Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : September 2021

Thursday 23 September 2021

Homeward bound

Wednesday 22nd September 2021

We left Lough Neagh on our final morning in bright sunshine and headed for a park close to Larne Port to allow Louis to get some excercise before being confined to Ed for the course of the crossing which is about 2 hours.

I have a little cctv camera and can watch what he's doing whilst there is a phone signal and he seemed to sleep the whole journey.

It was a very smooth crossing and the time passed quickly, it was also very much busier than the outward journey with lots more passengers.

After arriving in Cairnryan at 2pm, it was straight onto the A75, the never ending highway to Gretna !

I decided to breakup the journey and so stopped at Sweetheart Abbey near Dumfries.

It's quite an atmospheric Abbey ruins with a rather spooky graveyard in a very pretty village in beautiful rolling countryside.

The Abbey seems to be closed at the moment with scaffolding up and it looks like they're doing work to stop any further deterioration of the stonework.

But it is still possible to walk around the graveyard.

It is ok to overnight here, and there were several other motorhomes here.

I thought about staying, but decided to just have a walk, something to eat then head on to the M6 which I thought would be an easier journey in the evening rather than in the day tomorrow. So it proved with no traffic holdups.

So we plugged on and got home safely about 9pm.

A calm Irish Sea

Sweetheart Abbey

Sweetheart Abbey parking

Tuesday 21 September 2021

Belcoo to the banks of Lough Neagh

Tuesday 21st September 2021

We left our 5* luxury campsite in Belcoo with a friendly goodbye chat with the owner who came out to wish us a safe journey.

Never had that treatment before

If Carlsberg did campsites, I think this would be the model for it.

It wasn't very far to our next stop on the shore of Lough Neagh, so I did a detour to a country park called Peatlands Park.

It's a lovely municipal park with a great children's play area and a fantastic climbing frame. If only I was eight again.

After lunch and a walk we headed for tonight's parkup at Battery Harbour on Lough Neagh.

Apparently the largest fresh water lake in the British Isles.

The Lough is an odd place though, as there is so little around it.

It seems for the most part that the farm fields go down to the shore and there appears to be very little recreational use of the waters which is unlike the Irish, who are game for throwing themselves into freezing water at every opportunity.

I'd expected sailing clubs and water sports to be everywhere.

Maybe development is strictly controlled ?

Anyway, the harbour is a good parkup for us, level, great views and some areas for walking.

We've been joined by two other motorhomes for company.

It's just an hour from here to Larne Port for the ferry tomorrow and our Ireland trip will be over :(

I've really enjoyed the countryside, the scenery, the wild beauty of the Atlantic coast and of course the warmth and friendlyness of everyone we have met here.

I won't miss the bumpy sections of the Wild Atlantic Way, the suspension has certainly had a good work out !

I am dissapointed we didn't get to Galway, but there's always next year ......

And of course there's Cork, Waterford, Kerry and Clare, Dingle, so much more to see yet.

I especially enjoyed the Donegal coast and the amazing rock formations I kayaked around in the crystal clear waters.

That is a special memory from this trip that will stay with me.

Lough Neagh parkup

Lough Neagh harbour

Lough Neagh, the east shore is in the distance

Lough Neagh harbour

Lough Neagh parkup

Lough Neagh, this evenings dashboard view

Monday 20 September 2021

Heading north from Westport

Monday 20th September

After all the day visitors and the crazy wild swimmers went home it was a peaceful night on the quay at Westport, with a nice sunset to finish off the day.

We set off north this morning and decided on a modest target of 88 miles to cover to a small border town called Belcoo next to Lough Machean Upper.

The border actually runs through the lough.

We've come to a fabulous campsite called Rushin House campsite.

I think it's probably one of the best sited, cleanest and well kept site I've been to. In fact when you add in the views over the Lough, I can't think of any campsite to better it anywhere.

I'll keep thinking about it, but nothing nicer comes to mind.

When we drove in, there is a long drive, then a bend, some gates to go through and I thought I'd missed a turning and had accidentally driven into a rather upmarket

house ! But no, it was the campsite entrance.

We pitched up looking directly over the Lough. In addition to the usual facilities on offer, there's a five a side pitch, outdoor gym, children's playground, outdoor table tennis, lakeside walk. Slipway to launch boats or kayaks and a dog wash.

All immaculate and beautifully laid out.

Everything you could wish for in a campsite and all for 27 pounds a night.

Not that much to photograph today except a call we made to Cavan Burren Park for a lunch stop.

It's a really interesting park with a good deal of history with spectacular prehistoric tombs and fascinating geology formed by the glaciers that once shaped the landscape here.

Louis and I enjoyed a walk around one of the marked trails with information boards pointing out interesting features.

Tomorrow we move on to Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles.