Our first encounter with Ireland included beautiful beaches at North Beach outside Dublin and a cool Irish castle called Ardgillan Castle. We landed in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday evening, and we knew it would be tough to get to a campsite in time for closing time. Not to say the night was without challenges, but on Sunday morning we woke up on a beautiful Irish beach.
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Picking up a rented motorhome in Dublin
Picking up our rented motorhome in Dublin went really well. We landed so late that the rental company, Bunk CampersIt was supposed to be closed, but they kindly kept it open for us. We took a taxi the short distance from the airport and were met by an incredibly sweet and service-minded girl who organised our papers and showed us our campervan. Where will we stay for two weeks? In a 5.40 metre long trailer from Weinsberg.
Finding a campsite in the evening
We decided to go to the North Beach Caravan Park in Rush, just north of Dublin. the campsite would close at 22:00 in the evening, and before that we would have to do some shopping and preferably eat something quick at McDonalds, but we should be able to do that, right?
It's just that we didn't really understand the GPS, and we were driving the wrong way... Also, we didn't want to drive so fast because Peter needed to concentrate a bit more on this left-hand traffic, in a car with the steering wheel on the right side, and also while darkness was falling. When we arrived at the closed gate? The time was exactly 21:58. I'm not kidding. We were so happy when the gate opened and a friendly elderly lady welcomed us.
North Beach Caravan Park outside Dublin
When we arrived at the campsite it was dark, and we couldn't see much. "It's different in daylight" the lady promised, and it was indeed true. When we woke up on Sunday, we could see the open sea and a long beautiful sandy beach through the front window. Fantastic!
More challenges!
Was everything peaceful and happy now? Well, not really... We arrived so late that we didn't have time to learn the motorhome before it was time to go to sleep. When we thought we turned off the light switch, we actually turned off... the electricity. We'll blame it on being tired! But that meant that it was icy cold in the motorhome.
We woke up freezing and had to immediately start tackling our other two challenges: charging computers and the internet. We know that they have other electrical outlets in Ireland, but for some reason we didn't realise that this also includes motorhomes. In addition, our router suddenly wanted a password, and of course we have that password. forgotten. So suddenly we were also without internet ...
Ardgillan Castle
Despite a bit of a rough start, we wanted to see Ardgillan Castle, which is a short drive from North Beach Caravan Park. Here we were greeted by a really cool Irish castle right next to the sea, surrounded by several large gardens, which will certainly be even more beautiful in a few months.
The centre of the castle dates back to 1738 when it was built by a Robert Taylor, and the wings were added later. We went on a self-guided tour of the castle, through halls with stuffed bears, dining rooms and large old-fashioned kitchens. For a self-guided tour with a map, we had to pay 5 euros per person, but for those who want, there is also the possibility of a guided tour.
How did it go with charging and internet?
We continued north, towards Northern Ireland, stopping in the town of Rostrevor to visit telephone and technology shops. Buying an adaptor, from UK plug to EU plug, was easy. However, buying a new router/dongle proved difficult as these are either bought on contract or only work for Northern Ireland sim cards (and we don't want to buy a dongle that we can only use for a few days).
Instead, we each bought a Northern Ireland SIM card for our phones, and hope to share the internet with our computers. Now all we need is for the coverage to work! We will try to update every day at 06:00 as usual, but if we are ever delayed it will depend on the availability of coverage or WiFi. Now the adventure continues! We'll visit places where Game of Thrones was filmed, and then continue northwards along the coast of Northern Ireland.
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Solan says:
Technology is an energy thief...always things that are not compatible?
Think "clockwise" was a tip we were given in the UK. It worked when driving on the left.
Don't forget to relax in Ireland?
30 April 2018 - 9:09
Helena says:
30 April 2018 - 9:38
Snows says:
The tree is an Araucaria araucana, monkey tree. I've seen one here in our little hole too, but it is most common in South America and there were lots in Brazil. Also common around the Mediterranean. It requires a sheltered location to survive in more northern latitudes.
Great pictures from your first day in Ireland!
