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First trip to Ireland


avongas

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Hi folks - just back from our first trip in our new motorhome. Sue and I spent a lovely 9 days touring Ireland. Spent the first 2 days at Newton Stewart (Scotland) visiting my mum, then caught HSS Ferry from Stranraer to Belfast on Sunday morning - (bit expensive - £299 round trip, expected because we didn't pre book, not knowing our movements!)

 

Crossed to the Emerald Isle, then up the Antrim coast road to Giants Causeway, Portrush and Portstewart. Van behaved impeccably, apart from the barrel of the gas locker lock coming adrift, luckily, the gas was turned off. A nice little Irishman (Leprachaun?) in a little town called Limavada fixed it up enough to use, so on we went again. Travelled via Cookstown to see a friend of ours, then down to Knock Shrine where we camped in a lovely Caravan Club site.

 

Decided to then cross Ireland, which took a whole day, as the map I had was a little bit misleading in scale ( must have been Irish!) finishing up in a campsite called Silver Strands, 2 miles south of Wicklow.

 

Travelled then on down to St. Margarets Bay, a campsite very near Rosslare Ferry port, but far enough away not to hear Ferry traffic. I think we may have stumbled on a secret 'tuggers' sect meeting, as all afternoon 4 x 4's towing large twin wheel jobbies kept arriving, and camping in our little area. Felt quite claustrophobic towards the end!!

 

Finished up at Rosslare Ferry port at 8.00 this morning to catch the 9.00 ferry out. This was delayed a little, as 2 of Howies lorries decided to break down within the Ferry, so they had to be towed out.

 

All in all a fabulous first trip, and hopefully the first of many

 

 

:-) :-) :-)

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Welcome home Spud, and good to hear your trip to Ireland went so well. Mishaps such as that gas locker barrel coming apart should be viewed as giving the van a good shakedown for future use, and at least you now have the confidence and bit of experience when it comes to your next outing.

I know your time was limited to only nine days, but you seem to have taken in a fair bit of what Ireland has to offer, though like ourselves, where we would have preferred to stop off more often to get some more of 'the local flavour', this is not always possible.

Glad to see the van behaved 'impeccably'. Know you done your homework, but actually using and living in it is still the only way to see if the layout etc. lived up to your expectations and hope this was the case.

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We stayed on a site near an Irish port, it was part mobile homes, part touring, I was intregied to see a steady stream of taxi's in evening taking women from mobile homes out to town, they where all made up and had interesting attire, obviousy going out for an evening on the town I thought until it clicked, they where going to work 8-)
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howie - 2008-09-29 6:37 PM

 

Welcome home Spud, and good to hear your trip to Ireland went so well. Mishaps such as that gas locker barrel coming apart should be viewed as giving the van a good shakedown for future use, and at least you now have the confidence and bit of experience when it comes to your next outing.

I know your time was limited to only nine days, but you seem to have taken in a fair bit of what Ireland has to offer, though like ourselves, where we would have preferred to stop off more often to get some more of 'the local flavour', this is not always possible.

Glad to see the van behaved 'impeccably'. Know you done your homework, but actually using and living in it is still the only way to see if the layout etc. lived up to your expectations and hope this was the case.

 

Sue and I really enjoyed our first trip - as you say, Howie, until you actually tour and camp in a van, you are never sure if you've done the right thing. I can honestly say that now I am semi retired and have the time, it was the right thing. The Gas locker has not put us off at all, we have now 'shaken' the van down, and this trip has sorted out what equipment we need, and what we can do without next time.

 

Happy days ahead.

 

:-) :-)

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How did the crossing go Spud. Lot of nonsense on how rough it can get sometimes but have always found it nothing more than a gentle circuit of the local boating lake.

Whats the make and model of your van. Know you mentioned its a Sundance, but would like to look it up and give it a once over in detail.

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howie - 2008-09-30 12:41 PM

 

How did the crossing go Spud. Lot of nonsense on how rough it can get sometimes but have always found it nothing more than a gentle circuit of the local boating lake.

Whats the make and model of your van. Know you mentioned its a Sundance, but would like to look it up and give it a once over in detail.

 

Crossing out from Stranraer to Belfast via. Stena Line HSS service. boat piloted by Capn. George Kirk (!) no honestly, caused a good deal of mirth and comments such as 'beam me Up Scotty' etc. Crossing itself was lovely - brilliant sunshine, flat calm sea.

 

Return from Rosslare to Fishguard - no idea who the Capn. was, but again, crossed in sunshine, flat calm seas. No nasty stories at all, sorry to disappoint Howie!

 

The van is a Swift Sundance Lifestyle 530LP, 2006 vintage on a Fiat Ducato 2 litre chassis. Plenty of room and enough power for the speeds me and the missus like to travel at. I worked out the mpg was around 30 mpg, which doesn't seem too bad, cost of trip, excluding ferries, but including Fuel and Camping worked out at £320 for 11 day trip in total.

 

I will post some pics when I can work out the picture resizing thingy bobby.

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Hi Spud

Glad you enjoyed our little island. Pity you only had nine days as there is so much to see. We live here and we try to spend a week in each coastal county and are never bored by the scenery. Dread to think how long it might take us to tour England and Scotland. Put out an enquiry to all the Irish forum members and we can tell you all the best spots if you fancy returning.

 

Enjoy

 

Phantom

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Hi Phantom, yes Sue and I really enjoyed our stay. One thing though, can you persuade the powers that be to do something about the state of the little roads? talk about a 'shake down'!!

 

We are seriously considering a further trip, but this time travelling to Rosslare, and doing the Ring of Kerry. Any ideas re: wild camping etc. would be gratefully received.

 

Spud

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Just been on the Swift website to have a good look at your van Spud and seems to be the ideal van for you and Sue. Won't go far wrong with that classic rear kitchen/front lounge in both terms of use and resale as these are always popular models.

Only 5.75 in length with a 540kg payload and what looks like a comfortable and easy bed to make up and put away, although there does,nt seem to be a option for two singles. Not that important though and that shorter overall length would have been my preferred option as well. I like it, and a excellent choice if I may say so.

The Ring of Kerry is a must if you are thinking of going back to Ireland in the future, and one of our favourite destinations, though I do take your point on the state of some of the roads, but this is more than made up for by the beautifull scenery and coastline, and the welcome from all you meet, who always seem to have the time to stop and talk.

Not sure of wild camping. we always prefer the security of a official campsite and something i,ve noticed is the lack of access and laybyes, apart from those 'scenic views' areas were you can pull in and take a break. Height barriers are a bit of a bugbear as well. Most parking areas in the towns and villiges have these due to the problems they have with tinkers and means you usually have to look around or ask for somewhere to park if you plan to explore these places in detail.

What route you travel is up to you of course, but the N25 out of Rosslare, and then on to the coastal N71 is the one we always use with plenty of scope to visit all the coastal towns en route.

Tralee is our pick of the places to see with a first class campsite within easy walking distance of the town or as a base for touring.

Mixed fortunes weatherwise when we've been there Spud, but rain or shine I would always put this part of Ireland as one of those places you have to visit.

 

 

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Thanks for the info re: camping in Ireland Howie. We will probably stick to campsites when we go, but I just wondered about the Wild camp opportunities. We did notice that there wasn't many laybys to pull off on to make a cuppa, and were told it was to stop Gypsies.

 

The front two seats swivel round, so there is the opportunity to use them plus the side seats as two bunks. I am very pleased so far with the 'van', as you say it seems the ideal layout and size for us - easy to drive and easy to park. May be off down to Cornwall this weekend (no stopping us now!!!!)

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