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Day 32 – Mont Saint-Michel

Just another manic Monday. It was so nice to just hang around the campground some more. The sun rose through morning fog, the owner of the campground bought us fresh baguette at the bakery and the kids loved all the opportunities for play they had here.

Sunrise in morning fog

We didn’t leave before 10am with a long drive to Mont Saint Michel ahead of us. Flo let all of us sleep a bit until we arrived at 11.45am. This is actually our lunch time but we hadn’t stocked up on bread and now we were in the giant parking lot with all these other people streaming towards Mont Saint Michel or the free shuttle buses. I just got caught up in all the commotion and the impressive mountain castle in the middle distance (3km does not look like a lot anymore) so we headed on in without having eaten.

The free shuttle ride was cramped full of people but it’s still a great service that you don’t have to walk the three kilometers with the kids. Plus, Number 3 was excited about another bus ride.

I mean, it does look super cool!

Leaving the bus on the bridge, you have ample opportunity to take in the view (and take pictures) before you actually enter. We arrived at low tide or rather what we thought was low tide but the water retreated even further in the time we spent there.

Going through the gates, you are hit in the face with tourism. Toilets cost 1€ even for the kids, there is overprized food on every corner and quite a lot of people everywhere. Still, the whole thing is impressive. The gate alone is very thick, the wooden doors plated with metal. Followed by layers and layers of fortifications around the hill with an abbey right at the top of it. It gave me quite the Minas Tirith vibe. Climbing up the ramparts, we had great views of the bay and fewer people to deal with. Up and up we went till we were at the steps of the abbey. Thinking it might be good “doing” the abbey before lunch since we were already here now, we bought tickets, audio guides and got in.

The newest part of the abbey

The abbey itself is a great structure as well. Many people have added to what was originally there so even here, you have layers upon layers. It is especially visible when you’re on the big west terrace which is also overlooking a lot of the surrounding coast.
Both kids were getting very hungry by now. The Agent had already been nibbling on her pain au chocolat for the past 30 minutes before trying to hand it back to me. A seagull that had previously perched on the low wall as a perfect picture-taking opportunity was suddenly airborn, grabbed the rest of the pain au chocolat, hit Flo in the face with a wing in the process and was off.

The Agent was startled, upset and hungry now. Flo was startled, hungry and hit in the face. At that point, the battery of our camera died. *le sigh* So we decided to get through the many, many rooms of the abbey quicker now to avoid disaster with the kids and only take a few pictures with the iPhone. Pro tip: Only go into the abbey if you have eaten already in order to properly enjoy all of the sights and information. 😉

The Great Hall of the abbey where kings would be entertained

By the time we left the abbey, we were hustling towards the next eatery. Both kids held themselves with surprising grace and reason so we had no reason to tempt fate any further. The next crêperie was ours for sandwiches and galette, the savory version of crêpe.

Now it was time to leave the small lanes of Mont Saint Michel. Taking the bus back to the gigantic parking lot, Flo and I thought about what to do next. The next rustic campground was half an hour away but in the wrong direction, back towards the Bretagne. In the direction convenient for our travels, it was another 1 ½ hours. Still, we opted for the second campground.

Given that there hadn’t been any charge points for our car at Mont Saint Michel, we planned a top up at a Lidl while shopping for dinner. Through a missed exit from the motorway which added another 20 km to our mileage, we were running REALLY low on charge. Then, the charger at Lidl wasn’t as fast as advertised, meaning we had to spend more time at Lidl while getting less mileage out of it than we had thought.

When we finally arrived at the campground, it was late and the car already complained about needing a top up. Pfff, that was a close-ish call but we made it. It added unnecessary tension to an already slightly stressful day. The campground turned out to be lovely though. We got in, plugged in the car, everybody had ice cream for dinner and we got the kids into bed. The fact that you could only pay cash here and we didn’t even have the 25€ for that anymore barely registered with me anymore. In the end, while Flo asked around if we could send anyone money via PayPal and they’d give us some cash, lovely people took pity on him and gave him a 5€ donation.

Day 30 – To the ferry

Our last day in Ireland had begun. At 4pm the ferry to Roscoff/France would leave the port of Cork with us on it. That was quite the exciting prospect, at least for me. I am always excited when I need to get a specific mode of transport at a specific time. Flo would probably call it anxious. 😛

We got up in the morning on the campsite in Blarney, having decided not to bother the Blarney stone with our kisses. In fact, we didn’t visit Blarney castle at all. After a shower, we drove right back into the city of Cork. Leaving at 4pm, we’d probably have to check in around 2pm…a whole morning to spend in Cork. I mean, Cork is awesome. You can spend way more than a morning there.

