Flans Van on tour again

Having a ball in Ireland

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 09.07.2018  ·  #1
Hi Craicers,
Day 3 of our big trip, only 290 miles done but have had a lovely journey so far as follows:
Day 1, 7th July, Emily’s birthday, nice journey straight to Jonny Fox’s in Glencullen, there for 630pm, found a sweet level spot in the big overflow carpark opposite, lovely evening weather, like everywhere in sunny Eire, can’t believe the heat. Got the last table for the hooley night right beside the stage. 55euros each, included a 4 course excellent belly buster meal, excellent skiddley dee band started as you get the dessert, played for an hour & got everybody going, very interactive. Then a river dance type show, which I really enjoyed, thought I wouldn’t, but ended up with sore hands, banging the table etc. Emily got a big happy birthday to you when the band came back on and played to midnight. Big 100 yards walk back to the van, usual knackered feeling on the first night, over did it as you do with 3 weeks ahead of you, great night!! Really quiet parking spot,
Day 2, up early at 0900hrs, but we had a great sleep, so did wee Bizz the jack Russel as he got a good late night stagger after the hooley. Over to Jonny fox’s to use their Wi-fi at the outside quirky tables, to plan our next stop. The night before someone suggested Brittas Bay so we decided to have a look,.......result!, Didn’t look good at first because the south car park was bunged, was about to about turn & the council staff waved us on to the north car park a mile down the road. 4 euros in, asked the girl about staying overnight, “not a problem, sure you’ll be grand, but you’ll be locked in from 9pm to 8am”...... happy days. We arrived at 1130hrs, got the desired “corner spot” & got the 2 chairs out at the front of the van to sunbathe without inconveniencing anyone, big walk along the awesome 5k beach. At 9pm the place emptied & it was just us in the park, locked in, moved the van up to be closer to the beach, sat out with the citronella candles and just chilled to about 0100hrs. Lovely day, and wee Bizz knackered again.
Day 3, ( by the way, lovely clean toilets, water tap, skip for rubbish, very clean blue flag beach)
Got up early again, 0800hrs, what’s going on? Makes the day longer, therefore the holiday longer. Anyway, lot quieter on the Monday, got the canoe out for an hour, absolutely roasting weather again, and planned our onward journey. Went to the entrance to ask if another 4euros was required but nobody there so stayed to late afternoon. Aimed for Arklow but didn’t like the POI and made a great decision to travel the short distance to Moneylands Aire........wow!!......double wow!!
Ok it’s only 10 euros & we didn’t need EHU, that’s all you need in this weather, but you want to see the showers and a dream swimming pool, all brand new but all extra, of course. 5 euros each for the pool, 5 for the EHU, 5 for the showers, we just paid the 10euros and we are going to have the full Irish in the lovely restaurant in the morning. A very respectable feed available up to 1130hrs, and that’s us up to date, 3 vans here and watching the sunset, with a wee gin, lovely aire, highly recommend this place, so glad we stopped here. By the way, ( note for Ally) ignore the directions on the motirhomeparkingireland app and follow the big sign at the roundabout for Moneylands (big arrow is the clue) seems to have been some recent redevelopment, we did 2 extra miles because I missed “the big arrow” sign, doh!. Anyway we are well on our way with many more places to visit & will keep blogging if you are interested.
The Flans & wee Bizz


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 09.07.2018  ·  #2
Sounds like yer having a lovely trip.....Great to hear of others perspective of my neck of the woods! Good info regards Brittas car park lock in....May avail of that in the near future...

We are off early this Friday morning for our Irish adventure!


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 09.07.2018  ·  #3
That a nice one about the North brittas bay carpark. I spent alot of summers there as a kid with local cousins but I need to return for nostalgic reasons and show my kids.
Malcolm


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Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 10.07.2018  ·  #4
Quote by Thorn123

That a nice one about the North brittas bay carpark. I spent alot of summers there as a kid with local cousins but I need to return for nostalgic reasons and show my kids.
Malcolm

The only time I went to Biittas bay it took me 2hrs tot get there from Greystones and 1hr to get to the carpark which was Full. I'm quite happy to pass, it by on the motorway and get to the Hook in under 2hrs.


