Ireland 8 - 18 July 2023

Saturday 8 July to Tuesday 18 July 

Saturday 8 July.  Leave the Bushmills car park where we - and 11 other motorhomes - spent the night. Free to park but no showers and the public toilets are closed at night.   Drive through Coleraine to Derry/ Londonderry and park next to the River Foyle.   Go for a walk of  a mile or so along the city walls, which gives us good views of some of the handsome buildings (Georgian and Victorian), the OTT Guildhall and several 17th century cannons.  

We see the Protestant area to the east of the city, where a flute and drum band are practising (presumably for 12 July marches) and the Bogside, the mainly Catholic area, both areas where so much violence has taken place.  

Look for somewhere to have lunch. Plenty of cafés but, after trying the Foyleside Shopping Centre and a couple of places on the streets, we opt for "Maiden Heaven" (groan) near the  Guildhall. Order / pay at the counter and sit outside (the sun's out!) and wait and wait.  Over the next twenty five minutes or more (bear in mind we hadn't had breakfast) we receive a millionaire's shortbread, pause, then two flat white coffees, pause, then my tuna sandwich and finally, after asking for it twice, John's scone.  My millionaire's shortbread - my pudding - was almost melted by the time I got to it!

Head north and within 15 minutes we drive over the border into Eire and the  EU -  no passport checks, no customs, nothing different until one realises that the distances on road signs and price of petrol have shot up….  kilometres not miles and Euros not pounds (about 0.85 Euros to the £) of course.

We are heading for Malin Head, on the Inishowen Peninsula, the most northerly point of Ireland and the start of the 'Wild Atlantic Way' (WAW) a route along the north and west coast of Ireland.    Tonight we're staying in a field next to the Seaview Tavern a bit to the south of Malin Head.  It is just that, a field, with no facilities, but quite busy with tents, caravans and camper vans.  There's the pub, a general store and petrol station and use of the field is free but they ask, reasonably, if you would please use the pub/ shop/ fuel station.  So we go for a couple of pints at the pub, just to be polite.  Lovely weather, clear skies and beautiful views of the sea from the garden.

There's a gig tonight at the pub - three 'tribute' bands (surely they used to be cover bands?) doing ZZ Top, then EZ/ DC covering, you guessed it, AC/ DC, and, due on at 10.30 pm, King's Call, a Thin Lizzy tribute.    The only one I'm interested in is the Thin Lizzy band, but I'm not sure if I can stay awake, and anyway I saw the real band several times in the early 1980s.   So a quiet evening in it will be.

Sunday 9 July slept well despite a bit of drunken hollering from the camping field in the small hours.  It's another beautiful day;  I visit the shop to buy a loaf of bread and a paper, and get €100 in cash back as we don't have any euros.

Drive to Malin Head along roads that get narrower and narrower, and reach the small car park, which we reject on the grounds there's no turning space.  Park at the highest point next to Lloyds Signal Tower - there's already a souvenir cart in place and a coffee trailer setting up.    Malin Head is the most northerly point of Ireland, the equivalent of John O’Groats in Scotland, as well as being a shipping forecast area, bordered by Rockall and Hebrides.    Walk along the cliff top to Hell's Hole, then back again.  

Car parking area is very busy now, mainly with motor bikes ridden by Frenchmen of a certain age.  And some old gent has parked behind our mo-ho and is sitting in his car with his female companion admiring the view.  Calm John down by buying us coffees from the trailer - the barista is from Melbourne and the coffee is delicious.

Old gent leaves, John reverses out of our tight spot, with the help of one of the bikers and me, and we set off, south west.  

At Buncrana there's a motor home park, with waste disposal facilities, and we stop for lunch. The beautiful weather of this morning has been replaced by rain.  

Then to Letterkenny where we are to stay the night in the car park of a Gaelic Athletic Association ground.  A game has just finished as we arrive so a bit of manoeuvring is called for, but we find the overnight area, with loos and showers, then drive round the building to find the grey water disposal area and back again.   Put €20 in the honesty box and walk into town.  

Visit the Letterkenny Cathedral, and then a Letterkenny pub on what is claimed to be the longest street in Ireland.  The pub we visit has several tellies, one showing Gaelic football, one showing rugby and one with horse racing.  We opt for horse racing!