30 April 2018 - 9:28
Helena says:
Ah, good that you knew what kind of tree it is! Fascinating that it survives on the Irish coast then! (Iofs right next to the house)
30 April 2018 - 9:39
Liniz Travel says:
Have a nice trip! Will be fun to follow! So much you travel, also want to go back to Ireland has only been in Dublin almost 20 years ago. Hugs
30 April 2018 - 9:37
Helena says:
30 April 2018 - 9:41
Role o Carina says:
It's great that you've arrived with some hassle then!
Have fun and think left.....
30 April 2018 - 9:57
Helena says:
A little hassle is part of it. Glad you're joining us!
30 April 2018 - 13:20
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Tell us about how you feel about living in such a small car.
30 April 2018 - 10:38
Helena says:
We like tin cans, but this one is a bit too small. It gets crowded. Works well for two weeks. We would consider switching to a flatbed, but it would have to be bigger than this one.
30 April 2018 - 13:24
Anna/Bo in a motorhome says:
30 April 2018 - 11:33
Helena says:
Yes, that's part of travelling this way! And as you say, it's part of the experience.
30 April 2018 - 13:25
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
Yes, there are some challenges. We also think we are missing a couple of cables, but maybe it will work out. Now we have a few hours left to the Slovenian border and I will try to fix a Dars Go, gobox for the motorhome. Now I am loaded to the teeth with registration certificate, certificate of emission class etc. We tried to fix it from home, but as usual were a little late and did not know that you should have paper on everything. At the same time, it is the charm of travelling on your own and most things usually work out!
Stay well!
30 April 2018 - 15:20
Helena says:
Agree that a little hassle is included and perhaps also part of the charm and experiences! It is not really possible to predict everything, but most things usually work out anyway, somehow. Hope it works out with your cables and with the gobox!
30 April 2018 - 19:43
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
If it worked out. A service-minded girl at the first petrol station after the border fixed it in just under 10 minutes. And people sit and google it for hours before leaving home without success....
30 April 2018 - 21:01
Anonymous says:
I liked that information.
01 May 2018 - 8:05
Helena says:
Oh how good to hear Britt-Marie!
01 May 2018 - 10:02
Travel Linda says:
Those are the challenges you remember! Hope everything works out so you can enjoy the trip too! Ireland is so beautiful!
30 April 2018 - 17:29
Helena says:
That's right! And we are enjoying the trip, Ireland is beautiful!
30 April 2018 - 19:45
BP says:
Yes, in a few years and with a little distance, you will probably always remember the beginning of your trip to Ireland. Because it is often that you remember the "blunders". The castle is really cool. In Ireland there are lots of them, just like in England and Scotland.
I hope you can relax a bit too. Since hardly anyone reads blogs at 06:00 in the morning, I think you can calm down and enjoy yourself instead.
The patch is really cute according to the motto if there are hearts, there are tails;-)
30 April 2018 - 19:42
Helena says:
30 April 2018 - 19:49
Maggan and Ingemar says:
What would a trip be without some mishaps? Luckily it could be solved. Ireland is part of the EU so then your phone cards should work or do you not have internet on them? So exciting to follow you Ireland and England we have not visited. Now maybe it will be blooded tooth with us too. Have a continued exciting journey.
30 April 2018 - 20:12
Helena says:
Absolutely right! Our phone cards work in Ireland. The problem is that we forgot the password for the router that can distribute the internet to the computers as well. Sure, we can share from the phones to the computers, but most of our GIGs are on the sim card in the router (we don't have broadband in the houseboat but use sim cards for everyday use). Our GIG on the phones will not be enough to blog during the whole trip. But, we will have to solve it with local sim cards.
30 April 2018 - 20:44
Lena - good for the soul says:
It looks like you got off to a sweaty start!
Hug Lena
01 May 2018 - 18:38
Helena says:
01 May 2018 - 23:11
Ditte says:
It really was a rocky start! But everything seemed to work out more or less. And the view here is absolutely lovely and especially if it was sunny in the morning. In addition, a price for the night that was quite ok.
You want adapters, electricity, internet and other things to work as you are used to. But that's not always the case. But you got it right.
It was great to go to Ardgilla Monastery.
Excited about the next stage.
01 May 2018 - 19:17
Helena says:
01 May 2018 - 23:12