Orf to Ireland, North and South (1 Viewer)

[Les and Elaine]

Hi Guy's,
Taking our first long touring trip in our camper. Arrive Belfast 13th June and return from Dublin 15th July.
Our intentions are to head up north, Giants Causway/Bushmills area and then travel down the West coast.
Any tips, recommendations on sites, places to see/avoid would be greatly appreciated.
Here's hoping for good weather!
Les and Elaine

 

[sue1959]

look at my photos and you'll see some from Mayo.
If you're in Louisburgh on 23rd June we're having our annual Horse show. I'll be organising the Dog show!
You're going round the right way anyway. PM me if you like.

 

[Whitewater]

Oh boy where to start.

I know Mayo and Galway best so perhaps I'll just start there. If you are travelling down from Sligo then your first main town in Mayo will be Ballina. A good spot to park up is by the river in front of the Cathedral. Plenty of space and central to the town. If you plan to stay in the area there is a campsite outside the town near Belleek woods. The woods themselves are very nice for waking. Alternatively there is an official Aire (you wont find many of these in Ireland) in the town of Crossmolina which is about 8 miles further west. Photo below was taken there.

From here I would suggest going the long way around the coast. Killala - Ballycastle - Belmullet - Achill - Westport.

Near Ballycastle the Sea Stack at Downpatrick Head is well worth a visit and you can quite safely wild camp the night there.

A little further up the road you can visit the Ceide Fields which is worth a stop for the view alone (assuming you hit it on a good day ).

Proceed along the north Mayo coast to the Belmullet peninsula. If the weather is good the it is well worth spending a day or two on the peninsula. There is a very pleasant walk called the Erris Head Loop and it is easy enough to find wild camping spots down near the beaches in the south of the peninsula.

Next continue on to Achill Island (one of my personal favorites) but it is worth stopping at Ballycroy National Park en-route. And if you are up for it you can spend the whole day walking through the wilderness of the National Park. Achill is wonderful and be sure to do the atlantic drive.

There is a beach side camping site at Keel and another on the North side of the Island. The drive back to Keem bay is spectacular on a fine day but you need to have a head for heights!

After Achill you should head towards Westport. Along the way you will be travelling beside the Great Western Greenway. Which is recently developed off road walking and cycling trail that goes all the way from Achill Sound to Westport. If you don't have bikes with you can rent the locally. This has the advantage of being able to arrange a pick-up by the rental guy saving you having to back track. (I have no connection to this company.)

Westport is a lovely town but it can be difficult to find parking. You will find a lot of campers parked up on the Quay with is a bit outside the town. There is also a good campsite attached to Westport House and there is a walking path to take you to town. The house itself is ok but overall is more aided at families with kids so IMO not worth it for a retired couple.

Moving on from Westport you should head towards Louisburgh and if you are up for it climb some/all of Croke Patrick as you pass by. The drive from Louisburgh to Leenane along the R335 which runs past Doo Lough and through the Dephi valley is very nice and best experienced traveling North to South. Once you hit Leenane you will be in county Galway and will need to decided whether to keep west or head more inland. But maybe I'll leave that for another post. As I've gone on a bit :Blush:


Some other information that may be useful:
There is a very active campervan forum on www.board.ie so don't be shy about posting questions there.

Wild camping spots can be found easily enough in a lot of places but it may also be worth your while joining Safe Nights Ireland which is similar to Brit Stops.

Anyway I hope you have a great trip and I'll try and come back post up some information about Galway.

Whitewater.

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[Les and Elaine]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Some great info guy's, can't wait to get started.

 

[phil1946]

[FONT=&quot]We left home in the first week of September and went to Pembroke Dock, via the CC site at Tredegar House and Windmill Hill campsite at St. Daniels Hill (Pembroke). We sailed to Ireland and stayed at The Trading Post before starting an anti-clockwise tour via campsites at Camac Valley, (C&CC) Delamont, Ballyness (where we discovered Irish whiskey!), Sleepy Hollow, Ballyshannon, Ballina, Cong, Adare, Blarney and Dungarvan before returning, at the end of October, and staying at the CC sites at Pembrey and Tredegar House before Anita’s, getting home in the middle of November.

All sites can be found on ukcampsites.co.uk or google. If you are really bored take a look at the whole story on rvoc.co.uk under 'first year with RV' by phil1946.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the trip.
[/FONT]

 

[TM59]

I will be brief. If you want to stay in bushmills you can stay at Ballyness caravan park within walking distance of the Bushmills Distillery?

Travel the coast road to Portrush were there are a selection of sites. Personally I would recommend Juniper Hill caravan park run by Coleraine borough Council. You can book online. Great views from this park across the bay to Portrush.

The Skerries caravan Park is also an excellent site in Portrush on the outskirts of the town adjacent to the world famous Portrush Golf club.

When in Portrush walk the beach to to the white rocks. Also visit the Harbour Bar for an excellent pint of Guinness.

Enjoy

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[Les and Elaine]

Thanks again to those who have responded to my thread.

Some good sites mentioned here some of which are on my short list already. Bushmills and Giants causway may well be the start of our intrepid journey. Been a keen angler I am also hoping to get in some quality course fishing......any tips from anglin funsters!
Hope the weather picks up a tad! Quite miserable an the Isle of Man today. Fortunately, it's a non racing day so heres hoping for some improvement tomorrow and a start to the summer.....