Date: Thu, 07 Sep 95 13:32:35 GMT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Tyson, John" <tyson@sageltd.co.uk>
Subject: Tour of the Emerald Isle
I got back from a ten day tour of Ireland yesterday in my '78 camper.
Thought it might interest some of you - especially across the pond in
North America as I always enjoy reading of your VW adventures over
there - you seem to have so many wonderful places to tour like Baja
and the national parks etc.
We set off from Brixton in South London early on Saturday morning.
Traffic was light and we reached Bath in West England by around
10.00am. Looked around the beautiful Georgian architecture for an hour
or two then set off over the River Seven suspension bridge into South
Wales. This is one of the longest bridges in Europe and is very
exposed to cross winds.
We leisurely cruised through the Welsh lanscape picking up gas (as in
propane) and supplies as we went as prices are higher in Ireland. We
reached Fishguard at around 9.00pm (where our ferry left from) and
drove around a head land to cook supper by a small beach.
The ferry left at three am so we slept in the queue on the harbour
side. I was woken suddenly by a loud banging on the windows. My van
was the only vehicle left on the pier! I quickly drove up the ramps
into the bowls of the ship and the van suddenly felt very small
surrounded on all sides by huge lorries. THe vehicles on the ferries
are packed in as tightly as possible and then chained to the floor.
THere were three vehicle decks on this ship with high vehicles at the
bottom - made the right decision to book in there (thanks for all your
advice on that). It took 4 hours to cross the Irish sea and we landed
at Rosslare in South East Ireland.
By afternoon we reached our destination of Listowel where there was a
festival of Irish dancing and music. The atmosphere was excellent with
musicians playing in every pub and all along the streets. The Guiness
was soon flowing smoothly!
Next morning we headed North taking the coast road and a short ferry
ride across the Shannon estuary. We headed into an area known as the
Burren in county Clare picking up hitchers along the way. The Burren
is a strange lancape of eroded limestone with a unique flora and many
ancient Celtic, Bronzeage and earlier ruins. Most spectacular are the
Dolmens (over 4000-5000 years old!). Think of mini stonehenges and you
get the idea. We camped by the Atlantic in Doolin - a tiny village
near the Mohar cliffs famous for its Ceally bands.
Onwards around the Galway bay to Connemara. This is a very barren
place of jagged rocks and bogs from which the locals dig their winter
fuel. We stayed in the area travelling only for 20-30 miles a day
before stopping to explore for 4 days.
The journey back to London took 2 days and included a detour around
the town of Ennis which was blocked as the inhabitants were
celebrating victory in the All Ireland Hurling Chapionships.
Ireland is an ideal place to tour in the camper as it is quite small
but with drastic changes in the scenery over small distances. THere
are very few large roads in Ireland and even these are small and very
potholed by English standards.
There were plenty of vanagons in evidence from a Splitty spotted by
the sea in county Clare through to the latest models.
Ireland is a very beautiful country and I came across nothing but
genuine friendliness from the people there. It was a good feeling when
strangers wave and shout hello as you drive past.
My van performed fine all the way there and back, until I was within
half a mile of home! - started to stall when stopped - I'll check it
out this weekend.
Hope this was of interest to you - I'd better go and do some work i
guess -
Cheers.