Entering the coffee roasters hole in the wall

After parking the car, we actually accidentally went to Other Realms, the local gaming den. Being there was quite cool, even if it was mostly empty tables waiting for people to play at this time in the day. A couple of board games were on display, work in progress miniature painting and the newest D&D books. The lady in the shop even pitched the teen D&D group to Number 3 who is clearly far away from his teens.

First thing to do was get a second breakfast at one of the city’s coffee roasters. It was supposed to be have coffee and buy ground coffee for the campground but then the pastries on offer looked delicious and the kids did complain that they don’t drink coffee…

It is a kid’s dream

Just around the corner of this tiny cafe under a stairwell was the toy shop where Number 3 had fallen in love with the wooden train set. We spent a couple more minutes there before I managed to lure him away with a visit to the sweets’ shop on the other side of the road. It had a pick’n’mix bar, probably the first proper one the kids have seen. Given that grandma’s bucket of gummy bears was empty once more, we all picked out some of our favourite gummy-things for said bucket.

A bit further was Crawford City Gallery where we’d been yesterday in search of a cafe. Today, we went to actually look at the pictures. Or sculptures as it turned out. The first exhibition was of the Canova Casts. THE Canova had overseen the making of casts after antique statues which were then gifted to the monarch of Great Britain as a thank you for defeating Napoleon in Waterloo. Such strange things exist. The casts were back on display for the bicentennial.

The second exhibition named mEAT & potatoes was a ride through food through the ages as represented in art. It had contemporary art as well as still lifes of earlier times. All in all, our time in the Gallery was well spent.

A glass of milk with a straw – the best thing since sliced bread

From here, we went back to the English market for lunch. The Lonely Planet recommended the Farmgate Cafe for lunch as it used all of the fresh produce on offer in the market. That sounded exactly like something we should try for our last Irish meal. Flo had Irish stew with a non-alcoholic cider, Number 3 opted for the fish chowder (what a brave choice!), while I ordered the grilled goats’ cheese sandwich and a cheese & ham sandwich for the Agent who didn’t want to eat at all. But she happily accepted the kids’ choice of beverage, a glass of milk, which she finished in one go. I think I realized only yesterday that she actually has two new teeth and that this is to blame for her being the worst eater at the moment.

After lunch I got twitchy. Come one people, it was time to get onto the ferry! Flo did his best to slow us down on our way to the car, going on a detour to the only catholic church we’ve been in in Ireland. Alas, in the end, we were all in the car queued up for the passport check and then for boarding. Flo turned into his usual grumpy self because of the wait but it didn’t take much longer than an hour before we were allowed to board. At 3.20pm, we packed our overnight bag (for safety reasons you are not allowed to go back to your car) and checked out our cabin for the crossing. THE. CABIN. WAS. AMAZING.

Our own cabin SO AMAZING

It felt quite spacious, two of the beds folded down from the ceiling and the couch turned into a bed as well. We had a small table, everything to make tea and coffee and even our own toilet and shower. You might not be able to tell but this is only the second overnight ferry ride in the western world for me.

After storing away our things we went to explore the boat. Battleship might be a more appropriate term as this thing was huge. It even had a small pool on the 9th deck and there was an entertainer in the bar in the evening.

At exactly 4pm, the ferry left the port. We waved goodbye to Ireland, both of the kids declaring that they want to be back. The rest of the afternoon was rather exhausting for us parents as the kids hadn’t slept on the short ride to the port and all the excitement was a little too much for them. We tried a lot from chilling outside on the deck to having a drink in the bar to playing foosball…nothing kept them happy for long. In the end, we put them to bed early which they seemed to be happy about.

One more drink for Flo and me at the bar while we posted the next blog post and then it was off to bed for me as well. We will leave the ferry tomorrow morning at 7am in Roscoff, still being on Irish time that meant 6am for us. 5 am wake up alarm anyone?

Day 28 – Kilkenny

Our two days in Dublin were over and even our days in Ireland could be counted with only a couple of fingers. Today’s programme consisted of the next city: Kilkenny. It’s conveniently located on the way down to Cork AND it is supposed to be cute and nice to walk along in. We’d booked the city campsite in advance to avoid stress and because I was a little scared it might be fully booked.