Walk back to the mo-ho where we have been joined by three other motor-homers in the car park and make supper.

Monday 10 July    Hooray, the insurance company called at 9.05 am and we sort the bikes’ insurance - the insurance person had the grace to apologise for the ten day delay.    From Letterkenny we follow the WAW north (ish) to get to Fanad Head where there's a lighthouse to visit, which is another WAW ‘Discovery Point’, and views to see (subject to the weather).  Interesting to visit the lighthouse and be told about its history and the lives of the lighthouse men who ran this and other lighthouses.  Fanad Head was relatively easy as it is on land and there was accommodation there for the families of the principal and assistant lighthouse keepers.   The lighthouses in less hospitable places were just for the keepers, on a few weeks on, week or so off basis.  But they were quite well paid….until the lighthouses started to be automated in the 1980s and the jobs disappeared.   The changes in technology is interesting - starting with paraffin oil in the late 1800s, then electric light in huge bulbs, then halogen and now tiny LEDs.

From Fanad we drive some narrow roads with fabulous, if wet, views to Harry Blaney Bridge and then south west to Donegal town.   Staying tonight in one of the town car parks - we arrive about 4.30 pm so have to pay a very small amount to take us to 6.00 pm and free parking until 9.00 am tomorrow.  Set an alert to remind us to book a further stay after 9.00 am tomorrow.    

No loos or showers here but a nice view of the river and only a short walk into the town.   I go for a short turn to look around and then we spend the evening in the mo-ho.  This evening we're starting a few days with no alcohol so it's long on water, mint tea and instant soup instead.  Not quite the same as a glass of pinot grigio

Tuesday 11 July agree that after this evening it would be good to spend a few days in one place so look on a couple of apps (Park4Night and Search for Sites) for locations and availability.   You can't always book through the apps and very few places have a website but tend to rely on Facebook pages.   The site that appeals to us is 'The Fairy Tree Motorhome Park' and we book three nights there from tomorrow.  How odd, says Lyndon, the charge is in ££ not €€.    Oh look, says Lyndon as the penny drops, that's because we'll be back in Northern Ireland, on 12 July, with Orange Order marches and sometimes violence….    We'll see.

Go for another walk around central Donegal and admire the remains of the castle, 

then visit the Blueberry Tea Room for flat whites and toast. Head out to Bundoran hoping to visit the Fairy Bridges (no idea what these are) and the beach.   I drive to Bundoran and we find the car park is full, so drive down the road to another car park….  max height 2 metres, and we're 2.85 metres.   Nowhere to turn and I am unhappy at reversing the mo-ho such a long way, so hand over the driving to John who successfully gets us out of there.   Bundoran isn't offering any other suitable parking so we move on.

Our next destination is Glencar Lough and two waterfalls - Glencar Waterfall and the Devil's Chimney.   We walk a short distance to Glencar Waterfall which was made famous by a W B Yeats poem  called The Stolen Child   https://poets.org/poem/stolen-child

Not to my taste (the poem, not the waterfall).   It's a pleasant waterfall.     

We then go for a twenty five minute walk along the road by the Lough

to see the Devil’s Chimney, Ireland’s highest waterfall.  Except that it is a “a weather specific phenomenon” which means that if there hasn’t been enough rain there’s no waterfall.   

Which sadly, there isn’t - just a sign on the edge of the road explaining that if you can’t see the waterfall there's no point in walking the 2 kilometres across the fields to its base.  Given the rain we’ve had  I’m a bit surprised but you can’t argue with a weather specific phenomenon.  

Walk back and have lunch, then drive through Sligo and west to Dunmoran Strand where we’re staying the night.   Another car park where it’s free to stay,  with a couple of portaloos.  Beautiful bay albeit a bit blustery and we go for a walk on the sandy beach and have a paddle in the sea.  I’m definitely not digging out my bathing costume to go for a swim.

Move the mo-ho so that when we wake up in the morning we can look from the bed through the front windscreen at the beach.

