Thu, 19 Jun 2003

author Tim	location Blarney Caravan & Camping Park, Stoneview, Blarney, Cork, Ireland
posted 21:37 BST 20/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Ireland/Ireland 1 ( all photos )

Ireland! - Wexford and Waterford ( 22 photos )
(Continued from South England 2)
It has long been a dream of Liz and I to make it to Ireland, and it nearly didn't happen on two counts: for one, we didn't quite know how to fit in driving one way to Ireland then going back across England to continue travels around Europe, and secondly, due to our mechanical problems.
The latter seem to be ok now, the old girl is battling on around the country, and Liz is driving her more and more. It's quite different to driving a nice tight little car like Percy - the steering is an approximation, gears are miles apart, the whole car is backwards, and about a foot wider and three feet higher than a normal car. Not to mention that driving at any speed over about 80km/h leaves you at the total mercy of the wind - lots of fun when overtaking trucks on motorways. So Liz is doing just fine!
So we are now safe and sound here, enjoying our travels around the countryside.

In the morning our ferry was reasonable - a little rough but nothing much to complain about. Getting up and convincing our bodies to so something useful at 2:30am after going to sleep only two or three hours earlier was a little challenging, but we were awake enough (we think) to notice that nobody on either side of the crossing checked our passports at all. I thought everyone was clamping down on security?
These Stena Line ferries are pretty big, we got squashed in on the truck deck because we were too tall for the normal car section.
We tried to grab some sleep with a little success, but in all we were playing for the rest of the day on about three hours sleep.
Driving off the ferry at the other end in Rosslare, we thought it was an appropriate time to plan what we were going to do. First decison: right or left? In the end, we are going in a clockwise direction around Ireland, starting at the south-east corner.
It rapidly became appropriate that Ireland is a confused little place. Speed limit signs are in mph, but distance measurements are in kilometres. After using miles for so long, I have decided that I like kilometres much better because they pass so much faster as you are on a long drive!
We had (obviously) no real plans, so after a quick consultation with our friendly Ireland Lonely Planet, we headed for the little fishing town of Wexford. Famous for almost nothing, we looked at the old town gates and walls, and got our first Euros out of the bank.
Of much greater scenic interest was the Hook Peninsula a little further along. Home to the world's/Europe's/Ireland's (delete depending on which source you choose to believe) oldest lighthouse, and some scenic coastline which boasted a huge boulder high up which had been washed up a couple of hundered years ago in a huge storm.
We had a fairly interesting tour of said lighthouse, run by one of the local girls with only Liz and I as the tour group. It was fairly early, but we had been up since 2am. Not sure what she thought of two un-washed, un-shaven (well me anyway) Australians prancing around with cameras, but I guess they get it often.
We travelled back up the peninsula looking at the haunted Loftus Hall, a ruined medieval church used by the Templar Knights, then a little further on to Dunbrody Abbey.
Here we left county Wexford and entered county Waterford, driving into the town of the same name. We wanted to have a little look around the town itself, so attempted to park in one of the many places to do so (Lonely Planet describes the town as one long parking lot), where Liz had to get out to get a ticket (it's on the wrong side, you see), got one, and I then noticed one of those height-restriction bars. Problem. 2.2 metres is less than 2.5 metres, so I reversed carefully on to the main road and sped away from the approaching traffic. Liz ran down the road after me.
So it was out of the town centre for us, onwards to the one thing of merit - the Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre. Not being collector of such things (I don't even claim to understand the attraction of it all), we were pleasantly suprised by the variety on offer, the friendliness of staff (see above for description of our appearances), and just how interesting it was. The prices were enough to bring us back down to earth however.
Next item of business was to organise a place to stay for the night. Job was done as we selected a caravan park just out of Dungarvan. By this time, a shower was well overdue, so we went straight to pick a pitch, get some shower tokens and relieve the world of our uncleanliness.
Although it was not our first night in a campground, we became very aware of plenty of people staring at us. Almost without exception, everyone else has a huge (I mean a truck-size huge) British or Irish registered white caravan or campervan, TV antennae, awnings, flashy cars to tow their vans, sewerage pipes, chocks for the wheels, microwaves, ovens, and enough other bits and pieces to re-define the term "mobile home".
Even though we don't see it as most stay for several days at a time, I imagine that their set-up process is about a two-hour task. We take three minutes. First, reverse the van on to the pitch. Secondly, connect the electricity. Third, get out our two folding outdoor chairs. Lastly, relax and do nothing after a job well done.
Sure, we have a laptop and other fancy gear with us, but we are happy to be away from a "home", meaning no TV, no microwave and certainly no satellite dishes!
So our bright-red, (relatively) small, Aussie-driven, Dutch-registered, quick-to-set-up van always gets people interested. Everyone says hello, while some want to chat for a long time.
That evening we wandered down the road to a nearby hotel bar where we had our first Irish drinks - including of course a Guiness (yes, it does taste different here to England, and it is a different drink all together to what you get in Oz).
Back to cook dinner in the van before reading a little and crashing very very tired to bed.

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