Wild Ireland Ways

There are two companies that operate the ferry to Rosslare – Stena line and Irish Ferries – there isn’t much difference between the two apart from Stena line operate out of Milford Haven and Irish Ferries operate out of Pembroke – so get that wrong and you could end up making a 15 min dash between the two ports!!

Both ferry companies operate 4 crossings a day (2 each way) and the night ferry is obviously the cheapest  – as who on earth wants to get the ferry at 02:45am?? We did!

We travelled with Irish Ferries from Pembroke and were surprised at how quiet it was….we were the only motorhome alighting apart from a very old VW Campervan.

George was not permitted on deck, so the only option was in the van or in a kennel.  Bob decided to stay in the van with George – not actually permitted – but since George has been so freaked out lately, we couldn’t leave him alone with all the car alarms going off and other strange ship noises, as I left the van to head upstairs he was looking very anxious of being left alone so it was a wise decision.

4 hours later and not much sleep for either of us (George slept the whole time) we arrived in Ireland at 06:45  – we were told as we left the ship to head up the hill and stop at the customs house to get George’s papers checked….Marshalled into an empty car park by about 6 different parking attendants, all super friendly, George’s EHC passed with no problems. They even recommended for us to use an Irish address to get George an EU Pet Passport for future travelling in the EU. 

This is what I love about the Irish, their easy going laid back attitude –not always the most efficient but always super friendly and approachable.

Our first stop in Ireland was Ardmore – the home of St Declan – who is said to have been one the Saints who bought Christianity to Ireland before his younger counterpart St Patrick took the credit. There are a lot of religious monuments in Ireland – you are never far from an old folklore tale, but what bought us to Ardmore was the campsite right next to the beach. It is gem of a site and not so well known with tourists but hugely popular with the Irish. It has 160 Motorhome only pitches  – no pre-booking, no electric, no toilets, no showers or rubbish bins, yet it is full most of the summer. A gold mine for the farmer who owns the land who takes 15 euros cash per motorhome per night!

We turned up at 09:30 and were told they were full – we waited as surely out of 160 pitches someone was going to leave that day?? Luckily for us as we were first in the queue, so we got the first pitch not long after we arrived. Later that day we noticed that they were turning vans away. We pitched 3 rows back from the beach with a sea view. I thoroughly recommend the experience of joining the Irish on their holidays, so much friendly chatter, everyone swimming in the sea until late at night, no one gets up very early and on this site, there must have been every variety of MoHo onsite.

Ardmore is popular because it has a huge sandy beach with very low tides, a walk east along a grassy path close to the rocks next to the sea takes you to another sandy beach about a mile away and the 3 mile coastal cliff walk to the west takes you past St Declan’s Well where the water is known to heal your ailments – obviously all 3 of us drank from the well!

We stayed here 2 nights and it was our first experience of not using hook-up electric – all went great until the low level van battery light started flashing. We weren’t sure what had used the van battery but decided it was time to head to Louis’s but not before we visited Ballybranagan Beach where we almost got blocked in if it wasn’t for Bobs skills at manoeuvring a 7m long 2.3m wide van around some very precariously parked cars.   

Finally we arrived at Louis and Niamh house and I’m not sure who was most pleased us or George! Cead Mile Failte