Wednesday 12 July   Today we’re driving almost due east and visiting the Marble Arch Caves.   Our sat nav - designed specifically for motor homes (so that it doesn’t take you down teeny tiny narrow lanes) - takes us back to Sligo and then east until we unobtrusively cross back into the UK.   Then we do go up a fairly narrow road but it's the only way to get to the Caves - the car park is buzzing and it takes us a couple of goes to find somewhere to park.  The heavens open while we’re parking but a few minutes later it is blue skies.  Head in to reception and wait a while until our tour at 12.30 pm, led by Niall who is kitted out with a life jacket, torch, glow sticks and good lines about not touching anything and health & safety.  We’re quite a large group, maybe 18 people?   Difficult to tell as we’re strung out in a line as we head down the 150 ish steps to the Caves and then its narrow paths in the Caves themselves.    Quite cool down there so I’m glad I’m wearing my padded jacket, and it's quite damp so am glad I have my rain jacket over the padded jacket.

The Caves were discovered in the late 1800s by a French speleologist who first explored them by candle light and oil lamp.  Now it has concrete paths and electric lights.    We walk through the caves at quite a pace and then back more slowly, with Niall pointing out the different stalactites (hardly any stalagmites) and places where different shapes have formed as the water has dripped through the limestone above.  We have the porridge pot, bacon slices, flowstones, cauliflower effect and curtain flows, and a stream running through the caves.   It's very beautiful and some of the rocks look almost organic - and some look like something scary from a Dr Who set!

We’re in the cave for about 1¼ hours, including a 15 second period when Niall turns off the lights (after warning us) so we can understand just how dark it is.

Then we have to walk up 150 ish steps and back to the reception area where we stop for a sandwich lunch and coffee.

Drive to Enniskillen which is really quiet;  today is a Bank Holiday and most of the shops are shut.   Google suggests that the main County Fermanagh Orange Day march is being held in another town today so we might not have any dramas.   Try to find a Launderette Revolution (one of the drive up ones) but after three false starts decide that the laundry will wait.  Go to Tesco instead and buy food to top up the larder and fridge.  Then drive the six miles or so to our campsite, The Fairy Tree Motorhome Park.  Apparently Fairy Trees are, typically, Hawthorn or Ash trees, usually found alone in a field or at the side of the road.  Fairies who reside in these trees are said to hold strong powers and are said to protect the land they sit on and cutting down or tampering with fairy trees will bring dire consequences.   

It is a small camp ground with only 12 places, each with EHU and a water tap, plus waste disposal points, really nice loos and showers, and fabulous views south.  And a Fairy Tree of course.   Try driving in forwards then change our minds and reverse in,  set up the EHU, turn on the gas, get the levelling wedges in place under the wheels and make ourselves comfortable.

Thursday 13 July  nice weather this morning and so we decide to get the bikes off the back of the mo-ho and cycle the three miles or so to Castle Coole, a National Trust property.  Looks easy on Google maps and is a route off the main road.  We set off but find that Google maps and reality are not really aligned - at one point we turn off the tarmac route to a dirt track, with signs saying ‘private road’, and decide that we won't risk being charged with trespassing so go another way. And finally agree that discretion is the better part of valour and cycle back to the campsite.   

Well timed as the morning's nice weather turns wet in the afternoon. Castle Coole will have to wait.

Friday 14 July   today it rains and rains and rains.  I know it probably sounds particularly heavy falling on our roof but for me it's a desk day indoors.  Spend time with the laptop typing this blog, transcribing my great aunt's 1917 diary, doing some research on the Mulveys of Mohill (ancestors of John's) and planning where to go next.   Opt for a pub car park near Mullaranny, off to the west.  

John gets on his bike and cycles to the nearby village of Lisbellaw for bread and returns looking distinctly soggy, but with bread.

Saturday 15 July.  Two  errands and a visit to Castle Coole today.   First errand is to drive cross-country to a fuel station that stocks LPG gas. Yard is full of trailers but we manage to park near the LPG tank and top up.  Use gas for heating, hot water and cooking but after three weeks we need only £14 worth.

Then to Castle Coole where we join the noon guided tour which lasts about 1¼ hours.   A lovely neo-classical house built in the 1790s on the site of previous houses.  Beautiful decorations, very ornate ceiling decorations and friezes and very   Empire/ Regency furniture, a lot of which was made specifically for the house.  In the 1950s the house became too expensive for the family to maintain and it was passed to the National Trust although the current Earl lives nearby and stays involved in the house and estate.

