After our fabulous drive around the Ring of Kerry in our motorhome Vtee, we drove on to Adare in County Limerick. We stopped there for the night at the Adare Camping and Caravan Park. The camp is a working farm and we had donkeys braying in the field behind us. Their infectious laughing bray made us giggle every time we heard them!
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| Stone and thatch cottages in Adare |
The next morning, we drove into Adare village. It is very pretty, with its stone and thatch cottages, but it was so busy and full of people, that we couldn’t find
parking.
Frustratingly, we ended up driving through and around it a few times. In the
end, we didn't stop there but drove on to nearby Limerick city instead. Limerick was founded by the Vikings around 922 AD. It is famous for the "limerick", a five-line humorous poem.
We managed to find a Vtee sized parking space just on the edge of the city, then
walked through the Peoples Park into the city centre.
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| King John's Castle on the River Shannon in Limerick |
Sitting on the Shannon River, this small city (Pop: 94,000 in 2016), has lots of lovely riverside walkways. From the main one, we could see quite a few of the city's sights, such as the
800-year-old King John’s castle, the adjoining Thomand Bridge, and the imposing
tower of St Mary's Church.
The architecture there is varied. There are a lot of historic buildings, but there are also quite a few modern ones beside them.
The pedestrian-only streets that are such a feature in many Irish towns and cities, are plentiful in Limerick, as are the beautifully cared-for shops with their colourful hanging baskets.
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| Marg at the butchers near Limerick Market |
We were there on a Saturday and chanced upon Limerick’s Saturday
market. A huge variety of food as well as bric-a-brac is sold there.
It was absolutely vibrant, with lots of people around, so we found a café nearby and enjoyed our lunch while people-watching.
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Bunratty Castle
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Leaving Limerick, we cruised past Bunratty Castle, built in 1425 as a tower house. It now towers over the mass of cars and people around it.
After that, we headed toward the Atlantic coast again, to the very pretty town of Ennistymon. It was buzzing as it was the site of the upcoming Irish Open Golf tournament, and there were people everywhere busy preparing for it. We were glad we weren't trying to drive through the busy-ness a week or so later when the tourney was running!
Leaving there, a tractor with a wide cargo on its front-loader was on the road and coming towards us. As we were trying to decide how to get out of its way, the driver just lifted its load right up in the air above Vtee and cruised on by. That gave us a real giggle.
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Ennistymon
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From Ennistymon, we got back on to the Wild Atlantic Way road (see the Ring of Kerry blog for background).
We particularly wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher, part of the UNESCO Europe-wide Geopark network. These cliffs rise to 214 metres above sea level at the highest point, and stretch for 8 kilometres along the coast of County Clare.
They were formed by a river that dumped its mud and sand there about 320 million years ago. The mud and sand hardened over time to form the cliffs.
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Cliffs of Moher (UNESCO) towering over the Atlantic Ocean
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Look carefully near the top left side of our Cliffs of Moher photo. You will see people walking along the clifftop, which gives you an idea of the scale of these amazing cliffs.
By this time it was getting late, and we contemplated staying the night in the Cliff’s visitor carpark. However, it was on a huge slope – not good for sleeping - and it was still light (doesn’t get dark here until about 10.30 pm).
So, we decided to keep moving up the coast, seeing more Atlantic Way scenery.
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| Doolin |
After driving through some narrow coastal roads and following a camping sign, we ended up in a lovely wee hamlet called Doolin. We found a campsite there right on the coast.
The next morning, we drove down to the harbour and got our first real look at the rock formations that make up this part of the Wild Atlantic Way coastline.
Theses formations are unique to this part of the world, and collectively comprise the Burren National Park, aka "The Burren".
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| The amazing rocks of The Burren |
The Burren is a unique network of rocks that are full of geometric cracks, ruts and mounds, making it look like a moonscape. The scale of it is quite amazing.
The rocks have been shaped by thousands of years of erosion. Over that time, they have become home to Celtic burial chambers and tombs, as well as a huge variety of rare insects and plants.
We followed the Burren coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way and discovered how wild and isolated it is.
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| Bell Harbour |
On the way, we passed through the small villages of Fanore, Ballyvaughan, Bell Harbour and Kinvarra.
They are all pretty, some having houses with thatched roofs and most with lovely flower gardens, but all with the dramatic and moody Atlantic as their backdrop. And they are so isolated, and on such narrow winding roads with stone fences on both sides.
With the Burren right across the road, we could tell where they got their fencing-stones from!
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16th Century Dunguaine Castle
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Not far out of Kinvarra, we stopped to look at Dunguaine castle which is a 16th century tower house. It has been partially restored and is now a place where they hold medieval feasts.
Then, moving further north, we arrived in Galway (Pop: 80,000 in 2016). Galway is a harbour city on Ireland’s west coast. It sits where the River Corrib meets the Atlantic Ocean.
We had been told we could camp on the waterfront at the Galway Marina but apparently the Council has banned that. So we headed out of the city looking for a campsite.
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| Our sea view campsite in Galway |
We soon found Salthill Camping and got a good camping spot right on the waterfront looking straight onto the water.....
....plus the owner gave us a huge apple pie for free. Lovely!
There was a bus stop just outside the gate and the next morning we bussed into Galway city. The bus stopped in Eyre Square, officially known as the John F. Kennedy Square.
We saw lots of beautiful old buildings, and the pubs, houses and shops were well maintained and colourful. It was all so vibrant.
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| Vibrant Galway |
There are lots of stone buildings in the winding Latin Quarter which also has the remnants of Galway's medieval city wall. We found lots of pedestrian-only streets there, and had a lovely time walking through and exploring them.
As well as the River Corrib which flows through the city, we found many canals with lovely walkways beside them.
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| Eglinton Canal, Galway |
Galway is proud of its local trout and we saw fly fishermen in the water right in the city. We also saw several of the bridges that criss-cross the many waterways here.
The Galway Cathedral is a magnificent solid building and dominates the skyline. We walked there finding lots of other beautiful churches on the way.
We also saw the Spanish Arch, which dates back to pre-medieval times, a building called Lynch’s castle, which is now a bank, and many other medieval buildings.
The harbour was an easy place to walk around, with a very solid looking harbour wall. There were numerous boats tied up to it, all resting on the muddy bottom waiting for the incoming tide.
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| Old storehouses near the entrance to Galway harbour |
Opposite, was a row of historic storehouses forming a quaint backdrop to the harbour entrance.
After an interesting day in Galway city, we decided to walk the 5 miles back along the waterfront promenade to our camp, instead of taking the bus. It was a great walk, and we saw so much more of the harbour and surrounding areas on the way.
We liked Galway. There is a lot of history in this city and it’s very walkable.
After several days, we moved on to our next destination, driving toward Donegal.
This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium and Luxembourg. The first blog is called "Off to do the UK in a motorhome".