Day #: 26-29

Date(s): 21MAY – 24MAY2025

Location(s) Visited: Cork, Ballycotton, Kinsale, Kenmare, Ireland

Overall Impression of Location(s): Cork = 3, Ballycotton = 3, Kinsale = 3, Kenmare = 2

4 -added to our favorite list and we would return again
3 – a great place to visit
2 – OK for one visit, but we would not return again
1 – we wish we hadn’t wasted our time here  

Distance Driven on Leg/Trip (km): 203

Weather/Temperature (°F): Our first few days in Ireland were gorgeous with temperatures in the high 60’s and overnight temperatures down into the high 40s. It was sunny with a slight wind and there were no complaints from us as this is Tony’s perfect weather. The weather changed on 24MAY2025 when it became gray, rainy and a bit colder and very reminiscent of Seattle weather. We have come prepared with Gortex hiking shoes, raincoats and rain pants. There is never bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. 😉 Seriously, we don’t mind this weather as back home it has already been over 100 degrees (F) so this type of weather feels almost refreshing. Now our tune might change if the rain persists too long, but for now we are taking it in stride.

Ferry Conditions: We described our Alaskan ferry as better than a prison cell, but worse than a university dorm room so our expectations were low for this ferry crossing. We were pleasantly surprised with Brittany Ferries from Roscoff, France to Cork, Ireland. We upgraded to a Club Plus 4 berth cabin for the 15-hour overnight crossing and we would describe our room as being similar to a Marriott Fairfield Inn, a big improvement over our Alaskan ferry. We had a ton of space, a window, real linens and an ensuite bathroom. We even had an included continental breakfast brought to our cabin in the morning. Brittany Ferry was efficient and on-time and overall, a good experience. Total cost for both of us, the cabin and Chickpea = 425 €. Immigration and Customs was simple, efficient and only took a few minutes.

Road Conditions: Oh my! Ireland is like the UK and they drive on the left-hand side of the road vs. right-hand side as is done in the US and Europe. We are now driving our left-hand drive van on the other side (or as we used to call it the “wrong” side) of the road. We feel like we are in the 1987 Planes, Trains and Automobiles movie where Chevy Chase and John Candy are blissfully driving down the wrong side of the freeway and people are yelling at them “You are going the wrong way!”  😊 Honestly, it is a bit of a challenge for us to get used to this. Driving straight is fine but turns take some thought and concentration. We didn’t think it was possible, but the roads are even skinnier here than in France. We have both driven in Ireland and did OK, but Tony is much more at ease with the driving over here than Tracey is. We have taken the big “N” roads (like interstates), “R” roads which are smaller, sometimes quite small but usually still have a painted center line, connecting cities and then there are the dreaded “L” roads which seriously feel like a single lane road but 2-way traffic. We are now avoiding the “L” roads when possible if there are alternative” R” roads nearby. Nobody has yelled any obscenities at us yet or given us any hand gestures, so we think we are doing OK but we know we are going much slower than the locals’ drive and certainly below the posted speed limits. Our normally trusty Waze app sucks over here and it has taken us on some completely inappropriate routes so we are having to check her directions now before heading out. We have 5 weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland and then another 7 weeks in Wales and England so we will get lots of practice driving this way and we hope it all starts to feel more natural.

Chickpea Mechanical Status: All is well on the mechanical side with no current open issues.

Highlights:

