AscotGreyCali
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Part 1 - Arrival and First Few Days
One of the key reasons for us buying a Campervan was to visit parts of Europe and the U.K. that we haven’t visited yet.
For Spring 2024 we decided on South East Ireland with a few days on the Causeway Coast on the way home.
Over the winter, we did a lot of research and started to look for a base near Wexford for several nights. It didn’t take us to long to decide on Kilmore Quay for a base as we visited Wexford and Waterford.
Although we have lived in Aberdeenshire on and off since the late 90s, my family are from Cheshire so I chose the Holyhead to Dublin route so we could catch up with family on the way.
On the way from Cheshire to Holyhead a wave of nostalgia for a village where I’d learnt to plane a windsurf board whilst awaiting my A-level results meant I stopped in Rhosneigr. Which has changed considerably unsurprisingly in those 30 years the old hotel having been replaced by the glass and wood oyster catcher and the village with much smarter eateries. It did seem to have lost some of its coolness of those windsurfing years.
A really smooth sailing with Stena Lines and we stayed at Lynders Holiday Park just outside Portrane. It was night where Northern lights were visible across a lot of Europe so we were able to watch them across Dublin Bay.
The following day we headed from Portrane via the coastal towns south of Dublin heading for Arklow but before we got there my wife spotted a sign to the village of Avoca and wanted to visit the mill. On arriving the village seemed familiar and a sign on the local bar confirmed that it had been the location for Ballykissangel which explained the coach tour bus in the middle of the village.
After a fascinating tour of the mill we took fastest route to Kilmore Quay arrived at the excellent Kilmore Quay Holiday park , which is about 400 yards from the beach. Alice who runs the site works very hard to ensure everyone has a really good stay.
We used Kilmore Quay as a base for the next few days as we visited the following
The Hook lighthouse which has been serving seafarers for 800 years. The area around the lighthouse was very scenic and we chilled out here for a good deal of a day.
Waterford Crystal Factory- Parking could be found locally to the factory in Waterford Centre.
Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford. In existence since 1987 and for us a clever project set up as Wexford didn’t have a museum so the city decided to use some land to set up an open air park with reconstructions of buildings from Norman, Pre-Christianity and Bronze Age.
By the time it came to leave Kilmore Quay we felt we could have spent more time in Wexford . A visit to the Saltee Islands is on the list for next time.
Next Stop Dungarvan via the copper coast
Useful resources | for planning this trip we found the Slow Road Ireland Guide and the Charlie & Me YouTube Vlogs really useful.
One of the key reasons for us buying a Campervan was to visit parts of Europe and the U.K. that we haven’t visited yet.
For Spring 2024 we decided on South East Ireland with a few days on the Causeway Coast on the way home.
Over the winter, we did a lot of research and started to look for a base near Wexford for several nights. It didn’t take us to long to decide on Kilmore Quay for a base as we visited Wexford and Waterford.
Although we have lived in Aberdeenshire on and off since the late 90s, my family are from Cheshire so I chose the Holyhead to Dublin route so we could catch up with family on the way.
On the way from Cheshire to Holyhead a wave of nostalgia for a village where I’d learnt to plane a windsurf board whilst awaiting my A-level results meant I stopped in Rhosneigr. Which has changed considerably unsurprisingly in those 30 years the old hotel having been replaced by the glass and wood oyster catcher and the village with much smarter eateries. It did seem to have lost some of its coolness of those windsurfing years.
A really smooth sailing with Stena Lines and we stayed at Lynders Holiday Park just outside Portrane. It was night where Northern lights were visible across a lot of Europe so we were able to watch them across Dublin Bay.
The following day we headed from Portrane via the coastal towns south of Dublin heading for Arklow but before we got there my wife spotted a sign to the village of Avoca and wanted to visit the mill. On arriving the village seemed familiar and a sign on the local bar confirmed that it had been the location for Ballykissangel which explained the coach tour bus in the middle of the village.
After a fascinating tour of the mill we took fastest route to Kilmore Quay arrived at the excellent Kilmore Quay Holiday park , which is about 400 yards from the beach. Alice who runs the site works very hard to ensure everyone has a really good stay.
We used Kilmore Quay as a base for the next few days as we visited the following
The Hook lighthouse which has been serving seafarers for 800 years. The area around the lighthouse was very scenic and we chilled out here for a good deal of a day.
Waterford Crystal Factory- Parking could be found locally to the factory in Waterford Centre.
Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford. In existence since 1987 and for us a clever project set up as Wexford didn’t have a museum so the city decided to use some land to set up an open air park with reconstructions of buildings from Norman, Pre-Christianity and Bronze Age.
By the time it came to leave Kilmore Quay we felt we could have spent more time in Wexford . A visit to the Saltee Islands is on the list for next time.
Next Stop Dungarvan via the copper coast
Useful resources | for planning this trip we found the Slow Road Ireland Guide and the Charlie & Me YouTube Vlogs really useful.