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 10.07.2018  ·  #5
Sounds fantastic 😁 Keep us up to speed and enjoy, how could you not...?!


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Posted: 10.07.2018  ·  #6
Enjoy folks, have a great safe trip.


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Posted: 11.07.2018  ·  #7
Hi Craicers,
Day 5, still scorchio weather very day so far
After Moneylands Aire we headed off, belly’s full with the big fry, nice clean toilet, full of water, grey water flushed. Believe it or not the cafe in Moneylands is called “The Broken Chair” & both our sun loungers broke as we sat out to digest the breakfast, so it is well named. You just can’t fix these mass produced riveted plastic hinges, tried cable ties and a bolt but they wouldn’t fold up to go in the bags. There’s a bit of life in one of them, probably get another week out of it but mine was deceased & and is laying in rest at the skip beside the broken chair cafe.
Headed to Gorey as dunnes were doing nice sun loungers, got a nice bucket one for me as I don’t like the lying back ones, €25 and takes up less room. Then to the Aldi en route to Courtown, was walking down one of the aisles and heard someone saying “Mr Flanagan” to discover an old colleague from the 90’s getting some groceries. You cant go anywhere for long before someone recognises you, good job I wasn’t having an affair!!".......... Stopped at Courtown, aaaaaaarrrgggghhhh, not for us. Fun fair, millions of teenagers, nowhere to park, just heaving with people. We continued on to Cahore Beach, lovely spot in the wee car park on the left, 6 vans no problem with space, walked to the pier to watch the kids catching crabs with their bacon in a bag strings and enjoyed seeing them being released onto the slipway to have a race back into the waves, good simple craic. Very small beach, have to walk over stones to get to it. Local man says the beach was devasted by storm Ophelia and the sand dropped by 4 feet due to the huge waves, it never recovered. Up the steps to the Strand Bar for a lovely Guinness in the sun & back to the van for the noodles prawns and chilled wine. Van beside us from Lancashire had 2 jack russells so that was our wee Bizz well knackered, chasing each other for 3 hours. When the sun went down it got quite chilly so indoors for the evening gin. NO WI-FI HERE AT ALL. There are bins.
Got all our devices charged & we all collapsed into bed.
Now on day 5. Got up at 9am everything sorted and off along the quite narrow coast road always going south. Short drive to Blackwater, lovely wee town, everything you need, drive on down to Ballyconnigar Strand about 3k, great spot. Big level hard standing car park overlooking Wexford bay, beautiful views. Spotless public toilet block with an outside water tap to connect your hose and the council man was there, happy enough to let you fill up and carefully empty the piddle pot. We got set up about lunchtime and that was us for the day. Had a lovely seafood salad from the van and just chilled. FULL WI-FI HERE USING THE DONGLE.
Going to dander up to the wee town to watch the match as I have England in the work sweepstake to win the cup. Not a big footie fan but the money may be coming my direction!! Fingers crossed. £160 at stake. Cmon England pay for a lot of Flans diesel.
Heading south again tomorrow, keep you posted
The Flans & wee Bizz


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Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 11.07.2018  ·  #8
you have been blessed with the weather, will you let us know when your planning to leave home in future so we all can get the benefit? :lol:
How far south do you reckon you'll get before returning North.
I might try some of the local spots mentioned for a trip with the Grandgirls.


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Posted: 11.07.2018  ·  #9
Still have loads of time, more than 2 weeks, so all the way down and then west taking in some places we haven’t been, and some favourites including Doonbeg Strand, on the west coast hopefully. But no rules, no deadlines, plenty of Euros, MHC map, an open mind and a new van policy of getting up early to make the holiday last longer.