• Initial impressions of Ireland are very positive. This is our first visit to Ireland for the both of us. The Irish people are very friendly and we didn’t really know how much we missed being able to freely communicate with others in our native (really our only fluent) language. Although we are obviously foreigners as soon as we open our mouths, at least people can understand us and we can communicate with each other. We can read the road signs now instead of having to rely on symbols. Grocery shopping takes ½ the time as it did in France as we can read the labels without having to use Google Translate. As much as we loved France, the big negative for us was our inability to speak the local language and communicate in any meaningful way. We also immediately noticed that there is more diversity in the body shapes, heights and colors of people here in Ireland than we having been seeing in France.
• Cork is the 2^nd largest city in Ireland and it was quite lively while we were there. We immediately noticed that the population is quite young and we would estimate half the people we saw were easily under the age of 30. Since our ferry arrived at Cork in mid-morning, we spent the afternoon walking on a GPS guided VoiceMaps audio tour of the city with a lovely and delicious lunch stop at Good Day Café at Nano Nagle Place. We liked Cork quite a bit including all the pedestrian walking areas, riverfront businesses, street murals and the lovely English Market where we bought the best tasting strawberries we have ever eaten.
• The Cliff Walk hike in Ballycotton was a coastal hike Tracey had on her radar so we made the 30-mile drive from Cork. We wild camped at the trailhead and set off on the 6 mile hike by 8 AM and had the trail primarily to ourselves. Walking high up on the steep cliffs for most of the hike but we did have one opportunity to explore a small beach cove. The views were fantastic; the weather was warm with a light breeze and the sun was shining. We both spotted a “spout” of water separately in the same location so we think it might have been a whale which are known to be in this area. That sighting causes us some excitement as we have seen zero wildlife in continental Europe except for birds and a few red fox roadkill 😔.
• Kinsale was a lovely surprise and another place we wild camped, but this time in a city parking lot with several other campervans. From our understanding, wild camping isn’t technically legal or illegal but is largely tolerated if done respectfully and for a short duration. We took a lovely Rick Steve’s walking tour of the small village and harbor and then drove to the Charles Fort to explore the ruins and ramparts.
• Tony biked the 110 km King of Beara Gran Fondo bike race along with 4,500 other cyclists. The starting line was in Kenmare which was bursting at the seams when we arrived. The village of 2,500 inhabitants had exploded with cyclists, support teams and vendors for this event. Another tour of the crowded village center and we made a stop at the Kenmare Stone Circle. This circle was built in the Bronze age (3000 years ago) and is one of the largest in the area and one of the few to have an intact boulder capstone in the center.
• Tony’s Ring of Beara Bike race exceeded his expectations despite the weather and was his first European race. It was well organized and the route was quite scenic with good road conditions. While the road was not closed to vehicular traffic, there were support staff at every intersection. The Aide Stations were also well stocked with water, tea, coffee and food, including vegan options. He also made  a new friend, Michael, on this ride  and rode the majority of the race with him and he obtained a lot of information about traveling in Ireland from a local’s perspective which we plan to incorporate into our itinerary.
  
  Lowlights:
• The weather forecast continually predicted rain for Tony’s bike race. He was not super keen on biking in the rain but headed out before the storm approached in hopes that it would stay away. Spoiler: it did not. He biked for 110 km over 5 hours in alternating misty rain and torrential rain dumps. This is not his favorite type of riding with it being raining, but Tracey is telling him it is “Type 2 fun” and he will be glad he did the race in a few days when he dries out and warms up.
• We attempted to park overnight, along with 100+ campervans, on the outskirts of Kenmare on the night before Tony’s race. While we thought the spot would work, there was constant traffic every 30-90 seconds, with vehicles passing less than 18 inches from our van, which made it difficult to sleep. After struggling with this, we finally packed up and moved to another (and much better) location at 2 o’clock in the morning. Our new location had been cordoned off when we initially arrived but must have been opened shortly before our arrival as there were only 3 other vehicles present but by the time we awoke the next morning, the lot was completely full.
• The traffic in Cork was epic and similar to some of the worst traffic we have ever experienced when we lived in Chicago. It was complete gridlock. Tracey’s navigation was completely wrong and Waze was also confused so we wasted so much time trying to get out of the city. At one point, Tracey cried as her navigation was leading us down smaller and smaller roads. Roads that had parked cars on both sides with one open skinny lane in the middle, but it was used for 2-way traffic which was quite heavy at that time. At one point, a delivery driver off-loading a truck helped us navigate a section as we were ½ pulled up on a sidewalk and could not find a suitable opening to drive through this section.
  
  Up Next: Start of the clockwise loop around the island with Ring of Beara and Ring of Kerry up next
  
  Onwards!