Castle Coole

Yew Tree at Crom castle

Looking out over lake at Drumhoney

Lake at CromCastle

          

Fermanagh

 Crom Castle Fermanagh

Cant get himself organized with the photos yet.  I decided to try and write as soon as we come home or else it wont get done. We headed to Fermanagh with Bernie and Paddy for  a few days. We stayed in a campsite called Drumhoney  Booked on line and got 10% discount. £19.50 for 4 peeps. That is not bad at all! the campsite was really neat and clean and had strict rules. A good place for kids and with the 10.30 curfew was  a peaceful place. No mad drinking though, and no partays definitely.
It has some animals for you to look at, horses, rabbits, pigs,cows and   Alpacas. They also have two smallish lakes for fishing. We drank tea and watched the anglers. The fish were fairly safe the night we stayed there.
Most of the site was permanent caravans. We only saw one other motor home. 
Disadvantage:. It could be boring, no real walks and it was a bit inland. We did see lots of boats so the lakes must have been closer than we were able to make out.
***** for neatness and cleanliness though
The next night Friday night we stayed in the carpark at Crom castle. They have a small campsite and allowed us to park the camper over night for £10! yep £10 AND that included showers and toilets but no electricity .
Crom castle is lovely with lovely walks, lakes and a visitors centre that explains the history of the place. When in Scotland we joined the National Trust so we get in to NT premises  free with our membership. The castle is privately owned but the land is under the protection of the National Trust. We would definitely recommend here. The staff were lovely,helpful and friendly. 
On the Saturday we visited Castle Coole for a day visit on our way home. Interesting and amazing place full of history.Lovely guides which makes the place so much better. We had home-made apple pie that was home made with ice cream: yum! yum! ***** for the apple pie
  Their basement and kitchens made me very grateful to be living in 2010 you have got to see this place! photos will be added soon I hope!

Scotland

Tomorrow we start our trip to Scotland ! well really we are going as far as Larne and then on Tuesday at 7.15 A.M.  we head to Troon and then on wards and upwards to the Highlands and John of Groats.Weather forecast  not good but we will not that "dampen our spirits. We intend to drive straight through to Dingwall on Tuesday.  Hopefully we will have sunshine and get the bbq fired up..... wait and see

catch UP

Well I started this blog not really sure what a blog was. For the last year I have written information on places we have visited but in the old fashioned way always meaning to post them but never got round to it. Last week Declan my son's friend scolded me to put it nicely and so I decided that I would give it another go. I hope to included the information on places we visited last year and dutifully to show this years trips.

May 2010

Just back from a choral competition in Navan where we won ah... nothin' We drove down last night and spent the night in Rathbeggin Lakes owned by David Robinson who waited there until 11 o'clock for us. Great welcome extremely helpful and nice . We had electrical hook up and water for €15. Lovely place not yet set up for campers. It is for family and would make a great place to visit with paddle boats, play areas, fishing and air soft guns similar to paint balling. David would need to have a shower block and better toilet facilities to cater for campers. however to stay for a night in safety and with a great welcome we haven't come across better

Fanad Head and Rathmullan

Evening falls at Fanad       

Horses on Beach at Rathmullan

I did my Tai Chi here just around the corner

Fanad Head and Lighthouse
We headed to Fanad for a quick trip on the 6th and 7th of March 2010
We camped "wild" on the  mountain road  outside Kilmacrennan   next day drove to Rathmulan where we walked, ate chips from Ronnie's chip shop (lovely).
Did my Tai Chi, walked more and then read and headed
for Inishowen and home

Starting Out

We got our camper van on the 1st of August 09 and decided where best to start, at least for us, than the most northerly point in Ireland. So on a very windy night with very little preparation we drove to Banba's Crown. [for those interested Banba was the name of one of three sisters named Eire, Banba and Fothla all of these names were names for Ireland hence Banba's crown i.e Ireland's Crown]
Sleeping in the camper that night was akin to the feeling of being in an aeroplane going through turbulence.

The next day we walked around Malin Head. For me there is something very spiritual about walking with the wind, wave and ocean screaming and refusing to let the mere notion of it being summer subdue its majesty.

I have fallen in love with our camper and although this was just a fact finding mission I knew that this was the beginning of us "living our dream" We went home the next day to pack the necessities and head off .....where to next?

Not sure of our situation we decided it was time to try out a camp-site. Now I have to say that this was a somewhat a daunting experience. We knew that we had gizmo's & gadgets to plug in for electricity and that horror of horrors the toilet situation had to be tackled but how ? We decide to go and vist Downings , guess what it was raining but that in no way dampened the excitement of having packed food, clothes and toothbrushes etc and hittting the road. We decided to call ahead and make sure that they had room and we were told to come on ahead.There was a festival on in Downings and we passed a sum total of 12 festivals that trip. If you like a drink a good atmosphere and a bit of music there was all that a plenty. Himself and me were craving a wee bit of peace. We parked the camper in the site and headed aprehensively to the office were we paid our €25 where given a ticket for the window and told to park where we could find a spot!! trying to look nonchalant we survive reversing, and electrical hookups without blowing us or the camp-site up. We had done it!
Following a noisy night in "The Downings" the next day we headed for Ionad Cois Locha Dunlewey. We were told to settle in and we could pay the next morning. The facilities here were basic but very clean, with free showers and electrical hook up, plus the next morning we were offered a free tour of the centre and a free boat trip on the lough which is a really good deal. Dunlewey will be on the itenary for a future trip