Day #: 41-44

Date(s): 05JUN – 08JUN2025 (note: delayed blog posting due to poor internet access)

Location(s) Visited: Galway, Clifden, Connemara National Park, Murrisk, Westport, Achill Island, Ireland

Overall Impression of Location(s): Galway = 2, Clifden = 2, Connemara National Park = 3, Murrisk = 3, Westport = 1, Achill Island, Ireland = 4

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): 348

Weather/Temperature (°F): The weather has continued to be variable with most days being windy, overcast and having sporadic rain. We have learned to work around the rain which seems to come in a predictable pattern of raining for 5-10 minutes every hour. We have had a few lovely days with no rain, but still mostly overcast skies. The weather changes frequently here but in general temperatures are in the 60’s during the day and into the low 50’s overnight. We are still using our van heat every night to take off the chill. Tony continues to wear arm and knee warmers, full gloves and a beanie under his helmet on all his cycling trips along with a “just in case” waterproof cycling jacket in his back jersey pocket. The weather apps and forecasts are useless over here, but we are trying a new app called Windy which seems much more scientific and robust. Fingers crossed. We have learned to expect rain and a change in weather whenever we are outside. We like the overcast skies (which is opposite our full sunny weather in Arizona), so there are no complaints on that front.

Road Conditions: We have been driving mostly on R roads, with some bigger N and smaller L roads thrown in. We did more scenic driving on this leg which kept us on very small, but thankfully low traffic roads. We are pretty much used to left-hand driving now, but still uneasy on the skinny roads when we must pass buses, large work trucks or giant farm equipment.

Chickpea Mechanical Status: We are using the van to its fullest since we haven’t been to a proper campsite in quite a while. We are now showering in the van although it’s a bit tight. The Truma combination water/diesel heater with separate electric only element is brilliant and works like a champ every time. Our newly installed SOG was a good upgrade and after about a month’s use, without any chemicals or enzymes, we would estimate it reduces sewer odors by about 75%. We are interested to learn whether it continues to work as well in warmer climates. Overall, Chickpea is the perfect sized vehicle for Ireland. Even the motorhome salesperson who fixed our leak said he would not purchase anything bigger for himself, and he’s Irish and used to these roads!

Highlights:

• We are back on track with our overall itinerary. We don’t have a detailed planned itinerary for Ireland but do have some planned stops to keep us moving in the right direction and at the right pace. We are enjoying the freedom of figuring out where we are going to go on a day-by-day basis.
• We are not sure how we can be this happy living out of a van, but we are. Our life is simple and uncomplicated and we pretty much focus on seeing beautiful things, getting exercise and laughing every day. We feel so grateful to be doing this trip at this time of our lives. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem real.
• Dog’s Bay was simply spectacular. This “blue flag” beach is shaped like a crescent with soft pinkish sand and turquoise water reminiscent of the Caribbean. The beach was uncrowded and we even had the opportunity to off-trail hike at the far end of the beach which led to giant rock cliffs and a smaller “locals” beach where we waded in, but only up to our knees.
• Sky Road was a lovely scenic drive, but the roads were a bit sketch. The roads near Connemara are even skinnier than the already skinny Irish roads and are more mound shaped meaning you are driving off camber. We camped overnight at the overlook where we saw the most gorgeous peachy-color sunset reflecting off the clouds. We finished driving the road the following day where we saw the unusual white Connemara pony (they look more like horses than a typical pony to us).
• We traveled to Connemara National Park and learned about all things’ peat bog. The bogs are incredibly important in Ireland and we received a proper education on the formation, uses and particulars about peat/turf farming. We even smelled several peat fires which have quite an unusual sweet yet pungent smell. Outside the National Park, we found a blanket bog to walk on so we could experience the bogginess ourselves. It was like walking on a giant sponge trampoline.
• We transited through the Doolough Valley which is one of the least inhabited places in Ireland. Their terrain was completely different than anywhere else we have been in Ireland and felt like what it would look like if Hawaii and Alaska had a baby. We stopped at a Famine Memorial in the Valley, too. It was a very lovely place and certainly somewhere we want to further explore on future trips.
• We stayed for a few days at Ireland’s version of an “aire” which seem to be located frequently at pubs. This pub was in a great location and allowed us to have a rest day where we did meditations, drank tea, watched movies, did a few “bugaboo” projects and a bit of trip planning. We use a lot of Rick Steve’s guidebooks but find he doesn’t always have the same travel style we do and he completely passes over some small towns (which we prefer) in favor of bigger places. We spent a few hours trying to overlay Rick Steve’s cultural sites on top of the Wild Atlantic Way waypoint map and on top of the locations for some of the best hikes from Alltrails. It was a bit of a challenge to coordinate all of this and come up with a cohesive route.
• We continue to get a good laugh between us about the number of French people (who we lovingly call the Frenchies) who rush over to our vehicle to talk with us thinking we are French (due to our French plated vehicle) only to be disappointed when 2 English-speaking Americans step out. We have seen very few non-Irish plated motorhomes on this leg but weirdly in one town most of the motorhomes were French and we wild camped with 2 other motorhomes, also both French. Since then, we haven’t seen another non-Irish motorhome on the roads.
• Tracey is still trying to determine her favorite potato chip (crisp) brand (Keough or O’Donnells) but we both agree that Barry’s Tea and Butler’s chocolate are our new favorites. Both are Irish companies who make superb products.
• Our e-Bromptons continue to be one of our favorite purchases. We took 2 long bike rides on this leg, including 1 that was so long our batteries ran out. Luckily, we were only a ¼ mile from the van. These little folding bikes allow us to explore areas in a much more granular manner than driving in a car while also providing great exercise. We use these bikes for errands, for doing tours of towns and cities and just to explore the countryside. We have had no issue charging their batteries back up from the van. They also fold so small we store them in our little “garage” under our bed.

Lowlights:

• A bit of poor planning on our part took us almost into the center of Galway city to find our parking lot. One intersection we had to go through felt more like something we would see in Africa vs. Ireland. Traffic was at a complete standstill. The turns we needed to take were tighter than our van could make. Tracey made a bag judgement call and had our van stopped waiting for traffic to move in the middle of a huge intersection with many angry Irish drivers honking their displeasure. Not one of our better driving days.
• Rick Steve’s let us down on his Westport information. The town was a tourist trap, crowded beyond crowded with literally no parking anywhere and mobs of people. After circling around the city to various parking lots for almost 45 minutes and not successfully finding a single parking space, we bailed on this city. We have since met several other travelers and asked them about their visits to Westport and all have said it wasn’t worth it so we are glad we didn’t force it to work for us.
• The water leak in our Arizona house continues to remain unresolved but we have a repair person scheduled. Luckily, we have great friends and neighbors who have been toggling on and off our main water valve so our plants don’t die in the 100+ degree weather that our home area has been experiencing.
• Being vegan, we miss out a lot on food culture of the places we visit. We do try to seek out the vegetarian or vegan restaurants that we encounter, but those are usually infrequent in the rural areas where we have been traveling in Ireland. On this leg, we somehow missed a highly rated vegan café called Sweet Nothings. We saw the café and even commented on the fun name and eye-catching sign but blew right past it and were 20 miles down the road before we realized it. Boo!

Up Next: Continue along coastal Ireland with stops in Wild Nephin National Park and County Mayo, including Mullet Peninsula.

Onwards!