THURSDAY 24th MAY 2012

IRELAND

Had a bit of a sleep in and after breakfast set out for the ferry port of Fishguard. The drive was only a couple of hours through magnificent dairy country, miles of lush pasture and crops! I'm not sure what I expected to see here in Wales but so far the bit we have seen has been most impressive! It all seems to be quite prosperous, mostly agricultural with some industry but no real signs of the financial problems that we hear about at home!
All the road signs are written in both Welsh and English and consequently are massive, unfortunately not making the local lingo any easier to understand! Sure is a strange one!
We topped the Audi up after hearing that fuel (like most things) in Ireland is expensive and we reckon that with it getting over five hundred miles out of a tank, we should just about get by without having to fill up!
We checked out the ferry terminal once we arrived in Fishguard, got our tickets then had a quick drive about this quaint little place, marveling how that in the last twenty minutes we had gone from 20 degrees and total sunshine to 13 degrees and thick fog! Reckon Fishguard might be a little miserable in a Welsh winter!
Had to be in line at the terminal by 1.30 pm so we were pretty much spot on and duly passed through the non existent customs area and then onto the ferry.
The ferry was pretty big - capacity of 350+ cars - and luckily for us it was nowhere near full, and we got some nice comfy chairs and a table and settled back to enjoy the trip! The fog was still very heavy and totally ruined any views we may have had of the boat leaving the Fishguard Bay, and it continued all the way to Ireland!
The four hour crossing passed quite quickly, I managed to complete a few days of my travel blog, whilst the others wandered about the boat! There was thirty minutes free WifI on board but it was very slow and hardly any use at all!
The disembarking process at Rosslare was very quick and painless and in no time at all we were on the road to Wexford and trying to find a bed for the night! There were no Customs or Immigration Checks at all, we just drove straight off the ferry and onto the main road! Trusting folk these Irish! Just wish air travel was as easy!
The roads are a bit narrower and rougher than we found in the UK but we got onto a major highway and headed towards Wexford hoping to get a place to stay before having to travel too far! Waterford is about ninety minutes away - a bit too far to head tonight!
We found a hotel about ten kilometres down the road and got two rooms! Quite a nice place too, with great friendly and helpful staff and a nice bar and restaurant, and once we had checked in we headed for a drink and a meal and a chance to recap the day!
We were all quite surprised at the seemingly good living standards in Wales, and after the warnings we had been given we were very surprised to find that Ireland, at first glance, was very little different! It is pretty hard to judge at first glance but we are looking forward to having a look at the Irish countryside and some tourist highlights tomorrow!
Den decided that he was going to give Guinness and got a half pint, but one sip was enough to convince me that the Irish can keep their black stuff and I'll stay with the amber variety! Discovered "Ice cold Budwieser" which WAS really cold and that will be my tipple for our time here! Not bad at all!