Im surprised about the roads. We travelled diagonally fro Belfast over to Conemara about 5 years ago, and dont recal the roads being over-poor. In fact the 'bog roads' were brilliant!

 

Hi.
Having just had a wonderful week in ROI there are a few points I would like to raise.

Things are a tad expensive due to the rubbish exchange rate. **** £8.00. Petrol/Derv dearer than here. Camp sites £20.00-£30.00 per night.

I would suggest if you plan to use Sat Nav then plan your route on paper as well.

The biggest problem we had was the appalling state of the roads. Now I know Ireland has suffered the same frost problems as the U/K but now way is that entirely the cause. I spoke to a few natives & they agreed but the government is now blaming the complete problem on frost damage.

Having said that its a beautiful country/friendly people & well worth a visit.
GC.

That's a bold statement! :lol:

David

 

tis a fine country the motherland that is if i could afford to go that is

 

Hi
The roads used to be fine until the recent cold weather. The difference between the UK and here is that British roads are made from ashphalt which is more or less frost proof. The roads here are tarmac which crumbled in the extreme cold. The result is that many roads have developed potholes. Motorways are unaffected as they are asphalt but ( especially ) rural roads will have potholes in places. I imagine the situation will get better as the services catch up with the backlog but the problem seems to be huge. Having said that, most main (N-Roads) are fine, Motorways are unaffected and it is mostly the regional (R- Roads and L-Roads) that are the problem. Even at that you are looking at a pothole or rough patch every half mile or so.

 

Thanks for the tips we are seriously contemplating a couple weeks visit this summer. Glad you had a good time.

 

Things are a tad expensive due to the rubbish exchange rate. **** £8.00. Petrol/Derv dearer than here. Camp sites £20.00-£30.00 per night..

Glad you enjoyed the visit but I think you may have made a mistake on the exchange rate. **** are no way 8 stg and I believe that diesel is cheaper than UK, certainly than Northern Ireland.

IH :wave: for Mavis

 

As we are going Fishguard to Rosslare on Monday for three weeks and finishing at the Global. Is diesel generally cheaper in Ireland? Ps any suggestions about a raffle prize we could bring to the Global from the Emerald Isles?

 

A sod of Turf.

Found on roadside in Kerry and Galway.

 

spent most of june over there had a wonderfull time diesel same in euro's as we're paying in pounds anything from cheapest at e116 per litre to e124 a litre .
we met lot's of wonderful people including some m/homers from limerick who spent 4 day's showing us how to ignore no camping sign's and how to drink the local pocheen , the sign's are there to move the traveller's on not us he said tying his washing line to the post with the sign on , they were members of the camper club of ireland ,
our trip was planned all along the south coast and up the west with a trip in land to cork and the blarney castle , thought the best part was the ring of beara and bunratty castle and the folk park .
we downloaded about 50 wildcamping spot's off the review site here and copied and pasted brief notes and co-ordinates for tom tom and without that being the intention only stopped on 4 sites spending a total of 42 euro's in site fees over half that on the obligatory overnight in dublin just down from bunratty castle is a little c l behind a bungalow about 12 euro's in june,
try kilmore quay as you come off the ferry or hook lighthouse there are about 3 parking areas taking about 20 van's and hook is worth a visit in it's own right even if not for the spectacular camping

 

a week in southern ireland

hi,

just had to say that most of the time in southern ireland we found deisel for 1.16 euro,except in odd places where it was 1.24. yes the roads are bad......,but thats part of the fun,if you want to go down the motorways,its just like here,but as soon as you go off the main roads,its the luck of the draw,or irish,what the road will become,quite scary sometime,when all of a sudden a nice road becomes a track with grass down the middle, but yes the potholes were much worse this time,you soon know what you havent managed to fasten down.

over the campsite problem,even the irish campers we met thought the fees were over the top in price,but we have just done another 8 weeks,and wildcamped every single night,we asked the local garda,tourist offices,fishing shops etc,if we were in an area we had not been in before,and some of the places we stayed, if we had been charged a £100 a night it would have been cheap.......we met some wonderfull people,beautiful scenery, great pubs with the best entertainment,and landlords who come round at midnight,with butties and hot snacks,for free.

and the smart cards that you can get for the waterways are wonderful,parked in the middle of carrick,next to the van hot showers for 80cents,and free to get water and empty our toilet.
you dont get that in the middle of oxford on the river.

yes it is expensive,but we have vans,so can carry most of our staples,and then we buy just fresh fish,meat and veg, and when we go in a pub it is so dear,but we go for the music,and you dont have to pay entrance fee,so it levels the cost out.

as you have probly guessed, i do love ireland,so laid back and peaceful.

 

a week in ireland

hi rugbyken,

i think you must have met some of the same campers we did, and talking about kilmore quay,the chippee there is the best in ireland,we went 30mile out of our route, [what route, ] just to stay the night there,and have some fish and chips,there is also a shower block in the harbour office that you can use,loads of books to swap,and washing machine,and the hook lighthouse scenery is awesome.

and the irish campers are not like us,if they like your van,they just come and ask can they look round,how much,etc, but they expect you to be just as laidback with them,a lot of the wildcamping in ireland we put up,and we have got about another 25 this trip,hope you had as much pleasure at some of the places as we did..

mags

 

the wife just read this and told me i'd forgotten the best stopover , can't really argue with her [who would] but the one she mean's is at portumna at the top of lough derg it's a marina down the side of the castle , the main one signposted has height barriers but this little one has room for about 10 friendly van's has free hot shower's toilet's and a castle & town within walking distance , apart from a couple of semi permanent resident's when we visited there was a sign up requesting no overnight parking that w/end as they had a regional show on at the parking place , 10/10