Flans Van tour

Initially put this in the wrong place but here it is
Still on tour, from the Beach Bar which was a great spot, we checked out the other POI nearby, 10 mins away, Dunmoran Strand, fabulous beach, big level car park, great spot, didn't stay as we wanted to get on the road again but would definitely use it again as a stopover, then went to Ross beach Killila, beautiful beach, but starting to get stony, no comparison to Donegal beaches. Very windy, eventually got a level spot using ramps. Nice quiet stopover, not much in the town. chill out night playing cards. Decided on a wee drive to Westport, via a brilliant Lidl in Ballina, lovely weather, parked along the quay, the place is buzzing, live music in every Bar, the area at the quay is like a small town on its own, bars and restaurants, without walking the 20 mins into Westport centre. We got the wee tourist train into the town centre had a bit of a pub crawl and walked back, dined in The Towers restaurant right beside where we were parked, serving to 10pm, live music, excellent seafood. Good walks for wee Bizz to keep him happy! Now back in the van for a nightcap. Planning to leave tomorrow and find a halfway spot en route to Doonbeg Strandcamping. We still have 11 days and heading further south, never know where we will end up. We have managed to meet our 10,000 steps per day, on our walking app, our wee dog is in for a shock when we get home, he is in heaven at present, and what a dog should be every night, knackered!!
So far weather not too bad some lovely evenings. Haven't used the water boots yet!
John Emily & wee Bizz
On the road again..............Sleeping around!!!

So, we had a great weekend in Westport, changeable but mostly nice weather. 2 nights, Great pubs and eateries but the Euro alarm went off in my wallet!! Told me to move on soon. Got Emily a lovely new navy blue Weird Fish top, just the one she wanted for her upcoming birthday, 7/7/17. Happy lady! Note to self don't forget birthday card, or will have to draw one on a page which I had to do before on a ferry to France. By the way she loves that homemade card & still has it after 4 years! Presently at the Camp street aire in Aughterard, Co Galway, brilliant wee spot, go there please. Dessie the owner is such a nice guy, runs a gem of a B&B, small restaurant great home cooking, long level car park at the back for motorhomes. If any of the rooms are unoccupied you can use away at the showers if you ask, luxury, Emily able to use hair dryer and straighteners, so even happier. Told Dessie we had a problem being unable to empty our piddle pot at Westport. (Nowhere in Westport to empty, tried the only public toilet which is one of those new big coin operated Dr Who type sliding door jobbies, self cleaning etc after you are finished. Of course it was out of order!) Without hesitation Dessie allowed us to empty in the indoor toilet, no problem. You are literally right in the middle of Aughterard town which has everything you need. Your parking space at Camp Street is really quiet & has an automatic barrier, water tap, bins out on the street. Couldn't fault this wee jem, wouldn't go past it. Anyway we have just demolished a cooked chicken with salad from SuperValu, I think the b&b is bring your own restaurant & Dessie plays the banjo, maybe bring the guitar over tonight and will have a wee lunch in there tomorrow before we leave for Strandcamping in Doonbeg, another great spot not to miss. Again Camp Street, don't go past it if you are this way, ........., aaarghhh, pissing rain just came on, without warning, emily had to rush to close skylights, side door, etc, better go help, I can see blue skies in the distance so maybe not so bad. Bizz doesn't like the noise of the rain on the roof, he refuses to go out at present for his evening walk, get him sorted later.
Onwards tomorrow, chillax tonight,
John, Emily & wee Bizz, curled up on the drivers seat under a blanket

Yes ken, noticed my spelling mistake but too late, written while consuming, Bombay Sapphire gin! Anyway stayed there, lovely shower, walked Mr Bizz round the area, well knackered again, we are doing 10k at least every day according to.our phone apps. Quiet night in playing cards, wee lie in to 1030hrs, round the shops in town for some trinkets and well priced wine in the supermarket. Back to Camp Street for lunch, shared the best freshly made 11in pizza I can remember having. Very good price, and plenty for 2, great food and fresh yummy home made desserts. No charge to stay overnight if you have a meal! Dessie came out, apron still on, into the restaurant, with his fiddle and performed a short humorous gig on his fiddle, to a bus load of old codgers, including us, had such a laugh. where else would you get such Craic at 1pm while having lunch? Anyway, the rain started.and we bid farewell and drove in constant rain to Strand Camping in Doonbeg, what a fantastic site! The rain stopped eventually and the big yellow ball in the sky came out to give a.nice evening. Settled in, have some good things to post about Strand Campsite, which I will do tomorrow. Tired now and Mrs Flan ready for bed, nite nite
John, Emily & BIZZ, (already snoring!)

