Ireland. Cork, Kerry and the Wild Atlantic Way.

[Motobiker]

Got a little bit further east than planned, as we had the time. Now at a campsite on the edge of Kilkenny. Quiet little place. A  mile walk to the nearest pub- which has lead to some grumbling. Hey ho. We hot footed it to get here through 3 banks of rain, though it’s dry here and long may that last. Tomorrow heading for Wicklow and maybe a night by the sea at Bray. Or, see what happens.

[Motobiker]

Where else in the world can you walk into the shop at a petrol station and the very first thing the cashier says is “how are you?”

and so I answered, we’ll I’m not bad though me knees are giving me a bit of gip and me prostrates not behaving either. Me right eyes feeling a bit off. I have the beginnings of a headache though that might just be the remains of this mornings hangover, it’s hard to tell. My stomach feels a bit neglected, I could eat a scabby horse. But I’ll make do with this here lasagknee and chips as well as this bottle of water, me €20 of unleaded. And thank you for asking!!”

hows yourself?

looking a bit traumatised, he didn’t answer. Just took my money and wandered off with a glazed look in his eye. 
 

meanwhile…..

[ReggiePezza]

Well that's taken the edge off of it. But I do have a question for the man in front; what happened between the night in Wales and Killarney? The first night on the island. Saturday night.

[Motobiker]

12 hours ago, ReggiePezza said:

Well that's taken the edge off of it. But I do have a question for the man in front; what happened between the night in Wales and Killarney? The first night on the island. Saturday night.

That is a question!! It’s not something I really want to think about. The campsite looked just about perfect. Great reviews nice photos - basic, owned by a biker. However it was pretty terrible - we slept that night in a barn as the camp ground was, a bit of a mess. The place looked more like a junkyard than a campsite. But, we slept in the dry - which was just about the only positive thing to be said. Kinsale was rammed with America tourists - every cafe had at least an hour wait time for a table - so we had breakfast at a service station (most  of which offer very good eats, I might add) and then followed the Way to Kenmare then over the tops to Killarney. The morning was a damp one - but it quickly improved, the sun came out and it was great. So, not the best of starts but there was some hilarity comparing the reality of that first campsite to the photos and reviews online. I didn’t get shouted at. But… it has to be said, we were conned by t’internet. Main lesson for me is always stick with officially sanctioned campsites!!!

I took zero photos. Until we were well away from that place.

google - motofirm camping

 

[Specs]

On 06/09/2021 at 19:42, Specs said:

More to the point how much is a pint of Guinness now? 

Last time I was over it was €10 for a pint and a half  - for the herself at the time. Must be at least ten years ago.

[Sir Fallsalot]

7 hours ago, Specs said:

Last time I was over it was €10 for a pint and a half  - for the herself at the time. Must be at least ten years ago.

Never mind that my brother was working there years ago and only phoned his girlfriend for a few minutes a day and came home to a mobile phone bill at almost £200 he didn't earn that a week

[Specs]

1 hour ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Never mind that my brother was working there years ago and only phoned his girlfriend for a few minutes a day and came home to a mobile phone bill at almost £200 he didn't earn that a week

Same happened to me at Gib. Wasn’t happy. 

[Motobiker]

In the most touristy places €5 is about average for a pint. However… we Lidled. €1.99 a can  .80c for a bag of ice and used one of my panniers as an impromptu ice bucket to chill the beers, worked very well. We got to Bray and to our dismay found there were no campsites at all, most had closed down due to COVID, gone bust. So…. We gave up and crossed to Holyhead last night and stayed at my sisters house - who conveniently happens to live in Holyhead. I’m nearly home, just having a break near uttoxeter. The guys enjoyed our week away, something a bit different and better than expected with the great weather and even the bad weather wasn’t too terrible.., though I’ll never enjoy packing up a tent when it’s raining. A deep breath and start thinking about the Dolomites and Austria/Black Forest next year. All being well and we get back to some form of a normal life.

my left ice bucket as mysteriously acquired a souvenir!!

[XTreme]

Great report Tony!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Yep lovely stuff!

[Motobiker]

I did almost 1500 miles over the week.

I'm glad we went, but its not something I would choose to repeat, by which I mean it wouldn't be a normal option for our yearly getaway. Mainly due to the highly unpredictable weather. Also, its not the best place to go if you want to avoid tourists. One example, The Gap of Dunloe was a nightmare due to the sheer number of tourists there..  several horse drawn traps, which were as wide as the road, though we were lucky to be able to squeeze past them at passing places. People on foot, on bicycles (mostly hire bikes) and those who had driven there and all this on a normal working weekday, a Tuesday. It must be 100 times worse during the holiday season. Its a fantastic road, but one to be done in the evening and hope for the best.

