turns out its northen or southern Ireland and they are different. Choose your van carefully.
2. The Irish people are simply brilliant. We did not come across anybody who was less than super helpful, friendly and did not want to chat. Sometimes for a long time.
3. Ireland is a glorious country. But allow plenty of time if exploring the west for the roads can be very narrow, the walls and hedges are high and right on the roadside and the locals drive like they own them. I suppose they do. The quality of the road surface varies from superb new tarmac to terrible. Average speeds therefore are way down on what you might expect.
4. Ireland is not well served with campsites and motorhome pitches that you may be used to home. We did camp out in the wilds on some nights and that was adorable but you still need to empty the loo tank and fill up with water every three days or so. Places to do so were few unlike New Zealand where facilities are in virtually every town and garage. Be prepared and plan (but not to plan it to death. Allow some freedom). Those campsites we did stay at were well run and by super friendly people. Some were quite basic and others not so. All were clean and well kept. Of note was that in the Irish campsites you are more likely to have to pay extra for showers. Have 1 Euro coins with you.
5. Even though the roads are as described the volume of traffic is way down on what you may expect at home. Often the roads were deserted unless around the big towns.
6. If taking a dog into Ireland go via a ferry to Northern Ireland for the roads are seamless crossing the border. In fact you would not know there was a border other than the road signs change from Miles an hour to kilometres an hour and the welcome to Ireland sign. There was no evidence of any checks. We went on the ferry from the UK to Ireland and were directed to Customs as soon as we got off the ferry to clear the dog and check her paperwork. Not even a passport check on us. £220 pounds we paid before we left to have the dog vaccinated, wormed and a health certificate. Kerching! I could be wrong but crossing from Northern Ireland to Ireland and back would have been checkless and free.
7. Don’t be afraid to start a conversation with people. I even ended up doing an advert for sun cream with a chemist in Ramelton simply because I said we came from New Zealand and I had a growth cut out of the arm skin. The Irish love to talk. No really they do. And talk a lot so make time for that.
8. The volume of traffic when we crossed back to the UK increased very noticeably. How the heck did we ever allow so many heavy trucks on the UK roads. The road transport lobby must be very powerful. In Ireland on the other hand we saw very few big trucks. But we did avoid the motorways and the toll roads.
9. Allow the occasional day to do absolutely nothing. You will be rewarded. Better to see less and take your time and enjoy what you see rather than belting around and spending all day driving. We usually set off around 10 and were camped up by 3 or 4 pm with plenty of rest breaks. Driving around the Irish west coast peninsulas can be taxing so slow down, enjoy the views and take breaks.
10. Use your common sense. Don’t go around talking about politics, religion or any other sensitive topic. I found a conversation about rugby usually got the chat going no matter whether I was in a pub, supermarket of campsite. Like most countries in the world I have been to, just be polite. I often asked about Gaelic football and spent the next 20 minutes learning the rules from somebody with a pint of Guiness and speech that I understood around 50% of. But it did not matter.

So there you have it. Would we do it again? Absolutely! In a heartbeat. I loved Ireland so much. It reminded me constantly of New Zealand. It is stunningly beautiful, the people are beautiful, the air is clean and fresh. Whats not to like about that.

Todays Mileage:215 miles.

Total mileage home back to home: 2775 miles.