Yes Craicers we both had a lovely Crepe this morning, mmmmmm!!! Good steaming ones, generous size with banana, cinnamon, chocolate and maple syrup, only 4 euros each, set us up for the day. Anyway what can I say about Strandcamping? 5 star site, Jamie and Amanda really nice helpful people, good craic also. They have the site as they would like to find one when they go on tour in their van and it shows. Nice and secure with a new shiny barrier which only Jamie is trained to open and his biceps and shoulders are coming on nicely. Site has been extended to also include a sort of tennis court sized fenced in play area for kids which is like a bowling green, surrounded by a U shaped secure dog excercise green area with a wee path. Bizz loved it playing with his full sized football which he has been trying to kill for the last 2 weeks, doesn't realise his wee mouth will never be able to bite it but it really tires him out trying as he chases it round in circles!! Great facilities here, washing machine, tumble dryer, sheltered in dishwashing area all sorts of recycling available, the showers and toilets are as good as you can get, piped in music is nice also. And, wait for it, a great hygienic place to empty the piddle pot, best I have ever seen. Also good Wi-Fi very fast. Very nice group of people staying while we were there, some French and a gathering of young Irish musicians, jamming their banjos, fiddles, guitars Irish bagpipes etc in anticipation of going to the nearby Clancy music workshop events. We put away all our stuff and bade Jamie and Amanda a fond farewell. All the above for 18 euros, 2 extra for EHU. Couple of euros for the washing machine which we really needed, lovely showers included in the site fees, all in all 10 out of 10 for us. Nice eateries in the town, 10 min dander and a wee shop with all the basics if you are stuck. No ATM in the town as far as I know so bring dosh! Looks like there is a 3 day spell of good weather Wednesday to Saturday, so we have travelled to Dingle, and it is dry and clearing up, yeehaa. Got a good space in the main car park. Free from 1800hrs to 0800hrs then 1 x euro an hour, not bad. Probably stay to lunchtime as I love the mussels here, from a previous memory many years back. The town is buzzing. Never seen so many bars, looks good. Staying here then on to another favourite, Sneem
I'll type some more tomorrow, emily has handed me a cold beer, then walk wee Bizz
Seven more sleeps to thinking of heading back home
John Emily and Bizz

Happy birthday to Emily, we are in Sneem, nice weather!

Stayed at Dingle nice and quiet until the rented motorhome beside us started up a huge on board generator at 11pm, Jesus it was like a pneumatic drill, 10 feet away, went on for half an hour. Thought he must have problems with his battery so let it slide. Lovely midnight walk around the marina, all lit up and, doggy poo bag dispensers at each end. Set the alarm for 0745hrs to feed the parking meter, no need, it was bin day and the army of bin men roared along the promenade at 0730hrs, emptying all the numerous domestic and many commercial bins, then the council scarab street sweeper machine coughed into action all round the place. Then our neighbour brought out his generator again, I'm starting to look for Jeremy Beadle or Ant and Dec thinking this is a wind up!
I asked the man did he have to use the generator so much but I don't think he understood me, although he was Irish, think he was talk Gaelic to confuse me, aaaaarrrgghhh!
Anyway Emily went into town got a nice hairdo and I had had enough by 11am and set coordinates for Sneem but on the way stopped at Inch Strand, parked on the beach to get wee Bizz a run, lovely day so we decided to stay overnight. Had lovely smoked salmon salad sitting outside, windbreakers up, all the gadgets and chairs came out from storage. Wet suits on and in for a swim all three of us, Bizz and his big football which incidentally he is still determined to kill. We had a good laugh and got a bit of welcome sunshine on the white bodies. The was about 200 people on the beach but it is so big it did not feel crowded at all, really beautiful views across the bay with the clouds nestled on top of the hills of Kerry. Played cards, sipped some wine and had a late Bizz walk, never seen him so exhausted, happy days! 4 or 5 other vans also stayed overnight after the beach emptied. Great shop and a restaurant also an aire up off the road, basic but had ehu, a toilet and shower in a hut. Owned by the restaurant owner, think it was the usual 12euro and extra 3 for electric. 2 mins walk to the waters edge. Headed off after a good de sanding of everything, Emily enjoyed sweeping out the van, I'm sure, while I got Bizz a walk.
Sat nav still set for Sneem, off we went and it took us through the spectacular mountains on a road Jeremy Clarkson would have loved in a sports car but not in a 21ft motorhome!! It was a beautiful drive combined with a roller coaster experience, something like Alton Towers would have. Eventually out onto a proper road towards Sneem. Funny how a normal road feels like a motorway after that zig zag, eight feet wide TWO WAY road. Only met a few cars coming the other way, I tagged along behind a wee Peugeot nad used him as a guide to what was coming ahead!
Arrived in Goosey Island Aire in lovely Sneem, nice sunny day, yeehaaa! Bit of work done here since last visit, new filling and emptying area, really nice views either of the town up on the bridge or out to the bay. Staying 2 nights. Paid at the pub and had a lovely meal in O'Sheas, not too expensive. Had a bit of craic in the town and back to the van for cards and we sat out to midnight, nice and warm.
Presently on our own at present as all the other 9 vans have left. Germans, English Swiss Belgians & Irish mixture. Was going to rent a motorised kayak from the local hotel but it was 70 euros for 2 people for one hour!! We had a big outdoor fry up and are heading out for a big walk, out for birthday evening meal later. Weather still very nice, happy days.
(There is an ATM in the small spar which had all we needed, including wine at 8 euros)
4 more sleeps before heading home, the time is just flying in now as it always does on the last week of a big trip.
John Emily & wee Bizz (presently swimming in the river as I write this)