We had a much better time of it elsewhere, The Dingle peninsula was great so was the ring of Kerry and the ring of Beara, but, its not where you want to be in bad weather, also.. to fully appreciate it you really do need an adventure style bike as a lot of the very minor roads were pretty bad, and going off the main roads is really a must for this region, otherwise you miss so much.

For me it was a cheap holiday though, After all the initial expenses were paid, the ferry. I took €550 and came back with €180. Camping was cheap, so was shopping at lidl. eating out wasn't horrendous except in central and extremely touristy Killarney. A lot of the larger fuel stations did some quite excellent food.. not the sort of stuff you would normally expect either.  They reminded me a lot of Tebay services. local produce really to the fore.  When we were at Kilkenny, we had a walk to the nearest bar, very much a local pub. we had 2 pints each, 4 pints of Bitter and 2 pints of Guiness in total and the bill was €26. After that a visit to the chippy over the road and then came the most pleasant surprise. Fish and chips and not by any means a small portion. €4.90 and very nice too.

A few other things that struck me. Car drivers were very very considerate and 9/10 would move over.. or even pull over to let us pass. people waved at us all the time, on foot, on bicycles in cars.. didn't matter. 'Friendly' doesn't do it justice. We saw a lot of speed camera signs.. but never once an actual camera. My guess is there aren't any.. the signs were more about being a deterrent or to warn of the occasional mobile Gardai with a radar setup. (possibly)

I loved the signs..  like on the tarmac. "Lane in Stay"  and "Yield" rather than give way. Speed limits were very much in line with here.. 60-75 out of town. rarely 50 due to bendy roads. other signs were rather more 'inventive' than the boring ones we have here.. with a sense of humour to them.

I lost count how many times I was asked what part of the UK I was from. There were a lot of brits there on holiday. a lot, probably for exactly the same reason we were.. as its so easy. no fuss, no testing. nothing, They do take Covid very seriously though.. much more so than here as it is now.

[XTreme]

25 minutes ago, Motobiker said:

I did almost 1500 miles over the week.

I'm glad we went, but its not something I would choose to repeat, by which I mean it wouldn't be a normal option for our yearly getaway. Mainly due to the highly unpredictable weather. Also, its not the best place to go if you want to avoid tourists. One example, The Gap of Dunloe was a nightmare due to the sheer number of tourists there..  several horse drawn traps, which were as wide as the road, though we were lucky to be able to squeeze past them at passing places. People on foot, on bicycles (mostly hire bikes) and those who had driven there and all this on a normal working weekday, a Tuesday. It must be 100 times worse during the holiday season. Its a fantastic road, but one to be done in the evening and hope for the best.

We had a much better time of it elsewhere, The Dingle peninsula was great so was the ring of Kerry and the ring of Beara, but, its not where you want to be in bad weather, also.. to fully appreciate it you really do need an adventure style bike as a lot of the very minor roads were pretty bad, and going off the main roads is really a must for this region, otherwise you miss so much.

For me it was a cheap holiday though, After all the initial expenses were paid, the ferry. I took €550 and came back with €180. Camping was cheap, so was shopping at lidl. eating out wasn't horrendous except in central and extremely touristy Killarney. A lot of the larger fuel stations did some quite excellent food.. not the sort of stuff you would normally expect either.  They reminded me a lot of Tebay services. local produce really to the fore.  When we were at Kilkenny, we had a walk to the nearest bar, very much a local pub. we had 2 pints each, 4 pints of Bitter and 2 pints of Guiness in total and the bill was €26. After that a visit to the chippy over the road and then came the most pleasant surprise. Fish and chips and not by any means a small portion. €4.90 and very nice too.

A few other things that struck me. Car drivers were very very considerate and 9/10 would move over.. or even pull over to let us pass. people waved at us all the time, on foot, on bicycles in cars.. didn't matter. 'Friendly' doesn't do it justice. We saw a lot of speed camera signs.. but never once an actual camera. My guess is there aren't any.. the signs were more about being a deterrent or to warn of the occasional mobile Gardai with a radar setup. (possibly)

I loved the signs..  like on the tarmac. "Lane in Stay"  and "Yield" rather than give way. Speed limits were very much in line with here.. 60-75 out of town. rarely 50 due to bendy roads. other signs were rather more 'inventive' than the boring ones we have here.. with a sense of humour to them.

I lost count how many times I was asked what part of the UK I was from. There were a lot of brits there on holiday. a lot, probably for exactly the same reason we were.. as its so easy. no fuss, no testing. nothing, They do take Covid very seriously though.. much more so than here as it is now.

Great report Tony.......you reckon you'll be back in Europe next year?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Sounds like the ideal jaunt to Ireland. Lucky weather and good food and good hospitality. I’d say that’s another successful year. 

[Motobiker]

27 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Great report Tony.......you reckon you'll be back in Europe next year?

