Shamrock Camper Van tour - June 2023

 Another mammoth breakfast including spring rolls at Assum’s then it took around an hour and a bit to get to Dublin ferry port. The ferry was very busy and the drive home from Holyhead a somewhat protracted but it was all a very enjoyable couple of weeks.

 After a full Irish breakfast, we were taken off to view the local beauty spots. Cloggerhead head a wide sandy beach, but tide was out, CK went swimming SK, ER and NR did a circular walk up to a high point on the coast and then returning to Cloggerhead taking around an hour and a half.  Assum then took us to a small working harbour called Port Oriel where there was a small fleet of trawlers and a few harbour seals to entertain us!  In the evening we had the final team meal at Donegan’s Monasterboice Inn at Drogheda.

Seamus McCormack had kindly offered us coffee in the morning, and we were not going to refuse so more verbatim quotes from Goldsmith and he revealed he had been a lecturer in economics at UC Dublin before “retiring” to take over the family pub. Coffee came with a bite sized lesson in Irish Literature followed by a dose of economics all entertaining only curtailed by his appointment with the golf course.  We visited Lough Ree and the Millenium Wood near Glasson, had a short walk through the woods Charlie decided that the Lough bed was to silted up to wade in and swim. Then it was onwards and eastwards. A quick coffee break in Mulingar and arrived at Assum’s house in Castle Bellingham.  Assum is a friend of Charlie and Steve originally from the Phillipines and had lived in Hong Kong before a stint in North Curry and finally settling in Ireland with her Irish husband.  We met Assum , her daughter and husband  Hannah and Eoghan and 5 month old son Aidean (named after Ass...

pp  Friday 23 rd A rainy morning so we opted for a bad weather pursuit and drove to Kylemore Castle, where a break in the rain allowed us to walk around the walled Victorian garden which extended to 6 acres. Well kept and very impressive. Then onto the house which had an interesting history, built by Michael and Margaret Henry in the late 19 th century out of the family wealth generated by trading with USA from their Manchester company. When they ran out of cash it was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester – she was an heiress family money from a USA oil company. Then left empty when the Duke had gambled all the dosh, and fell into disrepair.  Acquired in 1920 by an community of Benedictine Nuns who arrived by a somewhat circuitous route from Ypres where they had to leave their Abbey in the early years of WWI. They ran a fee-paying school and were able to restore the castle to its Victorian/Edwardian splendour. The school was shut in the early 2000’s due to lack of pup...

While it would have been nice to explore Galway City more, but parking the campervans would have been difficult. Many of the Irish public car parks have height restrictions at 2.2 metres. We followed the coast road to Spiddal .  Charlie went in swimming, and I went in and got out again.  Then it was on to Gourmna Island, quite a detour with a landscape not to dissimilar to the Burren but many inlets which made an interesting drive. We arrived at our evening destination – The Clifden Eco Beach camping and caravan park.  This was 3 miles outside Cliveden in a beautiful spot amongst sandunes with it’s own private beach. Climate Neutral, eco-tourism certified site, lovely but many rules!

 Wednesday 21 st . Today was a day on the Burren, a large area of limestone designated a geopark. We parked and did the short walk to up to Poulnabrone dolmen – stone age tomb. From there we went to Thor Ballylee the home of W.B. Yeats.  He had converted an old defensive tower into his home and a visitor centre had been added in the 1960’s.  Our €5 entrance fee included a cup of tea and some toasted brack a bit like tea-cake.  We drove onto Galway and found a camp site on the edge of the city in an area called Salthill. We got a taxi into town, and experienced the hedonistic delights of the Quay Street area, lots of pubs restaurants plus tourists and students.

  Tuesday 20 th Charlie was up early and went down to the coast, Liz and I for a last look and walk along beach and then we moved out.  We went as far as the end of the Dingle peninsula and then had to return through Dingle town and started to head north through Tralee and Lostowel onto to Terbert. We just caught the Shannon ferry to Killmer.  From Killrush we drove parallel to the Cliffs of Moher and arrived at the Nagles camp site in Doolan. After dinner Steve and I walked to the local pub, very busy with a diddly dee band.

 Monday 19 th . The Beara camp site was ideally located we walked down to the shore of the estuary past some splendid properties at least a couple of which were for sale. After our little walk we drove up to a fresh water lake where Charlie and I went for a swim. Suitably refreshed we followed the lane hoping to get to the waterfalls we could see in the distance. We came to a no through road leading only to the Derrymane National Park.   We retraced our route and headed for Dingle.   We stopped at Tesco in Killarney for supplies and then had a quick look around Dingle, checked out Dick Macks pub much frequented by celebrities some almost a-listers. We stayed on a Brit-Stop type car park out Paidi O Se’spub where we were able to walk down to the coast in less than 10 minutes. We ate at the pub so a good value evening and recommended overnight stop.

Sunday 18 th We had hope to go to the Famine Museum and ancestry centre in Skib but it was closed on Sundays and we felt that there was not enough to do around the town to warrant waiting until Monday morning. It was campers on the move again onto Schull where there was a little street market and the harbour but nowhere suitable to swim all pleasant enough until it started to rain.   Onwards and upwards to Kenmare and on the way we found Molly Gallivans cottage and traditional farm.   This was certainly a tourist attraction, and the shop was full of overpriced woollen goods and tourist tat. It was worth stopping and we did the farm walk and had it to ourselves with panoramic views and friendly animals.   Then we drove on through Kenmare and found a camp site on the south side of the river called Bearea Camping run by an elderly Dutch Couple, he was 80 and had developed the site over the last 30 years doing most of the construction himself.   Very rural and quiet wi...

Saturday 17 th We broke camp at Garretstown and drove into Clonakilty where we found that there was a street carnival in full flow. Childrens stuff had already started but the adult event which seemed to consist of big street party didn’t commence until 3 o’clock.   After a coffee break we went to the Michael Collins house and museum – a Irish revolutionary who was involved in the early 20 th century struggle for independence and was assassinated after largely achieving his goal at the age of 32. Some fascinating history and exhibits also underlying the less than glorious attitude of the then British Empire.   Feeling suitably humbled we drove onto   Skibbereen and found a camp site on the edge of the town.   Steve and I walked in to recee the possible evening entertainment and found a couple of pubs with live music playing in the night, however when it came to actually trying them later in the evening, they were local bands playing cover numbers or karaoke sessio...

 Friday 16 th During the night the heatwave decided to forsake us and there had been heavy rain.   The rain continued during the morning as well as a heavy mist coming in over the sea.   In view of the inclement weather it was a team decision to visit the Lusatainia Museum and Old Head Signal Tower a short distance from Garretstown.   The Signal tower was one of eighty built during the Naplionic Wars all with in sight of each other to act as an early warning system in the event of a French invaision through what was regarded as the Achillies Heel of British Isles – the Atlantic coast of Ireland. There was a minor problem in the system as demonstrated by today’s weather where you literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.   It could be argued a landing in poor visibility would be fool hardy on such a rocky coast. A very helpful young lady told us all the details of the tower and its restoration in the 1990’s as well as the history the sinking of th...