Perfect road, perfect weather – nobody there

Both kids were very tired from our two days exploring the city and Flo wanted to take the scenic route to Kilkenny instead of the motorway so we could see a bit of the Irish countryside between our city stops. Giving the kids time to sleep and us time to admire the drive worked out very well. The Wicklow mountains were very scenic with hills and streams, a great big bog and almost empty of tourists. We really enjoyed seeing so much green and sky again.

We arrived in Kilkenny after (our usually early) lunchtime. But since the kids had slept through most of the drive, we were still okay. I’d picked a recommended restaurant on the road where we headed now. Foodworks was right up our alley, having a farm to fork concept. Lunch was delicious. Flo had pulled pork, I had a veggie stew with eggs and the kids shared two sausages and potatoes. For some reason, the kids’ portions are super big in Ireland.

Kilkenny castle

Kilkenny has a couple of sights, including Kilkenny castle. I felt especially sight-seen out ( :P) and only wanted to stroll through the city in search of postcards. There was another destination named “Truffle Fairy” which was pretty high on my list, though.

So we wandered around High street, down the Butter slip and ended up at the castle anyway. But we only had a look from the outside. It just seemed too involved to get in. Number 3 was disappointed, so for his sake, we checked out the entry. “No credit cards, cash only, sorry” told us that we wouldn’t go in with a good enough reason now.

Bars of chocolate on one side

From here, the Truffle Fairy wasn’t far away. Delicious truffles were bought, carried for a short way and then eaten before we hit the car. To be fair, we decided to check out the campsite earlier than usual today as we had some much needed laundry to do.

Back at the car, we realized that we still had to go grocery shopping anyway. We already stocked up on Guinness 0.0, in case we won’t have time/ the car close by when we go to Cork, along with the usual milk and bread.

The campground turned out to have three horses and two ponies so the kids were instantly sold on staying here. My immediate chore was all that laundry…checking out how it works here, getting tokens for the machines from reception, getting all our dirty clothes into one big pile and then getting all of them transferred into the washing machine.

Flo checked out the horses with the kids and then prepared our bread and cheese dinner. We tried to be on time as another gaming session was scheduled. We managed to game but our connection was frustratingly slow and I was indeed, super tired.

Day 26 – Dublin City Tour

Since Belfast we had promised Number 3 a ride in a cool bus. We were thinking about the red double-decker sightseeing busses for Dublin, in the end we decided to take the easy route and buy tickets for BigBus Dublin, a company with slightly less red open-top double-decker busses. They started from our campground at 9.30am which seemed to make it the logical choice.

Dublin had overwhelmed me the second I started reading about it. We’ve been tourists in big cities before but somehow, after driving the Wild Atlantic Way for almost its entire length, Dublin seemed daunting. Most of the “must see”s and “top things to do” didn’t feel very kid-friendly, at least not with small kids. Trinity Collage seems amazing…we skipped it altogether as it felt like it would bore the kids to walk around university. The pub scene…Flo’s and my heart bled but there was no good way of making it work with the kids.

With that jacket, if she falls at least we will find her again

So here’s what we did DO. We bought 48 hour hop on-hop off tickets for the BigBus Dublin. Starting at 9.30am, we left for town from our campground. I was anxious we’d miss it, the online tickets didn’t really come through on time, everybody got stressed…in the end, our camera fell down. Pretty spectacularly as well. Luckily, it was only slightly damaged. The battery which was missing a lid already before the trip now stopped staying inside its casing. Flo managed to wedge it in with tape for now…it will need lots of TLC once we’re back home. There’s probably more minor damage but at least it worked for the rest of the day.

The bus drove on the motorway for about 30 minutes without a stop. It was rather quick compared to the 45 minutes regular buses take to get to town. Stopping at “Stop Number 1” of the tour, we had to switch buses but left for real this time within 4 minutes for the 90 minutes sightseeing tour. That is the first thing we did: Get a feeling of the lay of the land, see some sights, have the kids enjoy an open-top bus ride.

Dandy in the park

It gave us an idea of what we could do later in the afternoon or even tomorrow. Driving by the Guinness Storehouse, a very popular stop of the tour, we decided that we’d get tickets for tomorrow for this attraction. Arriving back in the midst of Dublin’s center, we got off at the northern side of the river Liffey at lunch time. The restaurant we’d picked for lunch was closed unfortunately (no lunch on Mon-Weds) so we ended up in a very different location: A small Korean eatery in the back of a Korean supermarket. A very unlikely thing to stumble upon but lucky for us as the food was delicious and even the kids tugged in properly which is always a concern.