Hopefully yes. There has been much talk for the past few years of the Dolomites. (mostly because I tend to wax lyrical about that region - I've been 3 times) via the Black Forest and Austria. over a fortnight. A big effort to start.. get down to Austria in 2 days and then spend the next 12 as a slow return, staying in various places for a few days.  3/4 days in the Dolomites.  few days in Austria and then on to the Black Forest before returning to the Uk from calais using the tunnel.

Go to 3 places. Dolomites. Austria and the Black Forest. All very German.. even the Dolomites, though in Italy has a very German ambience.. all the signs are bilingual. 

See how the weather is 'on the day' and possibly reverse the itinerary if need be. This is normal for us as we chase the sun, If the weather at the start of our week is glorious in the BF then we will start the trip there.. or if not, head for Austria. If Austria is dodgy, we will race through and over into Italy. Obviously, once we get to Austria then everything else is practically on the doorstep. If the worst happens and the Dolomites has rain, then we could easily go further east and into Slovenia. Take it day by day and see how it pans out... as always, following the sun. Obviously camping gives us this freedom without the stress of finding rooms for a group of (max) 8.  I tend to look for campsites with decent supermarkets close by, for beers and eats. helps with the overall budget,

That was why I chose Killarney as a base as there was a lidl just a mile from the campsite. as well as a pub just up the road.

Jack, who came with us to Ireland came with me to the Dolomites 6 years ago and is very keen on going back.  Here he is gesturing down the road to Cortina d'Ampezzo. "its all thattaway".

[XTreme]

2 minutes ago, Motobiker said:

Hopefully yes. There has been much talk for the past few years of the Dolomites. (mostly because I tend to wax lyrical about that region - I've been 3 times) via the Black Forest and Austria. over a fortnight. A big effort to start.. get down to Austria in 2 days and then spend the next 12 as a slow return, staying in various places for a few days.  3/4 days in the Dolomites.  few days in Austria and then on to the Black Forest before returning to the Uk from calais using the tunnel.

Go to 3 places. Dolomites. Austria and the Black Forest. All very German.. even the Dolomites, though in Italy has a very German ambience.. all the signs are bilingual. 

See how the weather is 'on the day' and possibly reverse the itinerary if need be. This is normal for us as we chase the sun, If the weather at the start of our week is glorious in the BF then we will start the trip there.. or if not, head for Austria. If Austria is dodgy, we will race through and over into Italy. Obviously, once we get to Austria then everything else is practically on the doorstep. If the worst happens and the Dolomites has rain, then we could easily go further east and into Slovenia. Take it day by day and see how it pans out... as always, following the sun. Obviously camping gives us this freedom without the stress of finding rooms for a group of (max) 8.  I tend to look for campsites with decent supermarkets close by, for beers and eats. helps with the overall budget,

That was why I chose Killarney as a base as there was a lidl just a mile from the campsite. as well as a pub just up the road.

I was thinking we could set up a Touring Forum if there was enough interest!

Then people could plan their stuff over a period of time in that area in their own specific threads!

[Motobiker]

We all have different ways of planning a trip like this, My way is to treat it as "MY Holiday" and I invite people to come along.. on the understanding that they get what they're given and if plans have to change.. then they have to accept that. For instance a few years ago we were all set to go to Austria. HOWEVER the weather was terrible.. rain from Belgium all the way to Munich and so literally last minute I told them that I wasn't prepared to have 3 days of solid rain and so we went to the Vercors in the south of France instead.. which was hot and dry and totally gorgeous. Nobody was disappointed. Though we missed the high passes, The Vercors and Ardeche were great as a second choice. The high point being the Combe Laval balcony road.

[XTreme]

4 minutes ago, Motobiker said:

We all have different ways of planning a trip like this, My way is to treat it as "MY Holiday" and I invite people to come along.. on the understanding that they get what they're given and if plans have to change.. then they have to accept that. For instance a few years ago we were all set to go to Austria. HOWEVER the weather was terrible.. rain from Belgium all the way to Munich and so literally last minute I told them that I wasn't prepared to have 3 days of solid rain and so we went to the Vercors in the south of France instead.. which was hot and dry and totally gorgeous. Nobody was disappointed. Though we missed the high passes, The Vercors and Ardeche were great as a second choice. The high point being the Combe Laval balcony road.

That's definitely better than splashing about in the rain!

[Motobiker]

15 minutes ago, XTreme said:

That's definitely better than splashing about in the rain!

Which is why I always try to have a plan B ready to roll. I really do enjoy camping, but not in the rain.. so that's why we will always follow the sun.. head for a region that has a settled outlook, or if its the Alps. They can often act as a barrier.. with wet weather to the north and glorious to the south. So.. even if the intention was originally to stay in the north, we will head south.

Of course, with Ireland we didn't have that option. We just had to muddle through. all-in-all it turned out great.. but it could easily have been otherwise and there would have been no escape from it. Its a holiday not a test of endurance.