Just for my own records and future reference
From the trip meter
676 miles done, average speed 27 mph, fuel consumption says 30.7 miles per gallon (some free wheeling helped I think)
Driving time, 24hrs, 29 mins

Forgot to add this is day 16

Yes Pat I remember the nail Bar thing. I read your post out to Emily in my best Cork accent, pretending to be you, Emily had a good giggle, says she to me says I says he.......
So yesterday we went for our big walk lovely 360 degree views of mountains along the way, very warm and sunny, wee Bizz's toungue hanging out, according to my phone app I did 15,000 steps. I'm sure Bizz did a million steps, ( his legs being only 6 inches long then multiply by 4)! Emily's legs slightly longer than Bizz's so she did half a million steps We walked back into town and urgently guzzled 2 rounds of lovely Guinness to try to recover all those vital calories we had lost on the journey. Sitting outside Murphys in the sunshine was a man with a huge Eagle owl on his arm. A man in full tweeds who breeds birds of prey and runs a business in the area. He was very nice, informative and allowed Emily to wear the big leather gauntlet to sit the 6lb bird on her arm. Real privilege to be able to touch a beautiful bird. (That's what the man said about Emily!!)
Across the road was a bearded man with a huge billy goat called Puck, full twisty horns, very friendly. The man sat from noon to tea time with the goat, talking to all sorts of people. Loads of big tourist coaches stop in the town every day. We walked round looking at the various restaurant menus and booked into the Blue Bull for 8pm which gave us 3 hours. By this time the aire was filling up again nicely so more people and doggies to meet. Still Emily's birthday don't forget, she had a good shower in the van, & all the weapons came out, hair dryer, straightener, etc, looking lovely. Bizz had an almighty friendly wrestle with a lovely spaniel next door, while I supervised everything and did some wine tasting, very important Off to the Blue Bull, I have to say lovely food but very slow, over an hour before they took the order. I had a quiet word with the waitress about it being Ems birthday and she said she would put a few candles on the dessert etc. I talked Em into a cheesecake and out it came........no candles, no happy birthday to you, nothing. The dessert was lovely and I said to the waitress about the candles, she said she forgot, sorry. It was steady but not that busy. Emily had a laugh when she realised why I was encouraging her to have a sweet when we don't normally
We then did a mega one Bar pub crawl, good lively DJ music in Riney's, the whole town was packed in as there was no other music in the town. Few nice cocktails, lovely sit out area at the back, trundled back the 100 yards to the van to meet this lovely wee stray jack Russell (we named him Sneem) really skinny and starved by the look of its tummy. Gave him a good feed and then he and Bizz wrestled for an hour while we put our bits and pieces away in the van. Wee Sneem wanted into the van now as he had adopted us!!! Didn't let him as he is a bit of a serial piddler.
Woke up this morning and wee Sneem was still at the door 9 hours later. More wrestling with Bizz while we had our breakfast. Seems he has been going round all the vans, getting petted.
We are heading off soon, sorry wee Sneem, see you next year.
John Emily and Bizz

