Weather: Nights 10C/Day 22C

Moving down the West coast has provided us with some great scenery and the chance to get in some coastal walks. We are surprised however, with the number of locals living on this side of Ireland. Apparently there are some four and a half million Leprechauns living on this little patch of mainly rock covered by patches of dirt and grass. For some reason we expected it to be sparsely populated like Tasmania’s West coast, but because the sheep here appear to have a genetic disposition to be able to eat stones you have small holdings everywhere.

Even though the place is more populated than we expected we have still managed to find some good camping spots along our route. The way things are at the moment, on this part of the circumnavigation, we will only use camping grounds when we need to. We much prefer the relative isolation that free camping affords us, even if all the places we stop at are not ideal on all occasions. However, staying in the occasional camping park does allow for some contact with the locals who find two aussies and their camper a novelty. We are often regaled with stories of trips planned that for one reason or another never happened and more than likely never will as Doris has trouble walking these days.

While the secondary roads here are generally wider than those in the UK the road surfaces have more undulations than an elephants ****. The roads are built on peat bogs and rise and fall depending on the integrity of the road base, which in most cases have the consistency of one of my dear departed mum’s sponge cakes.

The last time the truck needed a service it happened we were in a position to use the services of Rob in Denver, USA. He came to us through recommendation and was worth the detour we had to take to get to his workshop. Over here in the UK, I was hoping to use Foley’s Land Rover, but the service would have been well overdue if I had waited until we got back there from Ireland. As a consequence, it has meant that the necessary servicing is carried out in various car parks around Ireland. Engine oil here, tire rotation there, skinned knuckles everywhere. Strangely, camping ground operators aren’t too keen to have oil changes carried out in their parks.

For those who need to know. Fuel here in Ireland as in the Britain is expensive compared to Australia, and horrendously expensive compared to the USA, at about 1.25 pound/liter.

Camping fees have also varied between continents, with the UK and Ireland running head to head in the fleece the tourist stakes at about 25 pound. A real rip off. The UK and Ireland have National Parks in name only. They offer nothing for the traveler in terms of a campsite for the night, in fact they appear to offer nothing much at all however you look at it! In the USA you can buy a yearly National Parks Pass that allows entry and covers you for the whole of North America (a great investment, even if you have to pay extra to camp about US$20). The USA also has its network of State Parks, which meant that we were never far away from a State Park or two in every State where we could camp for the night (about US$12/15).