I think it's fair to say that I hit a bit of a mental block when planning this trip which was the journey there. It dominated my thoughts and was the focus of my anxiety. I was really worried that the kids, (and therefore us) wouldn't be able to hack such a long journey.

As it turned out, the journey was great -much better than I anticipated. Thinking about my concerns now, I'm a bit embarassed - lots of people do much longer and much trickier journeys than London to Ireland!!

After spending the first three months of his life viewing the car seat as an instrument of torture, Patrick fell asleep on cue whenever we put him into his seat. He doesn't feature much in this tale as he slept through most of it!

Betsy, likewise, was fantastic. Admittedly, she had a tendency to chuck whatever is entertaining her for those 10 seconds down her right hand side in the car making it nigh on impossible for me to reach it when she immediately demands it back!

We found a great spot just off the M4 near Swindon called Lydiard Park, it had a great playground for Betsy to have a runaround and a cafe for lunch. It definitely beat motorway services, although we were sad not to say hello to our good friend Mark Slatter at Leigh Delamare, our usual stop when we head to The Gower in Wales.

We had booked a b&b in between Cardiff and Swansea to break the journey. It was only ok, fine as a pitstop but I couldn't really see why anyone would choose to holiday there!!
We learnt our first lesson of travelling with a toddler - don't expect them to follow a routine when what you are doing isn't the normal routine!! After about 3 gallons of milk (including one of Patrick's ready made formula milks after running out of the real stuff!) Betsy finally fell asleep!

For me and Ed, we helped ourselves to some luke warm white wine from the local shop - good job we had plastic wine glasses packed! We ordered a pizza takeaway and ate in the metre square 'living area' the family room promised whispering to eachother so not to wake the babies!

Breakfast the following morning was distrupted by Patrick deciding to produce a spectacular nappy! His vest and babygro were sacrificed - it's a good job I had packed 15!! Once we were all cleaned up, we headed to a local beach for Betsy to play with her bucket and spade and then made our way to Pembroke docks and our ferry.

As with every ferry port in the history of the world, there was nowhere decent to stop for lunch in Pembroke (Why? Why are all car ferry ports so depressing? Stranraer, Carnryan, Holyhead, I'm taking to you!! Surely, a decent place to have a bite to eat would be a money spinner?!) so lunch was had at McDonalds and on to the ferry we went.

Here we learned our second lesson of travelling with a toddler - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE head to the children's soft play area!! I thought it'd be a great idea for Betsy, but of course, it was full of feral children set free from cooped up cars. They were too old for the under 5 area and throwing the soft toys at eachothers' heads. We swiftly moved on much to Betsy's dismay! The ferry ride went smoothly and amazingly we were the first off the ferry and hit the road to Cork in the evening sunshine. Ed's first experience of driving in Ireland was a pleasant one - the roads were quiet and new - built in the Celtic tiger years, and the route picturesque.

We made it to our first destination - staying with my youngest aunt and uncle, Chia and Tony. They, and their excited dogs, Lynx and Snuff, gave us an amazing welcome. I don't think there are many better things in life than that feeling as you take the final turn in the road to see the outdoor light on in welcome; wide armed family welcoming you home (even if it isn't actually your home!) Tony had a (well deserved) cold beer in Ed's hand before we were in the front door; introductory cuddles for Patrick were given and as only Chi can do, she delivered perfectly - producing a '2' balloon for the (belated) birthday girl much to her tired eyes delight. A homemade lasagne awaited us and a comfy bed.

It's good to be here!!