Ferry arrived Dublin Port about 1745 – we were booked into a campsite 250 miles away !! We rung and made apologies. Getting out of Dublin was a nightmare – the roads were pretty well gridlocked – and where they weren’t, they were “under construction” with all the attendant tailbacks. Oh yes, it was chucking it down. We got as far as Portlaoise without finding a campsite – it was still raining. We ended up shelling out for two rooms at the “Comfort Inn” (Me and Mrs Smiffy and our Peter and friend). It was dry – and we also paid out for a decent meal – and I got my one and only pint of Guinness (OK it was two actually !) this holiday.
Wednesday morning – left hotel very late – headed off towards Cahersiveen and Mannix Point Campsite. Took most of the day but we got there – it was wet – it was windy – add to that a new tent – ‘twas tricky (!) but we got there – apparently I swore a lot. The state of the camping fields was not so good – we’d opted for shelter from the winds, but this put us at the bottom of the field. The evening/night brought what sounded like force 9 gales and heavy rain – uncomfortable to say the least …
Two Tents Suffering ...
Thursday – another late start – but we got a look round the town, the museum (Daniel O’Connell born here), got stuff required for the mountain climb and rest of the holiday. Here's a picture taken in town - for some reason I just like the picture - if you can work out why - let me know - because I'd love to know too !!
Me and Mrs Smiffy even got a walk in, to the top of Beentee, just outside the town (it began as a stroll along the water side…but one thing led to another and next minute we were 600 metres up !!!). This was the “dry day” – but weather again bad at night
Friday – supposedly the best day – the assault on Carrantouhill – got off to a bad start due to the inability of the Irish to signpost anything properly. We got there eventually (one hour later than hoped) and off we went. Yes the cloud was somewhat "low"....
Began OK – squally showers and a bit windy – then we saw the “Devil’s Ladder” – approx 1000 feet pretty sheer climb - it's that bit in the middle (sod the "Rule of Thirds" - it was wet and windy !)
We scrambled to the top of that and were told the summit was about another 30 minutes. However - by now it was thick mist, hailstones and gale force winds that were quite literally knocking people over. We “went for it” for about 20 minutes, but had to stop/turn back – it was too dangerous – the GPS reading – when compared with the map later – showed we were about 500ft from the top – so near and yet ….Now we had the 1000 feet scramble down – and the weather on top was working its way down the mountain as well – it was a miserable return. Grabbed a cuppa in the café at the bottom of the mountain (and watched the Sky weather on their TV for the next few days – sh*te, sh*te, sh*te). The four of us were completely sodden – and I think I knew then that the end was close. An 30 mile drive back to the campsite was followed by the worse night of the holiday – wind like I’d never seen it, rain like I’d never seen it – I reckoned the field was like Glastonbury – Mrs reckoned more like the “bloody Somme !”. The kids’ tent was suffering – gravity was taking its course with the water…
Saturday morning – council of war – “cut and run” was the decision – and we weren’t the only ones on the campsite either. Thanks to our sooper dooper “Flexi” ticket we amended our ferry booking from Tuesday @ 1800 to Saturday @ 2115. Packed up in as quick a time as possible and then headed towards Dublin. 50 kms outside Dublin the traffic ground to a halt on the M7 – a fatal crash had closed the motorway – and probably caused many people to miss ferries ! Luckily we had that extra time to spare, and by going up and around the ring road and through the toll tunnel we avoided the sh*te that is driving through Dublin. Apparently a “choppy crossing” arriving in Holyhead about 0045. Drive back to Mossley through more (Welsh/English) wind and rain arriving home at 0330.
Big up to Stena Line – that little extra money for the “Flexi” tickets helped us out on both legs of the journey in the end.
Today was mostly spent washing stuff, drying stuff (still got the big tent to sort out yet – aargh !) and generally recovering from what will be remembered as ….something. We’ll laugh about it in years to come – as they say …and we never had to show our passports once !
Might go to work tomorrow/today…
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