Our only picture of Ha’penny bridge. By this time, we’d gotten off the bus. If you’re lucky, you can spot the person floating in the river in the background

From here, we explored the city on foot. The Temple Bar District was just over there, on the other side of the river, so we crossed Ha’Penny Bridge. While admiring the bridge and the river, we noticed a person floating in the river realizing a second later that this person needed to be saved which happened in form of a bystander shedding his cloths and jumping into the river. Many rings were thrown, most of them poorly. A minute or so later, the fire fighters arrived and they were professionals at throwing lifesaving devices into the river. Two of them joined the bystander in the water by which point we left as it looked like a successful save already. Number 3 was rattled by the situation and the loud noises of fire fighters and ambulance.

Inside the Chester Beatty Library

The Temple Bar district looked pretty epic, thus adding to our heartache. Checking which sights were near, Flo picked the Chester Beatty Library. It turned out to be a really cool place. The Agent of Entropy slept through most of it (again) but Number 3 was pretty engaged with what was on display.

Time for coffee! Going to Clement & Pekoe didn’t take too long and their sweet treats were absolutely lovely. Plus, they had a whole wall full of different teas on display. I actually bought some to give my sister when we’re back home. There was time for one more thing this afternoon before dinner and it was my time to pick. The kids had picked the bus, Flo had picked the library, now it was my go. Fair and square, right? Unfortunately, Number 3 made quite the fuss that he wasn’t allowed to pick but we stuck to St Patrick’s cathedral for the afternoon.

Number 3 designing his own flag

Walking there was a chore not because it was far away but my kid made it pretty damn exhausting. And then we were there, bought tickets and the amazing lady at the counter gave him crayons and a booklet “Explore St Patrick’s with Millie the Mouse”. He was all in for that, looking at things, discovering flags and bells, creating his own flag and generally loving it. Flo got to listen to most of the audio guide while Millie the Mouse taught me a couple of things as well. XD

After a ten minute break in the park right next to St Patrick’s, we went for dinner. The kids were tired, we were tired and a fancy restaurant would probably end in a disaster. So we decided to have pizza, enthusiastically agreed to by our 2 year old. A nine minute walk through a more and more residential looking neighbourhood later, we walked through a pub to get to a back yard with a pizza place. It was a little piece of heaven in form of a woodfired pizza oven. I shared my “Smoked Magherita” daily special pizza with the Agent who ate two whole slices of it. That is A LOT for such a tiny human. It was so good! The tomatoes had been smoked over applewood chips, giving the whole pizza a smoky flavour. Yum yum yum.

Alright, time to get the bus back to our car and the tent at the campground. Oh, the buses back only run once an hour…we better get going. Number 3 was an utter champion running in front while we hustled through the streets to the bus stop. It was getting late and another hour in the city seemed daunting with the tired kids. The bus was late as seems to be a usual occurrence in Dublin so we even had to wait for it. Then a 45 minutes bus ride and finally, we were back at the tent and put the kids to bed.

Day 24 – Castle Rock

Our not so glamorous campsite didn’t get more shiny in the morning. We got to use the campers’ kitchen which is always helpful as a jug is so much easier than boiling water on our camping stove. On the down side, the Agent spilled her glass of milk and we had to clean up. 😉

Trying to feed a very brave and cheeky little birdy

Before we left, we had a great conversation with a French family. They were super nice, the kids were inquisitive and looked into our tent and they gave us recommendations for our time in Brittany next week.

Today’s goal was to take it waaaaaay slower than we had done lately. Just looking at where we’ve been in the last week makes my head spin. Slowly but surely we’re coming to the end of the Irish part of our holiday. The biggest ticket item on our “to do” list now is Dublin. From the far south, we’re going to drive part of the way there today. Along the way, Cashel is a good point to stop and the Rock of Cashel is highly recommended too.

We were lucky enough to prebook the campsite in Cashel which took a lot of stress out of the day. Get there, look around, set up camp, done. Getting there was a bit of a challenge as it meant more than two hours straight in the car for the kids. That’s always a harder sell.

The “backside”: The tower is the oldest part, the rest is the cathedral

We broke it up with lunch next to a charger. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost the Agent’s hat there. L I hate losing things.

After lunch, the kids could take a nap while Flo and I took a small detour through the Glen of Aherlow. It consisted of a scenic drive, more time for the kids to sleep and time to listen to our audiobook.

