# Wicklow Trip Report 16Sep - 18Sep



## DubPaul (May 10, 2005)

Hi all,

A trip report from my very pleasant trip to Wicklow. I know I live close by but I wanted somewhere easy to get to for a weekend break and I can highly recommend people visit Wicklow. The good weather did help though!

I managed to leave work "early" on Friday and got home at 1630.... to find that my wife and her sister (who was coming with us) were not ready. her sister eventually arrived over at 1830 and I was getting a bit narky! It's amazing how much stuf fyou have to bring when yo uhave kids but we got it all in. It's also amazing how long it takes to fill up the blinking water tank... 110 litres Was there for ages. I'm not sure if I have the correct method but I fill it up until the indicator is nearly full. Then I pressurise the system which to me means that and then fill it some more. I presume this gets the truma tank full too?

Anyway we set off at about 1900. First stop... diesel.

Oh,we set off from North County Dublin. Village name to remain unknown due to possible internet stalkers.

So we head onto the M50 Dubllin ring road. It' sbusy enough as everybody leaves the big shmoke on a Friday eve. We pay our toll and the already-paid-for-many-times-over toll bridge. We give the toll booth attendant 2 starbust sweets with the money and that cheers her up. Out along the M50 to join up with the M11. This is the first time I have used this new road and boy it's great No delays! Plain sailing all the way from north to south Dublin.

My sone complains of needing to use the bathroom. I eventually find a petrol station to pull into and he decides he actually doesn't want to go. I'll kill him! I think it's because there is a particularly funny moment coming up on the DVD (Garfield, it's funny!). We head off. We get to the village of Redcross at about 9:30 and find the campsite (River Vally 4*). It's about 45 mins south of Dublin. I go in to pay. The site is quiet enough so the man ignores his paperised booking system and just gets me to fill in a form. I tell him I want a mobile home site. He looks worried and fiddles with something and asks do I want 2 or 3 bed. What!? OH! I mean a MOTORHOME site. He can tell I'm new to this! He was worried as he had no mobiles ready. The dog lying flat out on his bac on the floor didn't seem to notice me being an idiot.

Parked up on the wide grass pitch and got ready. Took a while to get the kids to sleep with the excitement. We pretended to be getting ready for bed, in the dark and when we heard the snores we put the lights back on. Ahh the joys of parenthood. Daughter woke up during the night but I pretended to be asleep and let me wife deal with it.

Next A.M. clear skies! excellent. We get ready, tidy up and decide to go to Avondale house and >>Coillte<< (pronounced quilltcha) forest park, via the lovely village of Avoca. Avondale house is where Charles Stewart Parnell was born. You can read >>here<< for info on him including the introduction into the English language of the word "boycott".

I really enjoyed the forest. We took the river walk and had a great 2-3 hours with the kids. You an also do a tour of the house but kids find that boring so we bought ice cream instead.

We went back via the village of Avoca and visited the >>Avoca Handweavers<<. Very nice village a pleasant trip. Very nice scenery everywhere.

Instead of heading back to the campsite we went to Brittas Bay. I have to recommend this beach. It is lovely and sandy. We were a bit shocked at a car pakr charge of €4 with the car park closing at 8pm. But it was a secure car park. There were people parking on the road outside and perhaps there were other places to park further on. There was work ongoing to preserve the Dunes so I didn't mind paying for that. We could see the wind turbines off the coast. I think they look beautifu land are a welcome visible symbol of cleaner energy. I would not object to a windfarm near me (unless there were very noisy). We had out dinner in the 'van after the beach.. spaghetti bolognaise. yum yum. All organic of course.

ISSUE: SAND AND MOTORHOMES AND ME DO NOT MIX. Plus I forgot to bring a dustpan and brush.

Back to the campsite for some relaxation. Kids are tired and go to sleep more easily. My son wakes in the middle of the night with a dry throat so i do my duty. But I have to put a light on to see what I'm doing to the annoyance of everybody else. HEY! it's better than have a 5l bottle of water spilled on you!

Sunday morning. Sunny and clear again. We had checked out the Mass times the night before and the best place was about 3km up the hill. A very nice drive up a hill with views over the bay. We see a sign for RC Church pointing up a small hilly lane and I miss it. Darn. I decide to do a u-turn at a farm entrance. I manage to reverse back and around through the gates aright even though it's steep. Going to pull off again and I have a panick moment and slam on the brakes. The back end has swng out and trailer is mm's from the gate pillare. That was a close one!.

We take the correct turn. It's narrow. Boy was it worth it. The view was INCREDIBLE. Absolutely amazing. We come upon the usual scene... narrow lane.. Church about 250m away... cars parked on the road. There is no way we can get through. We pull up on the verge as much as we can and abandon it. There is room left for a car to get through but it's tight. Mass is halfway over, we had been told the wrong time. I gave my daughter (2) some money for the basket. She is a little bit too enthusiastic and throws it all over the floor to much admiration of onlookers. She is cute I suppose. We're at the back of the Church and there is the usual old farmer, large, looking disinterested. His clothes do look immaculate though... apart from the usual shirt button open at the belly level.

Afterwards we sit in the van until the traffic clears. A Transit van manages to fit through. I'm surprise and decide to be more reckless in how I park in future. I see a >>Toyota Supra<< coming towards me and guess who is driving it!!?? The old farmer. What a sight!!!

For anywone who wants to see this view to the following: Take the N11 and turn for Redcross (at Lil Byrnes pub). Go through Redcross village. After 3km take a right at a crossroads with a sign for "RC Church". Look out your window to the left. You can pull up and park outside the Church no problem. FYI there is an Anglican Church right beside the River Valley campsite if you are so inclined.

So we decide to head for Wicklow. We find that easy enough but there are about 0 signs for the beach. I go up and down and up and down the town a few times and eventually ask a local. he was very helpful. We find a nice place to park and unload our 4 bikes plus childseat. There is a nice 5km natural promenade alongside this pebble beach and we had a great time. I even saw somebody go by on an inflatable dinghy like I want so I pointed out how much fun they looked to be having to the missus. I'm gradually converting her.

Next we decide to go to an eco shop we had heard about. After a few wrong turns we find it (back towards Dublin) and we stock up by buying bulk washing up liquid and washing machine powder. The money we save is instantly spent on knick-knacks by my wife.

Hey ho it's time to go him. Quick easy trip back. A camper van catches up with me on the M1 north. It takes the same exit... it takes the same turn... who are these guys.. after a while they disappear. I think they were following us to find a campsite and gave up after a while. We did meet quite a few motorhomes on the trip and all waved at us.

This time I resolved to clean the motorhome after the trip and that I did. There is no sand in it now. I didn't clean the outside thought but will soon.

Trip rating out of 10.... 9. I lose one mark because I haven't yet learned to relax and not care abut anything and take it easy so I might have been slightly narky at times.

One think I did notice about the trip is that when at home my wife wants the place to be clean and I couldn't be bothered but in the motorhome my wife just wants to relax and I want to keep the place clean!

Other points to note are:

- I forgot my camera again
- I need to get a dustpan and brush or dirt devil
- I still need to figure out a decent rubbish disposal routine
- The dining table is veyr creaky when somebdy is sleeping on it. This has ot be fixed
- The luton double bed is creaky at the ladder edge. Previous owner must have weighed a ton. I will investigate is it a structural creak or can I plac material between the various bits and bobs to stop it.

The End.


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## 88974 (May 11, 2005)

Sounds like you had a good time, a good site with the pitches well marked and defined, glad you enjoyed yourself.


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Enjoyed reading about your trip.

Love the ould fella car. :lol: :lol:


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