Tag Archives: Road Trip

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.

We got great views from up here. Also thanks to the Irish heat wave no cloud could be seen
Both kids are in love with donkeys. The Agent giggled in excitement and proclaimed “licked my hand”. Very proud
They did like pats…sometimes
Trying to feed the horse with butter flowers. It wasn’t interested much
Pretty impressive mountain all of the sudden
More surprise mountains
Starting the route around Connemara. We were not the only ones
The Agent of Entropy started throwing around her plushie in the car. Thus, Roary ended up driving
First photo op: Kylemore Abbey
Let’s turn right for the Sky Road Loop
It wasn’t too special in the beginning
A+ picnic spot with its own “Sky road” sign
Guinness 0.0 advertisement
“It’s just another kid on the wall”
Going back down on the other side
Number 3 was extra happy about the sailing boats
Towards Clifden
Riding along the lakes now
Both kids were asleep but Flo and I enjoyed the picturesque scenery
“You too, Mama!” The Agent putting her feet in the lake
This kid is made out of water and wind. The other one also enjoys it
“Look! Fishes!”
That kinda is what you imagine when you hear “Devour Bakery”, isn’t it?
Devour Bakery’s scones with butter and jam
Yours truely in front of the local pub

Day 13 – Back to Nature

We had thought about staying here for two nights and using Tivendentorp as a base for some hiking in the Tiveden National Park. And even though the day started much to Nina’s delight with a full breakfast buffet, it was not enough to keep us here – mostly because of the spot, a bit discarded, off to the side of an otherwise stunning site.

Everyone gets a taste

We used our time before the 8am start of the breakfast well with pre-packing and washing up, so that we could be on the road pretty quickly once the leisurely breakfast time was over. We did leave really early in fact and were at the main entrance of the park early enough to manage to get a parking spot.

With some fresh well water in our bladders and Number 3’s chat with the park ranger to find out what kind of animals he can expect today (very proud of him to have asked on his own, in English! Also very cool to have a ranger on-site). The answer was birds 😀

We chose the shortest of the four loops – with a bit of a better feeling about this after the ranger told us this was their “crown jewel” and the reason the park was created in the first place. 2,5 km set for a 1-2 hrs walk promised quite a lot of up and down on the way.

Any hike that starts like this will likely be our cup of tea

I will let the pictures (of which we have selected way too many) do most of the talking, but I want to state how proud we both were of Number 3 walking the whole thing with little complaint. He made up a game of “absorbing” the track markers to recharge. Just my kind of kid! The walk was stunning and just what we were hoping for: Mildly challenging to do with the carrier and a 3 year old and with lots of different undergrounds and little obstacles. At the risk of sounding very esoteric, but hiking with barefoot or minimal shoes is just a whole extra layer to the experience for us. Sensing the moss, the soft earth and grippy rock face with the soles of your feet is very … ah, I’ll say it: grounding!

We had a good lunch of prepared sandwiches at the view-point and were ready for an early camp to get the chance for a pitch in time for afternoon tea by the time we arrived back at the car around 12:30pm. A few snacks and a fireside chat with other hikers and we were ready to say farewell to Tiveden for this time. What a lovely place.

Number 3 deserved his sandwich

But now it was off into the unknown. My research last night did not produce any great options for tonight, but we wanted to see if we can find a place to free camp along the way. The drive was relaxing as always in Sweden, real meditative road-trip feeling. The hunt for a good place worked out less in our favour. There were a few good spots too early for our liking and by the time we wanted to settle we were in this (stunning, nonetheless) rural landscape with few “out of sight” spots in between. I had a look at a bathing spot and a hiking area, but both were not really what we were looking for. Coming out from the last one, we passed a “ställplats” sign pointing to a farm. It was a lovely sight, with no one else here and power available, around the cute red barn. But alas, they did not have a toilet for guests, and we don’t carry one, so off again we had to drive.

Farm in the evening glow 2

Ready to settle I checked google and spotted a tiny place just 15 minutes down the road – Nina checked ahead and all was well. It was another “ställplats” on a farm, but a bit more involved. The owner was the kindest person, managing to be super kind and helpful even in the middle of running a farm and stable during harvest season. She even took plenty of time to explain the whole process of bringing in wheat, siloing it and sending it off again to the mill to the curious Number 3. He was so happy to tell me all about it when he and Nina came back from an exploration round. We had a good grassy patch with electricity, there were horses around and even the weather held for a picture perfect sunset …