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Posted: 11.07.2018  ·  #10
Oh I wish I could do that. Don’t know if it’s the bed or me, but always sleep like a log, and sleep on late when in camper

Normally 8:45- 9 before I’m about. Swmbo always up pre 6 am, but on silent mode till she gets back from her early morning walk, which generally takes 2 hours. Mad she is, I swear


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Flans on tour

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Posted: 13.07.2018  ·  #11
No free diesel for me as England are out of my work sweepstake, ah well, glad I didn’t walk up to the town, just listened to it on the radio, while making a nice meal, Just stayed at Ballyconnigar beach and did a bit of strumming in the sunshine ☀ , got talking to a German couple in a big green conversion van, lovely people, swopped tips and got them to sign up to the MHC parking map which they were very impressed by. Up at 7am, poached eggs, toast, coffee and juice, van filled with water, piddle pot refreshed, dog walked, down the road to Wexford bay beach for a big walk along the Ballynesker Strand, the scene of “saving private Ryan” film.......has to be one of the best beaches in the world. Trundled on to Wexford to an excellent Lidl to resupply and on to Hook Lighthouse, we did the guided tour which was very good and sat outside the van to watch the sunset 🌅 more strumming and the early start caught up, ........bed
The Flans and wee Bizz


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Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 13.07.2018  ·  #12
the Hook is a great spot for sundown watching, there is a nice walk along the coast ( around by the lighthouse wall ) over to Slade harbour and back around by the road, bit of wall and stile climbing,keep wee Bizz on the lead, there are cattle in the fields and some steep drop off's I'll be down that way later today myself.


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Posted: 13.07.2018  ·  #13
This is great information. Sounds like a perfect trip :)