Then, we arrived at the Rock of Cashel. Cashel is the anglisized version of the Irish word for castle. It describes a castle on a rock from the 12th century. Just looking at it from below gave us flashbacks to Carcassonne even if it is way smaller. We walked in, bought tickets and learnt that the free guided tour had started 20 minutes ago. We could try to catch up with them (it’s not a big place) or wait 40 minutes for the next one. Given that we have small kids, we opted for the first option. I love that the guided tours are for free. Number 3 listened very well to the English talk and repeated some of the facts afterwards: The round tower is the oldest part of the castle. The big cross got hit by lightning and that’s why the top is in pieces, lying on the ground now.

It’s pretty cool to see your kid do this. Maybe history will be one of his interests one day. 

Rock on Cashel from our tent window

We finished the guided tour and then walked around the perimeter for a bit. Since I wouldn’t allow the kids to balance on the graves, they soon lost interest in more walking. Happy that we got most of the guided tour, we left in search for coffee. Since it was Sunday, the recommended cafe was closed when we got there. None of the other places looked inviting, most were kiosks selling ice cream.

Taking it slower is also paraphrasing “getting to the campsites earlier”. Which is exactly what we did. We pulled up at the campsite and had coffee there. I mean, we made the best choice really, as the campground was literally underneath the Rock of Cashel and you had a view of the castle and a ruined abbey a bit further away. We got to enjoy the view for a couple of hours now.

Number 3 instantly made friends on the playground and the Agent just refuses to acknowledge that she’s younger. She is always in the thick of it, too.

In the evening, we even managed to have that postponed gaming session as reception was really good here.

Day 23 – The southern end: Malin to Mizen

Camping in Beara was nice despite the slightly abandoned vibe of our campground. We had so much space and quiet, the kids could be as noisy as they wanted during breakfast for a change. To make it even better, Number 3 found a plastic dinosaur another kid must have forgotten. It made both kids very happy.

one last pass – Lonely Planet recommended

Beara peninsular also has a ring road (how could they be left out) but we were a bit peninsular-ed out. Instead, we only drove a little bit along the coastal road and then turned inward to take the Healy Pass to the southern side. We had a light drizzle, many clouds and a bit of fog going up. The moodiness suited the landscape a lot! It cleared up every now and then to give us really nice views of the rocks. From the actual pass you could see down to the road which wiggled through the landscape below…quite a bit of awesome road. Probably amazing on a bike. J

recovered anchor from a failed rebel relief effort by a French armada

Now following the southern coastal road, we got to Ballylickey where the Lonely Planet advertised a foodie grocer with a cafe. Of course, we had to stop there for a second breakfast. The kids and I went for the sensible option of tea and cake while Flo couldn’t resist the sandwich options. In the end, we also bought cheese and bread for the road, all of which looked and smelled delicious.

We didn’t have a real plan for Bantry. The Lonely Planet suggests the Bantry House which didn’t appeal to us. Instead, we opted for a fast charger, a bit of shopping at Supervalu and lunch at Organico, a zero waste organic place. During lunch Flo chatted up a couple on motorbikes so we had a lovely conversation about places we’d been.

Going further south, Mizen Head was our next destination. It was a while away and offered a good opportunity for me and the kids to have a nap. The night had been short and full of terrors. The Agent of Entropy had been too cold and then wet and all of it had cost the rest of us valuable sleep. So against our habit on the road, I had a nap as well. Only Flo needed to drive. I like to tell myself that he enjoyed the quiet time but he was probably also very tired.

all together now

We woke up shortly before we stopped at Mizen Head. I was still a little wobbly and disorientated when we moved into the visitors’ centre. I knew it counts as the southernmost point of Ireland as the races seem to be Malin Head to Mizen Head. However, from the visitors’ centre you could walk over a bridge to Mizen Head Station on a tiny island. So we did. It was very cool even though the bridge worsened my wobbly legs. It had the “end of the world” feel to it. Mizen Head Station is a signalling station that isn’t manned anymore these days as everything can be done remotely.

As we had gaming on tonight, we’d picked a nice campground but when we got there, we weren’t too sure anymore. It advertised its glamping opportunities but it felt unstructured, more like a side project than a tightly run business. It was expensive, had no wifi or signal and seemed to be much busier than we would have liked it to be. We were too tired to debate or move again so gaming had to be cancelled or rather postponed unfortunately.

Day 21 – When a hike is not a hike

After our uber success last night (come on, laundry and cooking while camping is amazing!), we were slow to start this morning. The fog we’d seen last night over the bay had rolled in. Visibility was poor, rain came down and we had about one square meter of dryish space underneath the awning.

