roemin around

We arrived home at 10:00 pm from Wales. We had travelled 2100 in Ireland and another 525 miles in England and Wales to and from the ports. We stayed at 25 sites many of which were wild. An excellent holiday with exceptional weather for Ireland and some magical locations.

There was a bit of a panic catching the ferry as I initially went to the wrong port but managed to get to the City Terminal just in time. After a rough crossing with pots flying everywhere and injured crew, we arrived at Holyhead in one piece. Rosemary insisted on having a greasy breakfast but then she does not get seasick. Made our way to a CL, Hendre Glyfedd Farm, near Barmouth for the night. We have now covered 2370 miles of which 2100 were going around island with our fridge. Arrived home at 10:00pm the next day with 2625 miles on the clock.

We left our free night in the car park and drove over the Sally Gap to Roundwood where we had our last lunch in Ireland and walked around PowersCourt house and gardens. The house has been burnt down but the gardens are in very beautiful setting and interesting with a pets cemetery that has a cow buried there! The Shanklin campsite that was to be our last stop was closed down so we had to find an alternative and stayed at another expensive site called Camas Valley near Dublin where we had a rather late BBQ on our last night.

We had a drive round to nearby Avoca which is the film set for Ballykissangel TV series. Almost going home now so we bought some presents and then went to the GlendaLough Heritage centre which is an old monastery near the Wicklow Gap  scenic drive. We did a circuit of the Wicklow Mountains, very nice scenery and much used by film industry from Westerns to Game of Thrones, then back to the monastery. We had a free night in car park with a number of other motor homes, its a favorite spot with foreign tourist apparently, where we met some folks from Kirby Muxlow, near our home village.

We carried on to Dublin and parked right by St Stephens Green in the centre of the city. It all seemed very busy and crowded after our days in the country and we did not want to stop long. We took a short open top bus tour and had some lunch by the river, a few bottles floated by. As soon as we had found and photographed the statue of Molly Malone we departed for the most expensive site of the holiday €22 at Roundwood . Just supply and demand  - nothing special!

Its independance day. We drove round the mountains but could not find anywhere nice to park so continued down towards Dublin. We had an Irish roast Sunday dinner at the Clyde Inn, Arrascarron then stayed overnight at North Beach, Rush. Greece won the European cup, Diesel was 84p/litre in NI.

We walked down the river to Tesco before leaving Antrim and Rosemary bought a new top for £2 from a Hospice shop. Then we set off for the Mountains of Mourne which really do appear sweep down to the sea. We visited the NT place at Musselburgh nr Newcastle and found a site recommended earlier at The Rock amenity centre. The owner of the CCC CS was very friendly, only charged £8 per night including nice views of the mountains. We were on own our again.