Ireland for 4-6 weeks not spain !

Roger S

Roger S

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Hello, We have for 3 years before the big problem crossed the tunnel with our dog ( we live under an hour away ) and headed to Spain & Portugal for 4 weeks, we were thinking of stretching the time to 6 weeks. Now because of travel restrictions in France we are thinking of getting a ferry to Ireland and touring there. We havnt been to Ireland before does anyone have any advice ? It would be within a few weeks so appreciate the weather may not be the same as Spain.
 
I’d recommend getting the Motorhoming Ireland app for 3-4 quid. A great resource. N Ireland is cheaper for most things but some great areas to tour in the South
 
Get a big umbrella and some good waterproof gear.:LOL:

Actually Ireland is great in a Motorhome, wild camping accepted virtually anywhere, people very friendly, when you drive through villages you have to wind the window down and say hello to everyone.
Water very easy to get, taps on all the fishermen's piers, getting rid of rubbish can be a bit of a challenge. Food & eating out very expensive.
 
Being a native, come on over! 🙂 Wee tip for you if you haven't already booked travel here via Stranraer to Larne or Belfast once you have experienced some of the North, Titanic Belfast, Giants Causeway, Glen's of Antrim coast road etc just nip over the border anywhere not much covid checking stuff over here, just bring a mask for your shopping and you have to visit Donegal (but I would say that! 😀)

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To those who are saying not cheap have obviously not went to the North. Generally cheaper than mainland uk
 
Winger said:
To those who are saying not cheap have obviously not went to the North. Generally cheaper than mainland uk
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Spend a fair bit of time both North and South. True, North is more reasonable. South is expensive compared.
But whatever the price the Guinness is just lovely👍😀
 
Donegal is a beautiful place. Plenty of wild camping. One thing to remember is that as the Irish pay for their rubbish removal you may find it hard to get rid of it. There is an aire in Buncrana by the tourist office. They have Lidl and Aldi like us and last time I was there diesel was cheaper.
 
Downsie said:
And when you go to Co Donegal, get the dog an EU pet passport. No AHC needed to get to NI at present (check before you travel) and then cross the border and visit an Irish vet.
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That's great advice, thanks

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Downsie said:
And when you go to Co Donegal, get the dog an EU pet passport. No AHC needed to get to NI at present (check before you travel) and then cross the border and visit an Irish vet.
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Roger S said:
That's great advice, thanks
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EXCEPT be aware that if you don't have your dogs old UK pet passport you may still need an AHC for proof of the vaccinations etc for the republican vet to be able to issue to an EU pet passport, ring ahead and check is what I would say.
 
Red Sonja said:
Donegal is a beautiful place. Plenty of wild camping. One thing to remember is that as the Irish pay for their rubbish removal you may find it hard to get rid of it. There is an aire in Buncrana by the tourist office. They have Lidl and Aldi like us and last time I was there diesel was cheaper.
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My brother lives in Ireland, county Meath. He was telling me that we can take our rubbish to the local tip. If you drive in, you pay to tip but if you walk in it’s free. When we go I’ll just keep a black bin liner for ours and when full walk into the tip with it.
 
Back in the late 1980's I had a VW Camper van.
We did a two week anticlockwise circuit of the island, starting in Belfast.
We had heard things about the quality of the Irish roads
We drove from Derry and crossed the border into the south towards Letterkenny in Donegal
As we were belting along the road at close to top speed (so about 45mph), I said to the wife,
"I don't know what they were complaining about, the roads in the south seem to be fine ...."

At that point the van became airborne as there was a step in the road!
We landed about 3 meters down the road.
Every cupboard burst open, food, clothing, bedding, crockery, cutlery, pots & pans all over the place.

Incredibly none of the tyres burst and we had done no permanent damage to the suspension, but had carved big divots out of the road surface on landing. We could see a lot of other vehicles had done the same thing, with many of them landing well beyond our mark.

It took us at least an hour to clear up the mess, we noticed all the locals obviously knew about the 'step' and drove up or down it at less than a walking pace.

We found out at the campsite we were not the first van to be caught out and the local recovery vehicle went to the location at least once per day.

Amazingly there were no warning signs

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Last edited:
Brains said:
Back in the late 1980's I had a VW Camper van.
We did a two week anticlockwise circuit of the island, starting in Belfast.
We had heard things about the quality of the Irish roads
We drove from Derry and crossed the border into the south towards Letterkenny in Donegal
As we were belting along the road at close to top speed (so about 45mph), I said to the wife,
"I don't know what they were complaining about, the roads in the south seem to be fine ...."

At that point the van became airborne as there was a step in the road!
We landed about 3 meters down the road.
Every cupboard burst open, food, clothing, bedding, crockery, cutlery, pots & pans all over the place.

Incredibly none of the tyres burst and we had done no permanent damage to the suspension, but had carved big divots out of the road surface on landing. We could see a lot of other vehicles had done the same thing, with many of them landing well beyond our mark.

It took us at least an hour to clear up the mess, we noticed all the locals obviously knew about the 'step' and drove up or down it at less than a walking pace.

