Hello mothers and other occasional visitors!! In order to get up to date with our blogs, we're going to have to resort to a bit of a list for this one! So...

Day 1:
After an annoying delay of 4 hours on our flight into Dublin due to a damaged wing, we landed at approx 3pm local time with lots to do before the day was out. This included catching a 1 hour bus to a tiny town outside of Dublin city called Navan to pick up our campervan, and driving 2 hours further north back into the UK (Northern Ireland) to meet Stacey in the small town of Antrim, west of Belfast, for our first night of camping.

Day 2:
Off we set on day 2 with sunshine to explore some of the countryside of Northern Ireland which included a scenic drive along the Antrim coastline (north-east coast), a visit to a road lined with amazing gnarled and ancient looking trees which recently housed a scene from Game of Thrones, and one of the main sights we wanted to see on this trip; The Giant's Causeway (natural basalt columns out on the ocean which look like huge giant steps). We also ventured out to a rope bridge walk which took us out to a tiny remote island on the northern coast, and included one of many tasty and healthy lunch breaks inspired by recent adventures with BT & Annsie in france!

Day 3:
Back on the road in the morning we set off due west with our destination being the Glenveagh National Park; a highly rated national park over the border and back into the Republic of Ireland. In the park we hired some bikes and went for a delightful toddle along a 5km path to a castle where we saw some traditional Irish instruments being played and Stacey got molested by wasps (hilarious). Our plans to hike to a view on top of a large hill/tiny mountain were unfortunately foiled by some intense mud which went on for seemingly ever and forced us to turn back. This however proved useful as it allowed us extra time to haul arse south to a campsite and make some distance up to enable less driving in the next days. We made camp at Sligo that evening which came recommended as a nice town to pass through.

Day 4:
After a few lucky days of weather, we copped the full Irish treatment on day 4 as the fog and clouds set in and the rain came steady for hour after hour. A drive to another highly rated national park; the Connemara National Park, proved fairly pointless as the rain got heavier and visibility dropped. We managed to briefly stop at an amazing abbey on the banks of a Lough (lake/loch if in Scotland!) before we packed it in and headed for our first city of the trip; Galway. Weather forced us to abandon any hope of Stacey sleeping in the tent, so we checked her into a hostel and then hit the town for a few drinks and some live (not Irish) music at an old pub. That night we got a little naughty and ventured into the suburbs of Galway to 'free camp' in a street inside our van (technically not allowed in Ireland but still done) which saved us a 20!

Day 5:
The second half of the road trip was definitely the more naturally scenic and that all started with this day and a drive through The Burren; a rocky national park with alien-like landscapes and a very old burial chamber still in tact. After The Burren the scenery continued with a visit to the famous Cliffs of Moher - supposedly tallest cliffs in Europe - where a very thick fog cleared up for us just in time to walk along them and view the dramatic scenery of crashing waves against enormous greenery covered cliffs!

Day 6:
The breathtaking scenery continued on day 6 with a drive around The Ring of Kerry; a ring road that hugs a peninsula in the county of Kerry. Though the first half of the route wasn't particularly stunning, once we reached the end and started circling back under the bottom of the peninsula, the scenery quickly improved. We made a stop at a little inlet with a beach for another BT/Annsie lunch with great views and lots of elderly Germans gutuntarging around us before stumbling across a chocolate factory that Nat and Stacey had recently read (and got very excited) about. After stocking up and catching views of the Skellig Islands (rocky pyramid-shaped islands where monks lived hundreds of years ago) we continued on our way along the ring road and into the Killarney National Park which was easily the most naturally beautiful and scenic national park we visited in Ireland. At the end of it all we ended up at a highly rated campsite for a cruisy night of home made wraps on our little cooker and a couple of bevvos!

Day 7:
Our last full day in Ireland and Natalie's birthday! The day started eventfully with a flat battery. After asking the owners to come over and jump start the van, we had a bit of a 'what the hell' moment when we realised we had left our gas canister behind the wheel of the van and would have driven backwards over it if the van battery hadn't died. Then to top it off, while waiting for the owners to drive over, Ant accidentally touched the battery which zapped him and prompted him to try the van one more time and just like that it started! Jeebus definitely stepped in and helped us out as it was a special day!

Once on the road we drove straight to The Blarney Castle just outside of Cork for a visit to the amazing castle and to place a lucky kiss on the Blarney Stone with 5,000 Americans! Back in the van we continued into Cork where Ant manoeuvred us to a car park in central Cork in order to surprise Nat (& Stacey) with hotel rooms in order to celebrate Nat's 27th birthday (getting on a bit). After checking in and celebrating with Baileys and Lindt balls we headed out on the town for some adventures which included a great local dinner (we all destroyed lamb & stout pies) and some drinks with very Irish locals in a classic old Irish pub thanks to our Irish friends' recommendations.

Day 8:
Waking up in Cork we smashed an awesome breakfast and got some local produce for a final picnic from the famous English Market in the centre of town before hitting the highway for a 3 hour road trip back to Navan to drop off the van. We then headed into Dublin for a final night and a couple of drinks, with our flight back to London the next day!