roemin around

The weather was poor on Thursday and with a holiday weekend looming we decided to just drive straight back and arrived home just after 6pm. Had to stop twice to empty the water out of my foot well. It only seems to happen when driving in torrential rain but I must investigate to try and find where it is getting in. Just checked the mileage and we did 1900 miles on the trip, about 500 of which was in England and Wales.   We were away for 5 weeks altogether, 4 of those were in Ireland. We stopped at 17 different campsites in Ireland,  3 in Wales and we had 2 free nights at Glendalough and a Britstop on the Wye.

Jean walked to the site and then we met Alan and Josh to drive down to the beach. Walked around a bit and had another paddle. Then we went into Carmarthen again for a meal in the Harvester restaurant as a treat for everyone who had a birthday or anniversary to celebrate. That was all of us, Josh is 21 next week.

Coast near Rosslare Both alarm clocks worked so we made it to the ferry at Rosslare  in plenty of time. The checkin lady put us in the wrong waiting lane and we were about to be loaded onto a Stenaline ferry. Fortunately we noticed we were heading in the wrong direction and a bit of cone moving fixed the problem and we were soon aboard Irish ferries and enjoying another flat calm crossing. It was sunny in the Irish sea but pouring with rain by the time we arrived in Pembroke. We are stopping at Pembrey to see Jean for a couple of days.

Well it rained continuously from 2pm yesterday until 2am this morning. Too far for UK TV and Irish TV is all politics, with elections this weekend. We watched our emergency DVD Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last night. Typical Vikings !!! Today we are on our way to catch the ferry at Rosslare tomorrow morning. We had a quick look at Dunmore East, that's all it needed, then we spent some time in the old part of Waterford. It was settled by the Vikings in 900 ish  and has been an important sea trading town ever since. Waterford was the only town in Ireland not to be ravaged by Oliver Cromwell and has a strong national identity. The Waterford crystal factory is a magnet for US tourists visiting the historical sites at Cork and New Ross so the prices seem to be set accordingly. Waterford Glass showrooms We stopped at New Ross again for lunch and ate in the bistros of a theatre/cinema that until 1960 was a catholic church. It was quite bizarre, but the best value lunch...

The summer did not last long its 10deg cooler and rain forecast. Drove down to a fishing village on south coast for a fishy Sunday lunch and to check out the free overnighting spots recommended by an Irish man we met. Very nice lunch and but it's raining again, as promised, so not a nice place for a free night. Next stop was going to be Waterford for some holiday shopping, so I put the destination in GPS and set off. Just rounding a bend when "in 400 metres turn left on R273 and board ferry". Gladys (our GPS) had  planned a route via one of only two car ferries in Ireland. By now the option was to take the ferry to Passage East  or drive an extra 30 miles in the rain. Fortunately it crossed every 15 minutes even on Sunday so we took it!  We are spending the night at a Golf complex with campsite near Dunmore East, very posh toilet block. It's still raining, but at least my cold is getting better.

Dunes at Morriscastle Strand Spending another night here and having a rest day to help shake off my cold. We found the easy way to walk to the beach where there were a few families on the sand and not much else. Its probably packed in the summer holidays as there are several large caravan sites with cabins and static caravans. Reminds me of the English east coast near Skegness. The weather is great so I may light the BBQ tonight. Its just like being on a summer holiday now! I found that we could just about get a UK Freeview signal from one of the transmitters on the Welsh mainland about 30 miles away, so I watched the cup final until it was too late to eat outside. Arsenal won 3-2 after extra time.

We are spending the last few days on the south-East coast. The weather now is just right. Blue skies, warm sun and a sea breeze. Travelled down the coast road to Courtown Quay a nice harbour village and then the weekend shopping in Corey, a busy market town hosting an International sheep shearing competition. Arrived early at Morriscastle Strand site where we picked a nice spot sheltered from the breeze and got all the outside furniture out and cooked some trout on the Jamie. We tried to walk to the beach over the sand dunes and gave up - they were much too steep.