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Flans Van on tour

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Posted: 15.07.2018  ·  #14
Hi Craicers
Day 9, presently at Cobh Aire, it rained today for the first time since we left home, not bad I suppose, gathered a lot of freckles which I hope to join up to make a tan, from the knees down & from the biceps down anyway, lol 😆. I also haven’t shaved since 6th July, longest ever time without using a razor, getting a decent wee beard going, Emily says it tickles................ahem!!
Anyway, haven’t posted for a while, on checking our written journal, (we have journals from the last 10 years, great to get them out now & again, it’s amazing what you would otherwise have forgotten , I do wee silly drawings & stick festival wristbands and daft things like that in the books, priceless wee books....to us anyway).
I think it was Hook head I last wrote about. 3 French vans beside us wouldn’t even acknowledge you despite us trying, got on with the German couple who were so nice & I got them to go for the MHC app.
We got up at 0730hrs & realised it was Friday the 13th........extra careful that day!!
Decided to head to Dungarvan but I wanted to detour first to Fethard on the Hook. On the way saw a forlorn young man pushing his bike thumbing a lift, so, stopped and got him & his bike inside. Lovely guy called Sam from London, 30yrs old had cycled from Rosslaire and was destined for Galway, with no kit except a sleeping bag a rucksack and his phone, said his dad did similar things and didn’t need “all the gear & no idea” philosophy. Anyway wee Bizz loved him & that’s good enough for me. He travelled with us on our detour saying he would be happy to get to the ferry to Passage East.
We went to Fethard and I have to say the Aire at Fethard is a definite for the future. €12 and great set up with EHU & hard standing pitches. Norman View it’s called, 10 min walk to Fethard nice wee village, with pubs etc and beaches nearby. Having done the lighthouse we would go there next time we are down this way.
Off we meandered to the ferry, perfect timing as the “boat” was just approaching, it was €12 but well worth it as to go the long way there were tolls anyway, the crossing is no more than 10 mins, a tight wee corner on disembarking but no worries. Sam the hitchhiker was glad to stay with us for the onward journey to Waterford and we left him on the quayside, near a bike repair shop. After a refreshing ice cold coke and a peach which lit up his eyes, really nice guy, very laid back, wished him well. He was going to get to Galway, then train back to Dublin for the ferry. Nice to help a stranger.
Onwards to Dungarvan but not for us, bit bunged and didn’t really want to sit in a car park anyway. Travelled the short distance to Ardmore, Dicks field, good decision got a good pitch and all the van gadgets out, even the sun canopy as there was only a breath of salty sea air. €10. There were families there, some for 3 weeks, having a ball right beside the beach. So hot, no complaints from us. We did the cliff walk & well over our 10,000 steps per day on our walking app. Wee Bizz was starfished after the walk, couldn’t keep his eyes open. We sat out in the Sun ☀ had a lovely seafood salad with lots of ice cold wine. Played cards, listening to our local radio station from NI on the iPad, U105 App, only plays oldies, suits us to a tee.
Decided to stay another night, that was Saturday, I think......... yes it was, getting a bit confused as we always do when we totally unplug from work mode and have a lot more days off in front of us, basically so chilled, I haven’t worn my watch since we left home......love it.
It started to get blowy so the canopy was retracted, as we lost one before, heartbreaking damage caused. I was determined to keep the windbreakers up and must have had 10 bungee ropes attached to keep our wee set up round the table. The ground was so hard and dry & I took 3 minor hand injuries beating them in. My usual form, there’s always blood at some stage.
Went out for a walk and a pint and came back to find 5 windbreaker poles broke at their base......now useless unless we find a beach to hammer into. Dread to think what would have happened to the canopy if I hadn’t brought it in, good decision. The van beside us took a rip at the corner of the canopy about 3 feet long along the front, gutted!!
Had a lovely day and everything put away for the early start in the morning, stayed up too late, oh my god I was out walking Bizz at 0130hrs, half cut, sandals on, bag of rubbish looking for a bin in the town, found one and so glad to have my new “cap on with the LED lights in the peak (bought at Scarva Fair, best £5 ever spent, got me home, so bright, should have bought 2).
Sunday 15th July.....what’s this on the roof making a wee tapping noise, not magpies but RAIN, !!!
Very refreshing actually and still warm. There was a farmers market near the recycling bins in Ardmore and the smell of lamb burgers actually lifted me and I levitated towards the market, came back to emily waiting in the van with, 2 x lovely burgers, 2 x deluxe fresh cheesecakes, awesome strawberries, lovely dusty baby spuds (which became the best champ ever later that day).
Decide on travelling to Cobh, where we are now on day 9. Chilling out this evening after a big long walk round the town, up round the Cathedral and the back streets, with serious steep steps and hills. Not much happening in the town and the Aire is lovely and quiet. It’s a fine soft dry evening looking out over the bay. Wee Bizz is so tired after the big walk, well over the 10,000 done again.
The Sneem festival starts on Wednesday, love it, going to time our arrival for that.
Night night
The Flans & wee Bizz


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Posted: 15.07.2018  ·  #15
Never mind the great holiday, you must be knackered after all that typing. Great updated. Thank you both. (And bizz).


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Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 16.07.2018  ·  #16
"We went to Fethard and I have to say the Aire at Fethard is a definite for the future. €12 and great set up with EHU & hard standing pitches. Norman View it’s called, 10 min walk to Fethard nice wee village, with pubs etc and beaches nearby. Having done the lighthouse we would go there next time we are down this way. "

I was over in Norman View over the weekend visiting friends out in there new van,there was all least 20vans there .I think Dick in Ardmore is in for some serious competition .