Woke up in Sneem to fantastic weather from early morning. Did a big drive over to the fill up & empty facility, straight back to our spot again and decided to stay another day. Why not, no point driving in good weather? Had a walk and got fish and chips from "the best chippy in Ireland", that's what it said on their sign and they were not far wrong. One supper between us was plenty at lunchtime, mmmmmmmmmm, loads of salt and vinegar, short walk back to the van enjoyed the grub, wee table out 2 forks, ice cold beers, dig in!! Up to the wee Mace fro a few essentials. Then a BBQ selection of meats from the two butchers in the village and divided the required meat purchases between them. Lovely local black pudding which I love. BBQ later was lovely. Both good butchers.
Still had wee Sneem the stray dog staying close to us and playing with Bizz all day, ( and trying to hump him now and again!) He is the friendliest wee jack Russell, but soooo skinny, we fed him again and went round the town with his photo trying to find the owner but nobody recognised him. The man with the huge billy goat said he would take him home, he was eccentric but a nice person.
RESULT!! A man appeared about 100 yards away at the entrance to the site, whistled and wee Sneem ran like a rocket towards him, the man walked away and wee Sneem followed him. The fecker never even came into the site to ask about the wee dog, just walked away. Spoke to a local lady later who knew him and said he would be cruel to the dog and let him wander for days, knowing he was friendly and people would be kind to him, what a scumbag, annoyed I didn't get speaking to him, poor wee Sneem, sort of miss him
Anyway we fed him well for a couple of days, Bizz is looking for him I think when I walk him round the site.
Ah well, we were sitting out, BBQ over, sun blazing, guitar out, playing away and getting some nice applause from the other campervanners, when Sean from Murphys Bar appears, asks me will I play tonight at the outside seats at the bar from 930pm, all the free Guinness me and Emily could drink. He had a big crowd of people all doing the Kerry walk for action Cancer and the singer had let him down! How could I refuse but warned him I was pretty basic, only have 180 songs in my songbooks!
Tidied up and went to the pub, what a lovely crowd, all affected by cancer in some way and having a ball after their long walk today, BBQ ongoing in a marquee and I gave it my best, went down well and me and emily had free drink all night. Hic!....The organiser came over and thanked me personally for singing, good craic, nice atmosphere. All started to drift off at a respectable 1130pm as they had another big walk the next day. Nice end to a lovely day. Guitar over the back and short dander home, Sean shook my hand and said, "good man yourself for coming up"
We Had a nice stay at Sneem, heading off tomorrow, will definitely come back, the locals are really friendly.
Getting late now, got Bizz his wee nighttime piddle walk, he is well tired, Mrs Flan has just crawled into bed, doesn't want to miss that deep sleepy feeling, I am going to join her, nite nite.
John, Emily and wee Bizz
Feeling guilty as we only did half our 10,000 steps today!

Sorry Pat, wondered why no one in Cork sounded like you, up Tipp!!!

Yes Pat arrived yesterday afternoon, long drive from Sneem but decent roads. We stopped at Douglas shopping village, some spot, great shops, especially the massive Dunnes. First time at Ardmore, great spot, loads of room, plenty of vans, decent weather, good walks etc, nice quiet evening. Going to do the cliff walk, get the step count back up! Thinking of Kilkenny later today working our way back up home. Only 2 more sleeps
John Emily & Bizz

So Craicers, this is my last post of our tour of Ireland. We chose Annagassan, Co Louth for our last stop after nearly heading home a day early, but the lovely evening brought us here. Good decision, beautiful harbour, looking over the bay at the Mournes, great place, water tap, bins, silent, only 90 mins to home. We have travelled from Ardmore to Ballyrafton Forest, just north of Kilkenny, lovely wee spot, great doggie walks, no bins, ended up lifting a carrier bag of other people's rubbish before settling in! Left the place immaculate. Discovered an even better stop over, 2km down the road at Jenkinstown park, will try to get it on as a POI, putting details on reviews on MHC soon its a wee gem. From there we enjoyed the kildare village outlet, the best range of brand shops I've ever seen, some great bargains obtained! We also had 2 fantastic crepes, even better than the ones at Doonbeg!! Up the motorway and the late afternoon turned into a beautiful evening, so we diverted to here, Annagassan, as I said, beautiful location and have checked out the Glyde Inn, nearby, (google it, wow for food, reasonable prices) having lunch there tomorrow and coming back for wedding anniversary in August. This is the end of our blog. 1000 miles exactly to this location, had a ball, made some good memories, next tour will be Ireland again coming down the east coast, some places we want to revisit from previous trips many years ago. So from me Emily and bizz, thanks for reading our posts , boo hoo, the holiday is at an end.
Love from the Flans

Not us we have a sundance