I'm thinking of taking a holiday over in the Emerald Isle next summer. Bring the tin tent over and spend a couple of weeks touring around. It's something I've always fancied doing and now that the dustbin lids are grown up it is the ideal time.

I was just wandering if you could give me some ideas on best ferry routes, places to visit etc.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.














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TB wrote:

VA - You can keep your suggestions about my tin tent to yourself.

why don't you take your trailer ? 
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Hi TB……

Bit stretched for time at the mo’, just checking in quickly to see what’s happening.

I’ll pop back later & respond properly

Cheers Rupert.

VA - What was wrong with my original message.  Arctic Frost TDV6 SE. Aspen Leather, Cherry Wood, Privacy Glass, PTI, Tow Pack, Mudflaps, Tasmods, a new Fuelflap, a RRSport.co.uk umbrella in the boot & a RRSport.co.uk sticker on the rear glass.
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shmoogle wrote:

That would be a camel tow then would it?

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Hi TB

Sorry for the delay in response to your question, I had fully intended writing up something yesterday (Sat) evening, but I ended up doing a 12hour day & by the time I got home, I just plonked down in front of the TV & didn’t move for the night.

Anyway………

Ferry routes:

Well my preferred route is Rosslare –Fishguard/Pembroke Dock. Stena operate the Fishguard route with both a “Cruise Ferry” & a High Speed Ferry, while Irish Ferries operate out of Pembroke Dock, with a “Cruise Ferry” service.

Sailing time on the Cruise Ferries is in & around 3hrs 30 mins. Stena’s high speed service brings the sailing time down to around 2hrs. The one thing to note is that the Irish Sea is often quite rough & the High Speed service can be cancelled a fair bit. So if you’re not in a particular hurry, I’d use the standard “Cruise Ferry”.

We used the Stena cruise ferry to Fishguard when we were heading over to the London Meet last August & found it to be perfectly fine. It’s no luxury liner mind you, but for three hours or so, it does the job just fine. That said though, while we were waiting to depart, the Irish ferries ship, docked at the other berth, looked like a mighty fine ship too & we would possibly use that the next time, just to check it out.

Both Stena & Irish Ferries also operate the Hollyhead – Dublin/Dun-Laoghaire routes, with Irish Ferries sailing the “Ulysses” on the route, which is the largest car ferry in the world.

But the down side of that, is that you’re arriving into Dublin or Dun-Laoghaire (a suburb of Dublin) & I don’t know how wise it would be to launch into Dublin traffic, which is never pleasant at the best of times, with a TinTent in tow. Whereas arriving into Rosslare is an altogether more calm experience & is at the right end of the country, close to where I think the nicest places to visit are.

Which brings us nicely to the next chapter……..

What to do & where to go:

To my mind, counties Wexford, Waterford, Cork & Kerry, would be the nicest & best places to visit on a touring holiday & all are in striking distance on good roads (by Irish standards) from Rosslare Ferry Port.

Waterford would probably be the least scenic of the bunch, with Waterford City, being just that, a city. Whereas the town of Dungarvan (on the road to Cork) is really pretty. One thing of course in Waterford, is that you can visit the Waterford Crystal factory, which is reasonably interesting & by all accounts may be closing soon, so perhaps a last chance to see it. For further information you can visit the Waterford County tourism web site Here.

County Wexford, your point of entry, if you use Rosslare, is a nice coastal region, with some nice seaside resorts. When I was young we used to holiday in Rosslare Strand & while there wasn’t much there way back then, it certainly has developed in recent years. The “Burrow Holiday Park” offers touring/camping pitches for overnight & longer stays.

If you do base yourself in Rosslare / Wexford for a while, once you have your caravan sited, a drive out to the “Hook Peninsula” is well worthwhile. Another thing of note that may be of interest is the beach at Curracloe, which was used for the shooting of the Normandy Landing scenes for the film “Saving Private Ryan”

There seems to be loads of info on the The Wexford Tourism web site

County Cork, being our largest county, offers a wealth of places to visit & things to do.

A couple of websites that seem to offer good info are ……

http://www.cork-guide.ie/ & http://www.corktourist.com/

Youghal in East Cork, on the road from Waterford to Cork, is a very nice town.

Cork City itself is well worth a visit. I must admit to being biased here, as I have a long association with Cork City & also “Mrs Rupert” hails from there.