Then drive to Enniskillen for errand two, and this time are successful in finding a Launderette Revolution and do the laundry.

Back to the camp site to watch what turns out to be a fairly short women's singles final at Wimbledon.

Sunday 16 July. Weather a bit brighter today.   In the morning we drive to the other local National Trust property, Florence Court, another neo-classical building built in the 1750s - 60s, and a bit smaller than Castle Coole.  Lovely entrance hall and reception rooms, and elegant staircase.  We enjoy our visit to the servants quarters in the basement where there is even a real fire burning in the cooking stove, and to the huge kitchen garden.

Back to the campsite for lunch and then an exhausting four and a half or so hours watching Alcaraz defeat Djokovic in a brilliant match in the men's singles final at Wimbledon.   We were rooting for Alcaraz, as he was the underdog, and because Djokovic appears to be such a miserable so and so.

Monday 17 July  Today we leave the Fairy Tree Motorhome Park to drive west.   Definitely getting faster at putting things away and preparing for travel eg making sure all the sky lights are shut, blinds are up, gas is off, cupboards and drawers are locked etc    On this trip so far we have twice had the cutlery drawer fly out of its runners when we were on the road, and once found we hadn’t locked shut the sliding doors between the kitchen and bedroom.   

We have 110 miles to go and it takes about three hours including a supermarket stop in Castlebar;  we retrace our steps as far as Sligo, passing Glencar Lough with a view of the Devil’s Chimney waterfall in the distance (the waterfall that wasn’t when we visited it six days ago).   Annoyingly, we can see across the valley that today the waterfall is in full spate!   

Drive south west and reach Nevin’s Newfield Inn where we are booked to stay for two nights in their car park which has six parking spaces for motorhomes with EHU and a tap for €15 a night.   No facilities but we have all we need on board.

To the Inn for a drink and dinner; well decorated pub and very busy so we're glad we booked.   Our two course meal was fine but the real excitement came towards the end when two robot waiters - BellaBots - appear with other people’s plates of food.   At €14,000 each they’re a big capital outlay but it's less expensive than a full time waiter/ress!

Tuesday 18 July  Woken in the night by the rain on the roof but it's stopped by the time we get up, shower and dress.   The motor home park is quite international with Irish, Spanish and Polish vans and us.

There's an “Old Irish Goat Centre” 5½ kilometres west of here which can be reached mostly on a Greenway ie an off road, but paved or gravelled, cycle and walking track.   On the first section there are big signs saying ‘cyclists dismount’, as its a steep hill down, but we blithely ignore that instruction.  I’m more worried about riding over cattle grids and meeting loose sheep on the track.   Then it starts to rain, hard, and we and several other cyclists stop under some trees for ten minutes to let the clouds blow through.   We're definitely damp as we ride on.   Reach the main road and turn left and cycle for a short way but realise that were going the wrong way and that I am a bit wobbly, still, on the bike so a main road with a lot of traffic is not very safe.  Turn down a side road and that then turns into a rough track, at which point the chain on John’s bike comes off.   

After quarter of an hour he tells me to head for the Old Irish Goats as he doesn’t know if he can fix the chain.    I push my bike up the path and then find a road and, apart from stopping from time to time to take pictures of the coast...

...get safely back to the main road and it's only 500 metres to the Goat place.  And John texts to say he’s got the chain back on the bike.

Unfortunately the goats are off sick today - a shame as they look very handsome with big horns - but we see a video about how the Irish Goat breed almost disappeared as a pure bred animal, mainly through interbreeding with other goat species.   Enough Old Irish goats were found in Mulranny, where the Centre is, to start a breeding programme and bring them back from the brink.   

We look round the information about the historic importance of goats , and the very small shop, and then cycle back to the entrance to the Greenway.    

Cycle back along the Greenway and are delighted to find that at the last section - the steep uphill - the electric assist function on the bike (and the right gear) makes it super easy climb.

Back to the mo-ho mid afternoon for late lunch, reading and relax.  Brief chat with our Spanish neighbour who comes from Barcelona.   He is keen to take the family away from Spain at this time of year and escape the heat - well, he’s certainly done that.