Thursday 7th April 2016:
We arrived
at Dublin Airport and were lucky enough to be picked up by the Celtic
Campervans shuttle and transferred out to the depot to collect our van. After
being given the full rundown on how to operate everything and empty the waste
water, Brendan was entrusted with the keys, Roslyn with directions, and we hit
the road bound for Blarney.
Actually
making it out onto the motorway was more difficult than it should have been. We
spent the first 15-20 minutes driving around in circles. We were on the
motorway, then took an off ramp that somehow turned us back around to where we
came from. Having taken the long way round, we eventually ended up where we
were supposed to be.
A little
under three hours later we arrived at our accommodation, a patch of gravel at
Blarney Caravan and Camping Park. Brendan found the
Fiat bed-on-wheels smooth and easy to drive like a normal
car, but this almost created a false sense of security because the thing was
indeed significantly longer, wider and higher than a car. Our single minor
wipeout occurred on the drive into the village of Blarney to stock up on
the necessities, smacking the passenger side mirror into a light post.
Fortunately, the mirror was already pretty scratched and nothing broke so we
ended up getting away with that one. As this was our first night, we weren't
quite sure just how warm we'd be and during the night certainly regretted
having not bumped up the heater
The
following day, Friday, we explored the Blarney Castle and Gardens. The current
castle is the third incarnation of a castle on the site, and dates back to
1446. Over the last few hundred years, millions of pilgrims have climbed the
narrow stairs of the castle to gain the gift of eloquence by kissing the
Blarney Stone. The stone is set at the bottom of the wall below the
battlements, and to plant a peck on the rock one has to lay down on the edge of
the walkway and hold onto iron bars, while dangling headfirst towards the
ground. All four of us made it to the top and nervously hung from the edge to
kiss the stone.
As to
whether we've actually become more eloquent, we will leave that for you, the
readers of our blog, to be the judges. Next we went across to have a delicious
pub lunch, then back in the van and onwards to the famous seaside Cliffs of
Moher. Along the way we passed by some remarkable scenery, including an amazing
seaside, cliff top golf course. At the Cliffs, the extreme wind so powerful that
it made it hard to open the doors of the van, and once we did the icy
temperature made us thankful for having brought our heavy jackets.
The Cliffs
of Moher are Ireland's most visited natural attraction, and stretch for 8
kilometres along the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland. At their
highest point, they are 214 metres tall. From April through to late July, the
Puffin (the icon of Iceland) nests at the cliffs although we didn't manage to
see any.
Back onto
the narrow winding coast roads, we headed around 15 minutes north to Nagle's
Doolin Camping and Caravan Park. The manager at this park was fairly useless
and not very welcoming. On pulling up at the check in office, there was nobody
there and a handwritten sign on the window to say call this number. All well
and good except that there was absolutely no phone signal here. The manager
suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and when Brendan said he tried to call but
had no signal was told "yeah, that happens". He was also less than
impressed that he'd waited for us "all day".
Located
alongside the sea adjacent to the Doolin Pier, and with ocean vistas in one
direction and rolling green hills in the other, this felt a little more
secluded. Lucky we'd stocked up earlier at the supermarket in, what we
thought was a small village, Blarney because there really was nothing out here.
The storm that we experienced during the night was fierce and loud; the camper
swayed in the wind and the heavy rain/hail awoke Brendan. In his half asleep
state of mind, he had to look outside the window to check that we hadn't
been washed into the sea and it wasn't waves crashing against the van.
We packed up
and departed the park on Saturday morning, and on our journey discovered
that not far from Doolin it had actually snowed during the night.
We stopped
in at Galway for lunch, a university town, where the sun was shining and the
temperature was quite pleasant. In the pub we entered an elderly man had dozed
off while eating his burger, using the bun as a pillow of sorts.
Back into
the van and we cruised on to Dublin, pulling in at the Camac Valley Tourist
Caravan and Camping Park around two hours later. The following morning, Sunday, we left
the van behind, and boarded a bus into the city. We set off in search of the
Moore Street Market where Agnes Brown has her stall on Mrs Brown's Boys
D'Movie, but sadly there were no stalls set up today. With poor weather looming
we wandered off to one of Dublin's major attractions, the Guinness
Storehouse.
From 1904
right through until 1988, the Storehouse was the fermentation plant and is
designed in the shape of a giant pint glass that if full, would hold 14.3
million pints. We learnt about the brewing process, the correct way to
"taste" Guinness, viewed historic advertising material, before
finally learning how to pour the perfect Guinness and graduating from The
Guinness Academy. The glass encased circular seventh floor houses the Gravity
Bar, presenting fantastic views across Dublin, although you really have to
fight for a seat near the window.
Our Irish
road trip came to an end on Monday, packing up and returning the van then
heading back in the shuttle to the airport. At the airport, we swapped to a
taxi into the city and found a local pub for lunch before it was all over and
time to head home.
Highlights:
- First
Campervan experience
- Blarney
Castle and Gardens
- Kissed the
Blarney Stone
- Seaside,
cliff top golf course.
- Cliffs of
Moher
- Doolin
Pier
- Fierce
storm
- Snow
- Stopped in
at Galway for lunch
- Moore
Street Market
- Guinness
Storehouse