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Flans van on tour

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #17
Hi Craicers, still going and some good wee stories in this one, including some tips, blood, advice, and waffle.
So, presently on day 12 parked up at the lovely Aire in Eyeires on the Bera Peninsula.
Last post was at Cobh, I think, watching the cruise ships coming in and out, did the usual van duties and off again for a bit of a drive, target Bantry. Nice drive and parked at the pay as you leave motorhome area, a great safe spot, right in the town, €1 per hour then becomes €10 if you stay 24hrs. The machine takes notes, card or coins which is handy. We walked up to the Westlodge Hotel and their Aire is also excellent, it's over a mile out but it's really nice & you can use their pool and was tempted to sell the van, get rid of the dog and book a deluxe double room, .......only joking!! We had a tasty lunch in the town in the Bantry hotel, sitting out in the sun and realised it was only 20 mins to Glengarriff so we paid the €4 & headed there, target Bamboo House, feck that, they wanted €24 for an overnight park. €7 each & a €10 for the van. If you are here go to the nearby Nature reserve where you will find loads of free spots to park up & great walks for the dog. Parked beside picnic benches & had the locally purchased smoked salmon with salad until the midgies started to become active so surrendered & went indoors to play cards, citronella candles required & midgies gave up....victory to us over the bugs.
Here's the blood bit... I (drunk), decided to take wee Bizz round the 1km walk in the dark, obviously having the route definitely implanted in my head from the earlier walk in the sunshine, a simple loop walk, no bother, see you Emily in 10 mins. An hour later me & Bizz were totally lost in the forest, I fell over, cut the knee, bruised the right bum cheek & no idea where I was. The phone rang & a combination of Bizz pulling me in the right direction and Emily standing on the picnic bench with her phone torch waving we got back, a wee dander became a 90 minutes walk. Slept like a log, so did wee Bizz, Emily hit me a few friendly slaps because she was worried about us.
Anyway the next day we did the cable car trip at Dursey Island, fish supper from the local chipper for €8, one supper enough for 2, highly recommended. Tight wee roads but good fun if you are careful. The most bendy roads ever imaginable round to Eyeries Aire where I write to you now having had our Bantry bay mussels pasta. Basically had another lovely day & the wee dog is well knackered again. Going to take him for a much shorter walk now before bedtime, lol
The Flans & wee Bizz


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Posted: 19.07.2018  ·  #18
Hi Craicers, day 13, still having a ball & still wall to wall sunshine 🌞 lovin it.
We are now set up at Sneem on the ring of Kerry going to do 2 nights as there is a “festival” on, good craic. The river was very low on arrival but the tide is in and I am watching the fish jumping out of the water for the flies, loads of fish swirling round. It’s now a pleasant 19 degrees in the evening emily sitting out with a wee blanket round her knees & wee Bizz is sleeping on her lap.
So we have come to Sneem from Eyeiries on the Bera peninsula where we spent 2 lovely days in the motorhome park. Ariived about 8pm after spending a good day at Dursley Island with the wee cable car. Bit of a queue at both sides but knew that was going to happen as the place was bunged. €10 each for the ticket, the wee cable car only takes 6 people at a time & it takes 8 mins over and the same back. We have previously bypassed this peninsula but so glad we didn’t this year, it has very bendy narrow roads, some squeaky bum moments but worth the effort I assure you.
The motorhome Park is excellent, all brand new and finished to a tee, EHU if you want, good facilities, €10 per night......met the owner Coleman O’Sullivan a lovely guy who calls to the van & personally welcomes everyone, he was very busy as he is the main organiser of the festival for this weekend. He knows everybody and thanked me for blogging how good the Aire is.
It has a lovely gleaming cafe with outside picnic seats-at the reception area, the food looked very nice and the staff are lovely. We paid and had lovely ice cream, their chilled desserts were to die for and not expensive. Secure key pad entry via a big sliding gate to a brand spanking new Aire with about 14 hard standing pitches, as we arrived late we just chilled & had a late supper of Bantry bay mussels and prawn pasta, awesome & me knackered after walking wee Bizz.
Lie in to 10am & had lovely smoked salmon omelette brunch, another scorcher day and headed off for the big walk. The wee town is like Ballymorey, every house is a different colour, 2x pubs, couple of small supermarkets, all you would need to be honest, no ATM unless you are AIB, you can use the post office.
2 hours later we flopped into the pub on the hill with a raised sitting out area over looking the sea & the mountains, had a few Guinness, great views for the sunset 🌅.
Think it was called McCluskeys. Back to the Aire, all knackered and had a good feed and met a lovely neighbour, James from limerick with his 2 lovely young boys and out came the guitars had a good session with him watching the sunset. Up the town for a 2 Bar pub crawl with James, bit wobbly coming back, all of us out like a light.
Woke up rinsed out the smalls which dried in no time in the sun, headed out and followed the sign to The Strand just to check it out before we left, it’s about a mile long and squeaky bum bends but again so glad we did it. Lovely fine pebbly beach, so no sand mess brought into the van, picnic bench and we all went for a swim in the sea, water temperature was 22 degrees, not joking.... it was lovely, and free. Too far to the town to walk for us but it would be a great overnighter. Stayed for hours and had lovely salmon fillets salad lunch.
Now onwards to Kenmare and found a recycling post, thank god, for the cans and bottles on the way to the big LIdl/SuperValu for a restock & then the wibbly wobbly road to Sneem where we are now, it’s nearly full with people from all over the world, great Wi-fi using the dongle & able to listen to our local radio on the U105 app. By the time I have typed this it has got chilly so indoors for a few chilled wines and going into the town to pay & have a nosey for tomorrow.
No late night tonight as we are knackered.......again!!
Cheers, the Flans
& woof from wee Bizz