The town of Kinsale is a particular favourite of mine. The selection of restaurants there is second to none.

But to my mind, it’s West Cork where Cork really shines. The towns of Clonakilty, Skibbereen & Schull to name but three, are really, really lovely places to visit. But the whole West Cork region is fab.

If you’re up for a drive & time allows, 2 hours further on from Cork City, Barleycove & Crookhaven are well worth spending some time in. There’s a caravan park in Barleycove, where my In-Laws have holidayed for years, which offers hard & soft stands to visitors & down the road Crookhaven is a little fishing village with a couple of pubs & some very nice restaurants. The buzz there during the summer season is just brilliant & the scenery is also equally brilliant. A visit out the Mizen Head Lighthouse is a must too.

The roads to get there are not the best, but are well travelled by caravaners & well worth the trek, if you have time.

If you do venture down that way, I can highly recommend Heron’s Cove Restaurant

There’s really just too much to West Cork, to list here, but if you look up the West Cork Website, you’ll get loads of information.

If you don’t mind I’ll take a break here for now, post up what I’ve written so far, proof read it a few times & test all the links. I’ll then return & cover what I know of the Kerry region later on.

Cheers

Rupert.

Last edited by Rupert on Sun Nov 09 2008 10:11pm. Edited 3 times in total

Continuing on…….

The Kerry region is often branded as being one the most scenic in the country & I’d pretty much agree with that.

Killarney is the largest town, with a wealth of pubs, shopping & restaurants. Have a look here for some more info.

Outside the town there is Muckross House & Gardens which offers a great day out, where you can tour the house, gardens & farms. There’s some great walks around the parklands with stunning views of the lakes. Just up the road from Muckross is Torc Waterfall which is worth a look if you’re out that way.

Then there’s the Ring of Kerry Tour which can be done in segments or if you like take the whole day to drive it.

Kenmare, is another really nice town near Killarney, as is Tralee, home to the famous Rose of Tralee Festival

If you are in Kenmare, take a spin out to Sheen Falls Lodge Hotel for afternoon tea……… a really nice luxury treat.

The Dingle Peninsula offers some great touring, sights & places to visit in the Kerry region too & well worth a visit. The town of Dingle itself is home to some great Irish Pubs & if it’s traditional music you’re after, look no further.

For the kids there the Aqua Dome & you can also take a boat trip out to see “Fungi the Dingle Dolphin”

The “Do Dingle” web site holds good information on this region of Kerry.

The Kerry Tourism web site will help too.

I think that about wraps up, what I can come up with for now, on the South East, South & South West region of Ireland, which is the region I know best.

Unfortunately though, I’m not wildly familiar with caravan parks & facilities around Ireland but this web site seems to hold a good resource of information on the various parks around the country.

Certainly there are other areas & regions of the country worth a visit. Galway & Connemara are very nice too, as are parts of County Clare But you can’t do it all in a few weeks.

I hope that some of the above will help in your planning of a trip to Ireland & if I think of anything else or something I forgot, I’ll be sure to add it. If you have any other questions, please ask & I’ll do my best to answer………

Cheers

Rupert

Last edited by Rupert on Sun Nov 09 2008 5:06pm. Edited 4 times in total

Top stuff Rupert A travel writer in the making Speed Limits! not where I live!

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Hi TB,

We're almost neighbours but have neve spoke , I used to deliver boats to Ireland and have done all the ferry routes and driven over most of the country with big trailers.

If you feel like saving money on ferries theres a norfolk line freight boat (used by caravanners regularly) runs out of birkenhead to Dublin or Belfast. It takes 8 hours and runs twice a day , if you do the night crossing you get a cabin and free meals while on board.

The holyhead to Dun-Laoghaire fast ferry takes about 1.5 hours , I think , superb service , great food on board , Dun-Laoghaire is no problem with a caravan as you can join the motorway quite easily after about 2 miles from memory . They have recently finished a toll dual carriageway from the main dublin motorway (I forget what it's called M4 perhaps , and I'm too lazy to fetch a map) to the centre of the country (athlone area).

Rupert is spot on with the rosslare -fishguard boat but its a pain in the a$$ to get to fishguard in the first place.
Bank on 4 hours from your place.
However the rosslare end is a different world away , much quieter .

If I was taking our tintent (same size as yours) I'd go fishguard -rosslare and back on the Dun-Laoghaire -holyhead fast boat.

Have fun you'll have a great time.

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