Getting the kids into rainproof gear, packing everything for breakfast at the camper’s kitchen to stay dry…all this took too long for our youngest who had the first accident of this trip. At a time when everything was wet anyways, moods were low and tempers easily flared. Poor her.

Lovely second breakfast in the summer garden of Petit Délice

Eventually we managed all the morning chores plus the extra work and left Inch beach for the second time. This time for good. Heading towards Killarney, the weather didn’t improve much. The rain turned into a drizzle eventually, but it still came down. I decided that we’d get a second breakfast or a coffee time in the late morning in Killarney. After walking around a little, we settled on Petit Délice, a small French bakery. They had seating space in their summer garden which luckily was covered so we had lovely chocolatey goodness and a warm tea. We also bought a baguette for lunch.

From Killarney we went south into the National park to Muckross House. Hiking in the National park is supposed to be lovely and really quite involved. While researching I found many awesome hiking trails…for adults. I’m just not comfortable with planning a day tour of 18km with our 4 year old. The Agent gets carried most of the time anyway.

An overcast, moody day for a hike. Both kids really loved the idea of riding in a jaundice car but they weren’t going around the lake. I asked

So I ended up with Muckross House. From here, there’s a 8.5km loop around the lake. That sounded doable and good. Flo made sandwiches out of the baguette to take along, we got to the start of the trail, had our lunch and the Agent promptly fell asleep in the carrier. So far so good. The hike was a disappointment though. Don’t get me wrong, it had lovely views, you just had to walk on tarmac all the time. It’s also advertised for bikers but I didn’t get that this would mean a sealed road for most of it. Bikes made so much more sense than to walk here that I felt pretty stupid to have chosen this “hike”. After 5km, we reached Dini’s Cottage our first waypoint. Number 3 was a trooper again, walking all five kilometers without too much complaining.

The Agent was asleep but even Number 3 couldn’t see over the sides of the bridge

Here, we sat down, had a drink and some ice cream for the kids. Though it is a loop, we had just reached the half-point mark. I couldn’t see Number 3 walking another 5 kilometers out of here again. Heck, even I didn’t really feel like walking another 5 kilometers on tarmac. Luckily, there was another option. When getting the trail map at the info centre, the warden mentioned that boats go to and fro between Muckross House and Dini’s Cottage. We might be in luck and catch a boat ride back with the kids.

I really hoped we would be in luck. Waiting around at Dini’s Cottage for over an hour, we weren’t. Every boat that arrived had a booked tour onboard to different locations along the lake. None of them were going back to Muckross House. Finally, we committed to walking. The first thing to do was walk about 300 meters away from the lake to see an old bridge. It was quite cool to see Old Weir Bridge. Getting back on the loop trail again, Flo moved into the wrong direction, towards Dini’s Cottage again. Frustrated with taking back our commitment to walking, I followed…just to see that Flo was talking to a boatman that had just arrived. While talking to him, a second boat arrive which (THANK GOODNESS) had space for us AND was going back to the House.

Watching everything with interest

I paid right away just to make sure he’d take us back. Then we had another 20 minutes to kill at Dini’s Cottage before finally boarding and going back via the lake. Both kids were super excited about the boat ride. You got to see most of the track we’d walked on the way here from the water. A lot of the rocky landscape was hollowed out by the water.

Back at the car, we drove back a little towards the other side of Killarney again to an unspectacular, overpriced campground.

Day 19 – Drifting around

The Forest Park was a nice spot and both kids were keen to go back to the playbus. So we took our time this morning to blog a little, let the kids play and go on a walk through the forest. The small loop track that Flo had picked didn’t lead through the forest unfortunately but meandered through the Arboretum of a now-abandoned manor house. Not quite what we had in mind for this morning.

Both kids absolutely loved the short walk through the forest. Number 3 made up fairy stories about their houses and furniture

From here, we went back to the coastal route. It was nearly lunch time already. After stocking up on groceries in a tiny supermarket (and gummybears. Always gummybears. Grandma had given a tiny bucket full of them to the kids before we left and it needs to be refilled regularly), Flo followed a roadside viewpoint sign to Carrigafoyle Castle. Another lovely picnic spot for us plus a “castle” for Number 3 to explore. It was actually quite cool to see how much of the ruin you could still explore.

