County Clare Peninsulas seem to attract us so we drove out to Loop Head which is at the mouth of the River Shannon. A lighthouse was not open to the public, but as it was set back a bit from the tip, we could walk all around. The whole headland was high cliffs with the churning Atlantic below. Peering over the edge as near as we dared showed us nesting sites of guillemots and fulmars. We looked in vain for puffins but apparently they nest further down. The r...

Rathdrum to Roscrea to Kilkie: With all the school holiday crowds at the campsite at Rathdrum in the Wicklow Mountains, we decided to move away from the mid east coast, heading back to the less populated west coast. But the best was yet to come in County Wicklow. We stopped to see the ancient monastic centre at Glendalough in the lower reaches of the hills. The ruins of churches, stone fences and a round tower amid a graveyard still in use today nestled in a...

Wexford and Wicklow Counties: It was with great pleasure that we left the site in Tramore. We drove along the coast east of Waterford, poking into small villages on back roads. We headed down a long thin peninsula to Hook Head with one of the oldest operating lighthouses in the world. It was a chance to get out and wander along the extensive rock platform - for a change the sea was calm and the tide was low allowing us to walk over the eroded sandstone to the ...

Waterford: Waterford presented us with a surprise from the start. On driving in, we saw signs for the Tall Ships Race and discovered that the three day festival was to start the next day. What luck. We had to fight our way though the city with the most appalling traffic chaos - roads were being blocked off, traffic was being diverted, cars were blocking streets and intersections, all in the process of getting ready for the next three days. So deciding we wou...

Cork and Blarney: Our camp for two nights was just outside Blarney, a bit north of Cork. First job here was to catch up on the washing. In the camper and on the move, there is not a great deal of opportunity to do any serious washing and it had piled up a bit. Most of the time was spent putting the clothes on the lines, then rushing to get them off again when the rain started ... several times. Blarney Castle was better than we expected - we expected a very...