A New Adventure

For years we have said we should visit the West of Ireland and this year we finally decided to do it.
The first realization was that neither of us really understood what the "West of Ireland" was to be. I am aware that my Mum went on a cycling holiday in "Western Ireland" as a 19 year old with her friend and had said that it was a place I and my brothers should visit. She must have been a gutsy lass, I'm amazed her parents let her go but do wonder whether there may have been family visits included as her Dad had came over from Ireland as a teenager. Sadly Mum hasn't been with us for some years now so asking for more detail isn't an option.
Though my name Donovan is Irish and both my Grandfathers' families came from Ireland I have no feeling of being Irish; I only feel British, or on occasions more specifically English, and I have no knowledge of where either families originated though I vaguely have Cork and Galway drifting around memories which maybe false. Lynne, as far as we know, has no Irish roots.

Lynne, as usual, has been the researcher and early on two routes surfaced to as building blocks to start with, The Wild Atlantic Way and The Ring of Kerry. Looking at maps of the South West, the coast reminded us of Western Scotland which we love and where we had taken several Motorhome tours exploring the ins and outs of that coastline.

We briefly considered flying and hiring but the ferry between Holyhead and Dublin was cheaper than we expected due to our flexibility in timing and being able to load our car up with everything from home was too much to resist.
We have a route, B&B's are booked along the way and ferry tickets are bought.

Blogging along the way

I have blogged several roadtrips in the US and am hoping to do so with this trip but I'll be honest, I'm not as fired up and don't expect to see such different things; I'm also a bit pessimistic about the weather living west of the Pennines and heading even further west toward the Atlantic I'm packing full waterproofs!
Anyway, should be fun and contain at least one pint of Guiness so here goes.