Further down the coast we went, now in the county of Kerry. Kerry is full of things to do and see…just not right here. So we continued until we hit Tralee. The Lonely Planet recommended the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre as an activity plus a location for coffee. We got to the parking lot, plugged in the charger and nearly collapsed. With the sleeping kids in the back, we seriously considered just taking a nap. Instead, Flo and I planned the next campground. The response we got was encouraging, basically saying “no need to book there will be spaces on the day”. This is our preferred way of travelling so I’m quite happy we can just see how far we get and then check for campsites there.

the one lauched maybe 4m from us

Finally, we went in. It was actually quite lovely to just walk around in the wetland. We saw a heron and a moorhen with chicks and lots of things that are common in Ireland. Number 3 had a sheet with all the flora you could see and the Agent had a sheet with all the birds you could spot…both of them took their jobs seriously.

Getting coffee was a harder task. The cafe in the Wetlands Centre was closed, the first recommended cafe in Tralee as well. In the end, we wandered around and had coffee in one of the many coffee places the pedestrian zone had to offer.

Our next scheduled campground was at Inch Beach at the start of the Dingle Peninsular loop. It had been a weird day without any real highlight but a lot of things to see anyway, so I was happy to just hit the campground a little earlier than we usually do.

bit heavy-handed on the god ray shader

It is right opposite the beach. The weather was still fine and I opted that we’re going to see the beach in sunshine. Flo protested meekly because going to the beach now meant we couldn’t cook dinner and had to improvise. However, the kids ran around ecstatically so this time, Flo also put his feet in the ocean.

On the way back, we chose convenient dinner from a fish & chips food truck at our campground. Expecting the usual grub, this one pleasantly surprised us with its quality. They only need to work on their trucks presentation a bit …

Day 17 – Cliffs of Disappointment

We couldn’t wait to leave the campground in Galway. It didn’t feel welcoming at all. Instead, you had to pay for a hot shower and in the morning, we realized you even had to pay to use the campers’ kitchen. That was just a little too much for us. Even so, we met a friendly fellow traveller at breakfast to swap stories with. He’s lived in New Zealand for the last 23 years and he just joined our conversation when Flo was going on about the (Path of) Exile Con in Auckland next year.

deep contemplation

We weren’t too sure what we’d get to do today. Planning wasn’t really in the cards as we didn’t even know where we’d end up sleeping yesterday. But there were plenty of options.

Number 3 had bugged us about wanting to see a castle for a while. We agreed in principle though somehow the time wasn’t right. Dunguaire Castle was on our way today…we didn’t stop. Again, it just didn’t seem right for today. We had just left Galway.

In the end, our first proper stop was my pick: Hazel Mountain Chocolate factory. Flo and I had already agreed on skipping the factory tour. Buying chocolate in a factory outlet is a totally different thing though. When we got there, a tour bus had just pulled in so we swerved a little and sat down in the café before hitting the store. The café was lovely, serving hot drinks and baked goods, full of chocolatey goodness. All of it came in lovely pottery, making the experience extra cute. As you can imagine, I was happy. The kids seemed happy, too.

In the store, the tour was about to start. What had they done all this time? Shopping? Anyhow, the tour guide invited us to come along which was amazingly friendly of her. Flo and I listened for a bit but it is hardly our first chocolate factory tour. So we browsed the wares, turning around whenever something cool turned up in the talk. Number 3 got to smell cocoa beans, Flo got a handful of single origin chocolate to try. When the kids waved at the lady busy with actually making chocolates, she came out and rewarded both of them with chocolate covered marshmallows. A visit can’t be more of a win than this.

the pass into the Buren national park

Flo picked the next point of interest for today: The Burren National park. The Burren are a stony landscape that you can walk through or in our case, drive through. Flo is a fan of limestone so he was particularly looking forward to this part. At a road side car park, we got out to check out if we could walk around for a bit. Per chance, we’d stopped right next to the beginning of seven hiking trails, two of which were marked as easy and loop walks of only about 1.5km. Number 3 picked the white one which we walked in its entirety. We hadn’t actually planned a walk here. Thus, lunch had to be improvised. We had spaghetti leftovers at the roadside with recently bought chocolate for dessert. 😊

The one good view …

County Clare’s big draw are the cliffs of Moher though. The Lonely Planet (which I’ve been reading way more than Flo) already instilled caution in me, given its description of the place. In fact, they turned out to be the cliffs of disappointment. It’s a gigantic tourist attraction, no question. You queue to pay your ticket fee, are ushered to your parking spot, walk with the crowd to the wall separating you from the cliff edge, take a couple of pictures and leave again. Yes, the cliffs are high and yes, they are steep. The experience is almost lost in the crowds. Sliabh Liag was way more atmospheric than this. The best way to see the cliffs of Moher is probably by boat. We just didn’t want to spend that kind of cash on it. It’s not cheap.

