Well here we go again, just had two lovely days with my old school chum, and lifelong friend called Andy – who is now an Andrew , he still calls me Stephen, I’m called Steve, anyway it worked, probably made us feel younger.

Andy and Family have a lovely 30 acre plot close to the Fishguard ferry terminal, and what better way to catch up , than have a couple of days there, en route to Ireland. This will be our second rally, don’t bother to look for any reports of the first one though, it was a learning experience shall we say. We met Mrs B , Andy’s ( oops – “Andrew’s” ) mum, same age as mine, she was really excited to see us, and made us very welcome. the group photo was texted to sister, and memories and internet regards were passed around.

After a couple of days of mostly Welsh beer and hospitality, including the bleeding yew, a burial chamber and an old fashioned pub, the Dyffryn Arms, with its serving hatch in the wall, it was down to the docks, and a smooth crossing to Ireland.

Off to Ireland

I always have had a love for Ireland,apart from the weather, and we were excited to get to the campsite at Dublin, 3 hours up the coast.

Well – it rained, it rained and it rained, and then it rained some more. There was queue of animals, two by two, at our caravan door, just waiting hopefully for Mr and Mrs Noah to open the door. The forecast was wet, wet your whistle at the Guiness brewery, and then head off for better weather, and the Killarney brewery, 5 hours to the West.

Dublin was a lively place, the bars were packed, and the conversation and beer flowing, but bars can be too packed, conversation can be too loud and you can only have so much beer. It was time to go to a quieter corner of Ireland.

We drove the Ring of Kerry, as we’ve travelled around Mainland Europe we”ve always marvelled at the cliffs, mountains, plains, rivers and beaches. In England its always been a little disappointing, Lake District was fenced off, Snowdonia was tiny, other parks, blink and miss them. The Ring of Kerry, which is actually a circular drive (maybe 100 miles) around some of the most beautiful scenery, is up there with the best. We started at ,, watched horses gallop along the beach, went into the mountains, took a car ferry, saw Dinosaur trails of tails, had tea on the promenade and admired the lakes of Kerry. the pictures say it all. (apart from the dinosaur trails, which needed some imagination)

The Gap of Dunloe might not seem a big gap, but’s a 30 mile round trip from Killarney, through an ancient galacial valley, rode an ancient cyclist, yes that was me !

So from Killarney and the Ring of Kerry , to the Aherlo Glen, (Pronounced Ahh.. Hello ) where Margaret’s pub, and the Campsite gave us a warm welcome. Tipperary, which was a long way , was a bit of a disappointment, the Irish economy had obviously had its effect, even the charity shops were closed down. Views spectacular, but time to move on through.

So off to the Burren..