  • the Agent did not like the cold in the morning
  • off we go, to breakfast
  • she was out for blood – we spoiled the sparrow hunt for her
  • the ground of the hostel / camp
  • The reception and cafe open for breakfast
  • Everyone gets a taste
  • the breakfast dessert after a healthy start
  • gravel tracks inside Tiveden National Park
  • cool hub for the park – a half open building
  • Any hike that starts like this will likely be our cup of tea
  • and another one in the bag
  • all sorts of obstacles waiting for us
  • a cool bogy spot on the lee side of a huge boulder
  • we made it to the view point!
  • 2 1/2 derps posing at the viewpoint
  • eh – papa, this seems rather high up …
  • Number 3 deserved his sandwich
  • I’ll just walk over here mommy – it’ll be right?
  • the lookout and his voice of reason
  • her eyes were clearly focused on the more pressing issues 😉
  • the ice age glaciers deposited boulders of all sizes – up to 25m in diameter
  • and another little obstacle – with a prize on the other side
  • something to keep herself entertained – better than pulling dad’s pony tail
  • please note that the Agent felt the need to help out here …
  • I’ll just leave that here …
  • kicking the rock gives off a satisfying “thunk”
  • so close, but never right. Still missing out on forraging porchini
  • not everyone undestands those raised paths, apparently
  • someone had a sense of humor …
  • only 1km to go, time for a last break
  • maybe it is not all bad that our kids are as dimiutive as we are …
  • Lake view Tiveden
  • Tiveden lake view 2
  • a good day to be out and about
  • the path kept meandering until the very end
  • only minor slowdown on the obstacles for Number 3
  • and out we were, into the countryside. Prettier than expected from the satellite view
  • looked so promising, but alas …
  • the weather has turned for good
  • sunset in Sweden
  • Farm in the evening glow 1
  • Farm in the evening glow 2
  • Last light of a long day
  • I found the farmer and her husband sitting here for a moment – even with all the work they have been doing. Impressive
  • what perfect light
  • horses came over to check Nina out
  • late night blogging – every word counts before the mozzies come out

Day 51 – Avoiding revolutions

Once again, we started the day with a bit of indecision about the immediate next steps: Stay and spend our rest day here? Move on? No rest day but super short days instead? It actually took us all of 10 minutes of pulling off our chateau camp (so no rest day today) to make up our minds.

I briefly brought up the option of visiting Versailles. Paris we wanted to avoid for several reasons, but maybe a one-day sightseeing stop the day after tomorrow? In the end, we decided against it – the weather was the biggest factor – I had seen it once in the rain, only a sunny day would do for making a detour worth it. Plus, avoiding Paris’ traffic and potential Gilets Jaunes disruptions was definitely a factor.

bye bye, almost cliché France

Lacking a good target in the area we wanted to end up in tonight, we took sort of the best path avoiding Paris on a northern route and aimed for a “regular” campground with good google ratings.

We were really quite pleasantly surprised by the route we ended up on. It really had this road trip feel to it, where making distance is sort of first priority, but the landscape zooming past is part of the experience. Rural France can be quite enchanting. The N-routes took us past most villages, but through enough that it had far less of the sterile feel of toll motorways.

A great but slightly too sunny lunch spot was easily found just by the road – a little artificial lake. Same goes for our coffee break at 2, just stopping in a picturesque village square and dropping into the local café for a bit of a booster and some local colour.

barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it

The campground was nothing to write home about – but it had a picnic table ready for us, saving some time. The real event of the evening was the thunderstorm hitting us right after arrival, with just enough time to set up the tent and get the storm cover, literally seconds before a good old summer storm hit us. Number 3 was a little scared in the beginning but it got better fairly quickly while we all cuddled in the tent.

It even got a bit sunny after that and Number 3 managed to wear through two sets of clothing jumping into puddles and exploring before the sun came out again. He finished his day off with a round on the playground, impressing us once more with his motor skills and fearlessness. Early bed time it was for us. With little happening today, it still felt like a good day. Just the three of us, in tune with the road and ourselves.

  • “I can sit everywhere now!” – “yeah, but breakfast is back here …”
  • bye bye, almost cliché France
  • tree lined driveway leading up to the place — trés posh!
  • “I’m hungr .. zzzZZZzzz”
  • Bigger Chateau diplomacy
  • Picnic tables are superb climbing terrain …
  • who the boss here?
  • Stuff happening in the skies
  • cool tower in cool town, names are all a blur
  • first time we tested out the storm cover – did it’s job!
  • exploring in puddles
  • barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it
  • he used the bobble thingies for the first time on this trip – now he has them figured out
  • “you call this an obstacle?”
  • “ok, this is a bit scary now”
  • “no, never mind … wheeee”
  • he sat down in the end … RIP pants #2