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Still going

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Posted: 21.07.2018  ·  #19
Hi Craicers, 21/7/18, day 15 & now at the Aire in Kilfinane travelled from Sneem, had a pub crawl last night, music everywhere, few toots & back to the van. Quite a drive today to Kilfinane but set out early & stopped at Mallow for the great wine offers at the SuperValu, & a €7 cooked chicken, more like a small turkey, with salad it fed us and Bizz with 2 big legs and all the tender fiddly bits for us and Bizz tomorrow.
Sun still blazing all day, now 8.37pm & it has just dropped behind the mountain but still a pleasant 19 degrees. The Aire at Kilfinane is massive, all new tarmac & level inside a walled area with loads of EHU extra if you want, bins, water, toilets, walk in after you set up via the back balcony to the bar, €10. Nice wee town. Highly recommended & worth the detour off the Limerick road down the usual bendy road, the Aire gates are easy to drive past, which I did, as it looks like a huge church car park. This would easily hold at least 70 vans. Really sheltered in the walled area behind the pub. There was a big picnic bench which we parked beside, saved us getting the chairs out. The bench would be easily moved if you wanted. Fresh water with a big long hose. The toilets and a 9 metre piddle trough are in the black corrugated sheds. Also a sink for the stand up shave/refresh if required. The owner Henry was away on business but the son looked after us, he said as it wasn’t busy, no problem putting chairs and table out if we wanted. The pub doesn’t open for drinkies until 7pm. Going for a wee walk round the pubs and an early night, I think. Only 9 days left, can’t believe how fast it’s going. We are now dividing the last week up as if it is 3 or 4 more short breaks instead of thinking of it as the holiday is coming to an end.
All the best
The Flans and wee Bizz


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 22.07.2018  ·  #20
Quote by flans van