We found out at the campsite we were not the first van to be caught out and the local recovery vehicle went to the location at least once per day.

Amazingly there were no signs
Click to expand...

Ah yes, ye olde "Buncrana Bump" my dad used to accelerate at that one in the Mk 5 Cortina in the 80's on the way back from Derry :cool:
 
In Southern ireland ,The people are charming - the scenery is lovely - the prices are steep!

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Toured many times in car/hotel.
Really looking forward to doing it in MH and trying my new wellies out.
Good tip Winger re app, will get that.
 
We spent three months touring Ireland and NI about ten years ago. I'd love to return.
Very easy to wild camp. However, we found that Irish Calor Gas fittings were different to English ones, but you could get re-fills at the Calor Gas depot at Cork Port and the occasional garage would also refill unofficially. Things may have changed since our time there.
Went to the dogs (greyhound racing) in Tipperary, came away with 10 euros in winnings and an invitation to overnight in the car park. The following morning we got an early wake-up call when all the dogs came back for exercise and left lots of deposits for us to step-in.
 
We had 4 weeks the month of June in 2015, we had good weather but appreciate we was lucky, we went from Fishguard to Rosslare the crossing was a little choppy, did the wild Atlantic way and some inland waterways, returning Dublin to Holyhead free camped the whole time and loved it, the Irish are very friendly and a great place to visit. 😎 Bob.

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Done the North and South a few times here's a link to a couple of blogs.
rebbyvid.blogspot.com

Southern Ireland 2012

19th June After having a solar panel fitted to add to my 2x110amp batteries i booked a Liverpool- Dublin ferry and set off with current gi...
rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com
rebbyvid.blogspot.com

A month in Ireland September 2019

Tues 3 rd September Set off at lunchtime for the 20.15 Irish ferry from Holyhead to Dublin, had a good run down with a stop for a coffee...
rebbyvid.blogspot.com rebbyvid.blogspot.com
 
PaulC70 said:
EXCEPT be aware that if you don't have your dogs old UK pet passport you may still need an AHC for proof of the vaccinations etc for the republican vet to be able to issue to an EU pet passport, ring ahead and check is what I would say.
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I couldn’t help it but as soon as a republican vet was mentioned I had this vision of a vet in a balaclava and a semi-automatic syringe
Apologies to the island of Ireland, it is lovely .Lucky you.
 
Brains said:
Back in the late 1980's I had a VW Camper van.
We did a two week anticlockwise circuit of the island, starting in Belfast.
We had heard things about the quality of the Irish roads
We drove from Derry and crossed the border into the south towards Letterkenny in Donegal
As we were belting along the road at close to top speed (so about 45mph), I said to the wife,
"I don't know what they were complaining about, the roads in the south seem to be fine ...."

At that point the van became airborne as there was a step in the road!
We landed about 3 meters down the road.
Every cupboard burst open, food, clothing, bedding, crockery, cutlery, pots & pans all over the place.

Incredibly none of the tyres burst and we had done no permanent damage to the suspension, but had carved big divots out of the road surface on landing. We could see a lot of other vehicles had done the same thing, with many of them landing well beyond our mark.

It took us at least an hour to clear up the mess, we noticed all the locals obviously knew about the 'step' and drove up or down it at less than a walking pace.

We found out at the campsite we were not the first van to be caught out and the local recovery vehicle went to the location at least once per day.

Amazingly there were no warning signs
Click to expand...
That used to be quite common. When they were getting loads of EU dosh to build roads they built a magnificent stretch of road till the money ran out and.........yep....major jump onto the old road surface. :giggle: Next load of dosh then a few more miles of lovely road. Repeat.
 
We've done Ireland twice (have a look at our blogs in the signature below). We wanted to do the Wild Atlantic Way but started at Belfast - worth a couple of days visit, free overnighting at Carrickfergus Castle with a proper bourne for water etc. Drove anti-clockwise around the coast and very impressed with N.I. After 3 weeks we'd only got as far as Galway, so many places to just stop and look at the view, scenery much like the north west coast of Scotland. The TI offices have a free set of three excellent guides to the WAW.

When we returned we started at Galway (via Belfast again) and no checks crossing the border into the Republic. Have to say the scenery wasn't quite as good in the SW but still very enjoyable and we spent another 3 weeks. Plan to go again this year hopefully and "do" the Shannon.

Just a note of caution - the roads on the WAW are literally as close to the coast as you can get and are often little more than single-track and can be a challenge in a larger outfit. However they're not very busy and are incredibly well signposted.
 
Roger S said:
Hello, We have for 3 years before the big problem crossed the tunnel with our dog ( we live under an hour away ) and headed to Spain & Portugal for 4 weeks, we were thinking of stretching the time to 6 weeks. Now because of travel restrictions in France we are thinking of getting a ferry to Ireland and touring there. We havnt been to Ireland before does anyone have any advice ? It would be within a few weeks so appreciate the weather may not be the same as Spain.
Click to expand...
Its not a problem you can still travel abeit some rules.

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