We all managed to arrive in Dublin unscathed and drove through
the middle of Dublin to reach our camp.
Next day the Hop On Hop Off bus came to camp to pick anyone
up to go into the centre of Dublin to their 1st stop, by the
spire. We took advantage of that and
then chose to browse the shops.
After a Guinness at a corner pub we made our way to the
Guinness factory for a pre-paid tour, to avoid all the queues (and save a few €),
there were no queues on the way in. We
took the tour, very interesting, then the best part got to sample a couple in
the Gravity Bar. Daryl loved this.
We then walked back to Temple Bar area and found a nice
restaurant for traditional Irish grub.
After a great lunch, where our drinks where shouted by a wee
American girl, whom had left her table without her expensive camera.
Daryl saved the day for her and she was most
grateful. We browsed another couple of
stores then caught the bus back to camp chatting to some very lovely Aussies (?)
on the way home.
Next morning we packed up and had numerous visitors during
this process, the weather at this stage was kind to us and everyone in Ireland
seemed to be mighty impressed with our journey and of course Mildred.
As we departed towards the north we had to drive any through
Dublin and they were all travelling to see the county football game that day,
they all wore their supporting colours and drove like maniacs.
We were headed for Kilkeel, but the camps were deserted, so
we followed the coastline and managed to find a camp in Newcastle in a Tollymore Forest
Park. Facilities were very basic, the weather
had turned sour and our neighbour (an Irishman) was getting plastered watching
the footie, later he was seen trying to get his outdoor fire (not allowed in
camp) burning faster by blowing in it, we now understand why he’s face was so
burnt when he chatted to us.
It was so cold we left our dishes (no washing up facilities
here) and the next morning we had a family of fat slugs residing in our dirty
dishes (yuck). They certainly enjoyed
the leftover tomato soup and their slime trials were everywhere!
We again headed north, this time to Bushmills, where again
due to the cold (I got my thermals out this morning for the first time) we had
a pub lunch, Irish Guinness Steak pie with Champs. We were entertained (?) by the village idiot
who’s parting words (and I only understood very 3rd word he said
was) ‘Musc-go, it’s Russian you know, but alias I must go!)
Then we took the Bushmills
Whisky distillery tour. I think that there
whiskey is a lot stronger than the Scot’s as it tasted it, or maybe it was the
lack of smokiness.
We went to camp, they were expecting us (I wasn’t making the
same mistake twice regarding accommodation) and set up for the night. It was cold, wet and miserable. Too wet to want to go to the loo. I had planned on a stir-fry the night prior
but due to the weather we settled on soup, so tonight we cooked in the extreme
cold and the result – a curry stir-fry with heaps of chilli, was fantastic.
The camp was almost deserted the office hadn’t been open
since we got there, just a note on the door telling us our site number. The family bathroom had a bath, something
Daryl’s missed this trip so we settled in there, but alias whilst nice the
water wasn’t hot enough to sustain a real bath.
Today we moved to the Northern Ireland border, Belcoo. We are the only guests in the camp (a bit of
dejavu from the start of our trip).
England especially northern England is currently in a state of emergency
due to floods. We have certainly had our
share, driving through flooded roads, rain 24/7 we got wet in bed last night,
the canvas could hold out anymore, so we dried our sheets this afternoon and
hope that is the end of the rain!
Currently in a camp in Belcoo, we are the only guests, so I have 2 toilets and 3 showers to myself and Daryl the same.
Tomorrow we head to Galway where the camp we are staying in
closes tomorrow, but they will accommodate us the one night.
We are now looking for a Leprechaun so wish for improved weather.
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