A month in Ireland

We’re looking at moving there soon! My mum was from Mayo and we’ve spent many a holiday there. We’re going in August to do a property recce. Going to buy a house with a couple of acres and set up a CL type thing.
we spent 2 weeks touring for our honeymoon and can highly recommend Johnnie Fox’s as said already. Not to be missed!
We loved Killarney. The Cliffs of Moher are stunning and you can get a ferry from Doolin to the smaller Islands for a day. Innishman and Innishmore etc. They’re stunning. White powdery Sandy beaches and water like the Caribbean. Very similar to the West Coast of Scotland.
Renvyle has an equally beautiful beach. (On the mainland west coast). Connemara has beautiful views. We didn’t stay in the north for long but did the Giants Causeway.
Re ferries. I used directferries.com. There are a couple of comparison sites if you Google them. I’d recommend booking a flexi ticket rather than economy so you can amend the return if you need to!
We saw loads of good property
Mainly Donegal but I expect you will find something really good elsewhere !
 
I am starting to think about a trip to the island of Ireland in Sept this year as a back up in case we can't, or don't feel safe, going to Italy or the South of France. Whilst I have visited both the Republic and NI on business (and a couple of great trips to watch Ireland v Wales rugby in Dublin) we have never toured there.

It's early days yet but I thought I'd ask a few questions first as I know we have members who live there plus I'm guessing it has been a 'must do' trip for a number of folk.

First things first..

Duration

Is a month long enough to tour the whole island? My initial thoughts are to loosely travel the perimeter with incursions into the centre of the island as required

Ferries

- Is there a recommended comparison site to look at for all the routes or do I have to look at all the providers separately to get the best idea/deals?

- Is it possible to enter though one port and exit through another? Is this a costly exercise to be avoided?

Border

- Are there now any checks when passing through the border? The reason I ask is that if possible we would like to bring some of our own food and whilst travel to NI would be OK I think, I wouldn't want any issue when moving into the Republic.

Must see's

We will take in Dublin and also want to see the Titanic Exhibition in Belfast as well as the Giants Causeway up the coast. I have read that the Kerry Loop is well worth some time as well. We also fancy Waterford Crystal.

Our trip will be a mixture of travelling one and 2 night drops as well as 'drop anchor' places for slightly longer as we don't want to do a route march.

Any other 'must sees'? I haven't done much/any research yet so I'm all ears. We have pretty wide tastes so nothing off the cards as of now. We have ebikes and can walk but as Mrs GMJ has MS, these get used for shorted distances rather than full day/30 mile yomps.

Thanks in advance folks
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Graham
We did Ireland in 2019. It was one of the best places we've ever toured. We started in Belfast and drove around the coast anti-clockwise, back to Belfast, They have marinas and motorhome stop overs virtually every where, as well as some very hospitable pub stops! Campsites are also plentiful, but expensive. Although they will allow their motor home service points to be used as "pit stops". Some charged us, some let us use them for free. Lots to see. We spent 5 weeks doing it, and could have spent longer. 4 weeks would be the minimum I'd suggest for a decent tour around the coast. " Must sees" I'd suggest: The Titanic Exhibition in Belfast and Cork, Kerry Loop, Giants Causway, Dingle Coastline, (narrow in places!), Cork, Westport, Belfast City Centre, Waterford Glass Museum, (its more interesting than it sounds!). And other places too many to mention! Places I'd not bother going to again: Dublin! It's whole purpose is to take any money you've not already spent! Especially the campsite on the outskirts! It's basically that London with an Irish accent! Ireland might have more restrictions now because of the Brexit stupidity but I doubt it! The Irish we met, North & South, seemed to treat the whole thing as an exercise to ignore, so as to upset the politicians on both sides of the border! Which is going to be impossible to police and regulate anyway. We're hoping, Covid allowing to go again in June/July and explore the interior. I'll post reports on our progress if we go!
 
A short comment on taking food to Ireland. After Brexit, there should continue to be no checks on crossing the Ireland/Northern Ireland border. HOWEVER, there is a long list of foods that you cannot take in your motorhome from Britain to Northern Ireland (or Ireland), including dairy, cheese, eggs, meat, etc, and including some processed food. It's complicated! I understand that the checks have not been fully implented yet, but who knows what will be happening in September.
 
A short comment on taking food to Ireland. After Brexit, there should continue to be no checks on crossing the Ireland/Northern Ireland border. HOWEVER, there is a long list of foods that you cannot take in your motorhome from Britain to Northern Ireland (or Ireland), including dairy, cheese, eggs, meat, etc, and including some processed food. It's complicated! I understand that the checks have not been fully implented yet, but who knows what will be happening in September.
We had some riots to stop the crap and now Boris says it will be delayed to 2023, all custom services have been removed from ports for their own safety up norf.
Some foods are more expensive here compared to mainland, but dont panic because once you sample a ULSTER fry you will never wish to go home. 😂
 
Leave your shopping until you get into N. Ireland (or R O I for that matter) then shop at ASDA, Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Lidl etc. All the usual UK brands should be available in the south as well. Dunnes, SuperValu and Aldi are good in the republic.

Davy
 
I wrote the attached article after our visit to Ireland. Obviously some things will have changed but it may give you some ideas. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We should have gone again last year but Covid put a stop to that. We intended to go north 9clockwise) this time. We haven't yet rebooked with our P & O credit note. Beware, P & O won't give refunds, Stenna Line will as we found to our cost.
 

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  • IRELAND ADVENTURE.pdf
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Watch out buying newish homes in ireland, esp donegal as many were built with mordan block, which was made with to much ash and many or the houses have been abandend and on auction sites, buyer beware.
Mordan block? What’s that all about? Can’t find much on the web but grateful for the info 🙂
 

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