Part 1 - Devon to Lisburn

There have been times since we moved out of the house that we felt we could hold the record of being the worst travellers in the world. However, if you take a look at this blog How did we get here? You will see that there were a few distractions!

We are pleased to say - we set off on our travels to Ireland at the beginning of February. We have a loose plan of where we are heading and aiming to come back towards the end of April. In our previous lives both Mark and I have had sales job driving the length and breadth of the UK & Ireland. We had to be at a certain place at a certain time. Choosing the fastest and most direct way. Always the destination rather than the journey. Aside from my 3 weekly flights back to Exeter for treatment this trip is meant to help break that routine. This will enable us to live at a slower pace and reducing our stress levels. The difficult part in this plan is that Boobydo isn’t always aware of her crucial role in all this and loves to throw obstacles in our way. On the whole though, she is a good old girl, a 26-year-old Mercedes 814. Known as the ‘Million Mile Engine’ she plods along at a steady pace. Unfortunately, the tyres have a habit of going. On the way to the port of Fishguard we heard the bang and the inside tyre on the rear twin axle had blown. (Thankfully this bang was a lot less dramatic than when the front passenger tyre went on the M5 just before crossing the Bristol channel). A quick call out and the spare was put on. I had no luck on finding a tyre in Wales late in the afternoon and to prevent too big a detour I found a friendly man in Wexford who could help us out. As we pulled out of the lay-by in the dusk problem number 2! The main beam head lamp had blown too. The spares we had bought and dutifully carried round since we bought her produced from the glove box. Guess what? Yes, they didn’t fit! So, we gingerly made our way to the port and added new bulbs to the shopping list.

On a practical level the port of Fishguard has an excellent carpark behind the fuel station where we parked overnight among a few freight lorries and a vanlife family. Early in the morning we had a knock at the door and an official looking man in high viz was stood there. “Yes, can we help you?”

“I hope you don’t mind. I just wanted to come and see your lorry because it looks interesting from the outside”.

We don’t mind showing off Boobydo, although it is an odd thing when you stand back and compare it to owning a home. When was the last time you drove past a house, pulled in and asked for a tour? No, I have never done it either! But don’t let that stop you asking us if you want a tour.

The crossing was a wonderful crisp sunny day. It was only just over 3 hours, so we opted to keep Mabel in the lorry rather than the austere looking kennels. She is at home on the lorry. Our onboard CCTV reassuring us that she simply slept through the crossing. The crossing was full of cheerful, drunken, singing Welsh rugby fans. Thankfully unaware that the Welsh team were going to put in a woeful performance on Saturday’s match in Dublin. Our biggest rooky error though was to miss the duty-free shop as it only stayed open for the first hour! Oops, no whiskey for Mark’s dad.

With us needing to get the tyre swapped over we found a good campsite in Wexford town. Ferrybank is just across the river. Sited behind the swimming baths is has good hot showers. Overlooks the coast and down the road from our first pint of very good Guinness we had a good restful night.

Meylers tyres and a local car parts shop were both very helpful and a local smokehouse proved a good place to stock up on local fish too, before heading on our way to Co Kildare.

We chose good direct roads and arrived in good time down the road from my college friend and her family. Niamh lives not far from Maynooth at a place called Donadea Demesne (Demense is pronounced domain and means estate). A beautiful forest park and ruined house. Unfortunately, there is an elegant old archway that we couldn’t get under. But thanks to a hospitable pub down the road. We parked up for the night to catch up with the family. You know it has been too long when you haven’t met 2 of the children. You also know it is fantastic to reconnect with old friends when the conversation flows as freely as ever. Lots of laughter and remembering, plus making more memories. Isn’t that what life is about? We were so busy chatting to do the unthinkable in this day and age. We forgot to take photos apart from a hasty one when Niamh dropped us back at Boobydo. Maybe it is time to say we are transitioning from the world’s worst travellers to the world’s worst bloggers! Aren’t we supposed to be surgically attached to a camera and Go-pro?

The following day we set off to Northern Ireland to see Marks family. Stan moved to Lisburn in November 2019. This was the first time we had seen him face to face since then. We are probably one of the last families who are still doing Zoom quizzes, a legacy from lock-down. Now every month a collection of cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles face the challenge firstly, how to get on Zoom? (still an elusive act for some!) secondly to answer each other’s daft questions. We started off quite polished presentations of music and picture rounds but over the months have now got more and more hit and miss. In fact, last Zoom meet up we just opted for a chat.

We arrived in Lisburn unsure of where to park up, assured that it would be fine. But not sure for how long? We needn’t have worried Stan had somehow press-ganged a neighbour in letting us park a bloody great blue horsebox in the driveway of the house across the road from him! We were justifiably nervous of this until we found out that a) the house was empty as it was being renovated and b) being renovated by Stan’s landlord – Phew! It was still priceless to see folk walk past and stare though.

Around the Emerald Isle in a 7.5t camper