From here, our campsite slowly came to mind. We’d booked a site in Doonbeg without electricity (nothing else was available) so the car needed to be charged if we wanted to start early tomorrow morning. The charger in Lahinch was luckily available (after a 10 minute wait), which even gave the kids an excuse to put their feet in the ocean one more time.

The Strand Camping Doonbeg wasn’t used to one night travellers. At least everything was set up to feel much more long term. Still happy that we had a place to sleep, we set up before the rain, had a lovely shower and brought the kids to bed.

Day 15 – Connemara on my mind

Having circumvented the camping crisis for today, we woke up to donkeys frolicking in fog. The campground took its time to wake up but we were ready for a daytrip to Connemara by 9am.

Flo and I had debated the best plan for today. The options ranged from having a rest day here where the kids have playmates to going on a full-on daytrip to see the Peninsular of Connemara. I guess I won as we were going on a daytrip.

Pretty impressive mountain all of the sudden

Number 3 was slightly unhappy to leave his companions but with the prospect of returning to play this evening, even he was ready for a car ride.

It took about 1.20h to get to the region of Connemara and we started with a photo stop at Kylemore abbey. It wasn’t much more than a toilet break for the kids, a bit of stretching our legs and taking a couple of pictures, as we didn’t feel like visiting “a crenellated 19th-century neo-Gothic fanatasy”. We’re still holding out for the real deal of a clans’ castle.

We got great views from up here. Also thanks to the Irish heat wave no cloud could be seen

Next up was the “Sky road”. Not really sure what to expect, we started the loop road leading us to Clifden. In time for an early lunch, we checked for good picnic spots along the way. Suddenly, we came upon the perfect one: A viewpoint of the scattered inlets of Connemara with a sign saying “Sky road”. Having lunch there with a view was cool, plus we got to enjoy the sight in different “conditions”. It was super full for maybe 10 minutes, then we had it to ourselves for a while before the next batch of cars arrived.

Both kids fell asleep after lunch, so Flo and I put on our audio book and enjoyed the ride. We arrived in Clifden after about 10 minutes which was too early for coffee and our tired kids. So we kept driving loops along the coast, this time to Roundhouse. Skipping the Connemara Smokehouse, we headed to Gurteen Bay. The Lonely Planet said it was a lovely beach. I hoped the kids could have another magical beach experience there. Even before we arrived, it started to get crowded. Cars were parked as far as 1.5km before we hit the beach. That’s just not a great distance for the kids to walk for a short and sweet beach stop. When the beach came into view, it really was crowded. Everybody and their dog was out and about trying to cool down in this heat wave. With temperatures reaching 29 degrees, the Irish didn’t know what to do other than throw themselves into the ocean. People weren’t wearing many clothes to begin with.

Seeing the scene, both kids still asleep, we decided to pass on Gurteen Bay as well. The road trip still felt great, the audiobook was exciting and the way along Lough Inagh was super pretty. I took a couple of road porn pictures, Flo just enjoyed driving the car.

“You too, Mama!” The Agent putting her feet in the lake

When the kids woke, we stopped at a lake to put our feet in before continuing towards Belcarra. Both kids behaved so well during the whole day that we added another stop in Cummins for coffee. Flo found a place called “Devour bakery”. It was exactly what you think such a bakery would be.

Back “home” at Carra Caravan park, Number 3 and the Agent enjoyed playing with our neighbours’ kids again. Flo and I got some washing done, talked to familiar faces who kept coming in now. One family that we’d seen in Rossan was so happy to finally find a place to stay…they’d tried ten different campsites before they got to Carra. We’re still without a place to sleep tomorrow. I’m preparing myself for a night of wild camping and Flo is already checking out possible places to stop. Somehow, we’ll get through this Saturday the 13th with 29 degrees in the Irish and UK school holidays. The booking sites already look better for Sunday and we managed to book the next two campsites in advance.

Trying to get the kids to sleep in a still hot tent was a bit of a chore especially since we had another gaming session on. In the end, the gaming session didn’t happen because the wifi couldn’t handle the call and roll20. By the time we gave up, the kids were sound asleep.

Flo and I took advantage of Flukie’s cosy pub to have one last drink before heading to bed.