Hi Craicers, 21/7/18, day 15 & now at the Aire in Kilfinane travelled from Sneem, had a pub crawl last night, music everywhere, few toots & back to the van. Quite a drive today to Kilfinane but set out early & stopped at Mallow for the great wine offers at the SuperValu, & a €7 cooked chicken, more like a small turkey, with salad it fed us and Bizz with 2 big legs and all the tender fiddly bits for us and Bizz tomorrow.
Sun still blazing all day, now 8.37pm & it has just dropped behind the mountain but still a pleasant 19 degrees. The Aire at Kilfinane is massive, all new tarmac & level inside a walled area with loads of EHU extra if you want, bins, water, toilets, walk in after you set up via the back balcony to the bar, €10. Nice wee town. Highly recommended & worth the detour off the Limerick road down the usual bendy road, the Aire gates are easy to drive past, which I did, as it looks like a huge church car park. This would easily hold at least 70 vans. Really sheltered in the walled area behind the pub. There was a big picnic bench which we parked beside, saved us getting the chairs out. The bench would be easily moved if you wanted. Fresh water with a big long hose. The toilets and a 9 metre piddle trough are in the black corrugated sheds. Also a sink for the stand up shave/refresh if required. The owner Henry was away on business but the son looked after us, he said as it wasn’t busy, no problem putting chairs and table out if we wanted. The pub doesn’t open for drinkies until 7pm. Going for a wee walk round the pubs and an early night, I think. Only 9 days left, can’t believe how fast it’s going. We are now dividing the last week up as if it is 3 or 4 more short breaks instead of thinking of it as the holiday is coming to an end.
All the best
The Flans and wee Bizz


Great Blog Guys, To be honest I skip a lot of those long posts that go on but I always read yours with great interest, ye weren't too far from our nick of the woods when ye were in Kilfinane, Pity we were in Doolin, it would have been nice to meet up as it has been a while. Take care and enjoy the rest of your Holidays.


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Bit of an update on the tour, been busy having fun

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Posted: 24.07.2018  ·  #21
Hi Craicers, now 24.7/18, only 5 sleeps left. Last spoke to you from Kilfinane, had a bit of a noisy night from the pub beside, every teenager from a 20 mile radius were having a good night, had to move the van to the top part behind a wall, wasn’t too bad then. Well, it was their Saturday night blow out, doesn’t happen every night in this wee town I’m sure.
That was us then up early on the 22nd to another scorcher, next target was Terryglass, one of our favourite spots, busy sunny Sunday but got lucky and a good spot appeared, sweet level spot with a small tree for shade table and chairs out on the grass, lovely meal and got the guitar out, started a party with a young group staying in a tent, who loved all my oldies and one of them was a very good guitar player and singer........can’t believe we kept going to 4am, oh god the next day was a feckin disaster and I invented a new word for how we felt, “CHILLUFFERIN” alll day long so there was no drink taken at all that day (chilling and suffering). We managed to walk Bizz up to the village where we found a book swap cupboard in the car park beside the big map, Emily got a couple of good books & left a few in the next day, good idea. So we stayed 2 days at Terryglass and met some lovely people.
That’s us up to today the 24th and we had a lovely afternoon in Galway, parked at Dock Street, wee market nearby, good walk round the city for wee Bizz and we left him back in the van and had a great late lunch in the kings head, Emily had a huge main course of creamy mussels, chunky potato wedges, possibly the best ever for only €13, I had a brisket of beef, champ etc, all good and tender. Great value and a real belly buster which set us up and we are nearly recovered from the other night. Short trip to Spiddal pier, what a lovely spot on the pier, 2 beaches and a good walk for the dog. Great views over to Clare and the sun came out and the breeze dropped. Nice one.
All the best from the Flans
including wee Bizz who has had a good walk & swim and is snoring in his wee bed


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Beautiful Bay Coast, Co Galway & more

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Posted: 26.07.2018  ·  #22
Hi Craicers, today was a mid week meander in the sun building up to a long weekend to bring the tour to a close on Sunday. Been through all the stages of the long holiday. Overdoing the start due to being excited, looking ahead knowing we have millions of days to come, so no rush, being surprised when you realise a week has gone, but start staying a few days in different places due to the unbelievable weather, then oh feck, that's nearly 2 weeks gone. Only 10 days left & thinking again that's loads of time but that sneaky acceleration of time happens towards the last week.
Ah well we have had the best holiday ever on this beautiful island, presently in Leenane after an awesome drive and finding lovely wee beaches on the Bay Coast area in the wee joined up islands past Connemara airport. Loads of overnighters just explore & you will find. Then up towards target Leenane through the "Alps" looking so good in the crystal clear almost HD quality sunshine. You would lose the Mournes here behind some of these mountains. We hit Leenane about 7pm parked nose out looking over the "fjord". Got a table for 2 in The Blackberry restaurant, oysters, seafood platter, Oh god we were in heaven, lovely atmosphere & a bit of craic with the ladies at the next table. Back to the van 100yds away, wee Bizz is sparked out having had about 5 walks & swims today. Next target another favourite, Westport we will be only 4 hours from home so will take it slow for our final long weekend. 973 miles done averaging 29 mpg, 41 hours driving done so far since 7/7/18, haven't counted how many Euro, don't care.
Night night from the Flans
Zzzzz from Bizz


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The final blog, "Had a ball"

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Posted: 28.07.2018  ·  #23
Hi Craicers 😥, final blog
We last spoke to you from Leenane after our lovely meal at The Blackberry restaurant. Well, didn't it rain for 12 hours solid after we went to bed. The trickle of a river turned into a proper flood into the harbour and the mountains disappeared in the mist. Anyway it was warm rain so we headed for Westport and the sun was waiting for us. We parked up beside the quay and walked through the grounds of Westport house to find a lovely duo playing outside Gracey's bar beside the caravan park, lovely soft acoustic music tinkling through the trees, dog friendly area, wee Bizz got another girlfriend who ran circles with him while we had a Guinness with Reg, a cool Irish guy with dreadlocks who runs a fishing boat tour in the bay. Lovely guy, had no lead or collar for his wee dog. Got back the van for a lovely sunset, wow!!! Due to the fact that the weather knew our holiday was nearly over and changed back to Irish conditions we decided to spend our last night at Ballinamore where I write to you now. Had 2 hours of sunny weather and then it has been pishing down since for the last 4 hours. No matter, to sum up, Emily, Bizz & I have had the best holiday ever & you cannot beat Ireland in the good weather. Even in okay weather!!
Anyway if you liked my blog, thanks and I hope I gave some tips. If I was to write about everything it would taken about 50 pages. We have some brilliant memories from this one, cheers, heading home a day early but we'll satisfied
Happy days from the Flans
Wee Bizz is the happiest Jack Russell in the world, night night


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 28.07.2018  ·  #24
Quote by flans van

. If I was to write about everything it would taken about 50 pages.


Work away John,
Since this new server changed over theres loads a room for more info😂

Good to hear the trip was a success,
Some good tips there for every body.👍🏻👍🏻


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 28.07.2018  ·  #25
Thoroughly enjoyed the blog! read it out to my better half so we could live vicariously through Ye for the couple of weeks 😆 Cheers for the updates and glad Ye had a good one!!


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 28.07.2018  ·  #26
Really enjoyed the blog.We have been to most of the places you mentioned. Your blog made me feel like handing in my notice and joining you,however we let common sense prevail. Have a few days off in August looking forward to it all the more now.Thanks.


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 28.07.2018  ·  #27
Great blog j flan well done cant wait to here from your next travells.m


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 29.07.2018  ·  #28
Reiterating what others have said, you're highlighting how much we miss by taking our main holidays abroad. So much to see and do when we have the weather.


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 29.07.2018  ·  #29
Heading out on Monday starting at Bray, trying to cover from there to Cork, a part we've only been through on the way to the ferry to France. Hope you haven't used all the good weather on us 😎

Your trip will be a great help to us once we get going. Thanks for taking the time to journal the way you have 👍


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 30.07.2018  ·  #30
Hi Flans Van, thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed reading about your holiday and intend to visit some of the places you mentioned when time allows.


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 31.07.2018  ·  #31
Flans, just to say I really enjoyed your blog and looked forward to each one. You should be a journalist as you are so good at it? Anyway, thanks a million for taking the time and I’ve put some place on my bucket list as a result.


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Re: Flans Van on tour again

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Posted: 31.07.2018  ·  #32
Great Blog!


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