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2011 Europe

Thursday 02 June 2011 : Dublin -> Carlingford

Thursday 02 June 2011
Dublin -> Carlingford
We got up relatively early and readied ourselves for our trip around Ireland.  We were all packed up and ready to go, but we needed a few bits and pieces from the shops, but they weren’t open yet so we had to have yet another coffee to bide our time.  We left the campsite and made our way onto the motorways to find a shopping centre we had seen previously and had been recommended to us as having everything we would need.  When we got there, the centre was open however most of the individual shops were still shut except the bookstore where Tracy managed to find yet another book she hadn’t already accumulated.  Luckily everything we needed soon opened and we finally hit the road in earnest.
It seems that whenever we take Vinny somewhere the weather is against us, today was no exception; although the sun was briefly visible, for the most part it was wet and windy, as usual.  we got off the main motorways and found ourselves in quiet Trim. 

Trim Castle
Trim Castle

This was the town where “Braveheart” was partly filmed (although we didn’t know this yet). In the centre of town was the Trim Castle, left over from the 14th century and one of the last well preserved Normal castles from when the British first arrived and conquered (well technically that is what they say) the area.  It was picturesque and displayed some promising “modern” defensive capabilities for its era.  We were pleasantly surprised not to get stiffed on the entry fee, so were happy to pay 4 Euro each for entry and a guided tour of the keep itself.  It was 3 Euro just to tour the grounds, so this sounded somewhat of a bargain and luck would have it there was a tour started in about 10 minutes, so we did a quick wander through the grounds and waited for the tour guide.  The tour was a real highlight (only let down by another tour of hooligans, I mean school children, who despite the best efforts of their teachers and guides could not get them to stop screaming throughout the castle.  Yes we know it has great acoustics kids!) Our tour guide was exceptionally knowledgeable and very enthusiastic, she even added stories about the filming when Mel (I am not endearing myself to the local population) Gibson was pelted with real rotten fruit and stones during part of the movie when his character is being led to his execution.  After the tour we had another meander through the grounds and then into town to have lunch at a local cafe.  This was a lovely little town with good parking for the motorhome.  It seems like all the towns are in a big competition for tidy town status and Trim would be up there with the streets clean, more flowers than you can imagine and everyone was friendly.

Our next stop was in Tara (or more precisely Hill of Tara) which is described as the most sacred ground in Ireland and where there were supposed to be some interesting tombs and other religiously significant objects in a field on the side of a hill from pagan times. 

Hill of Tara
Hill of Tara

Yes, there was a lovely grassy hill with panoramic views of the surrounding valleys.  Yes, there was a tomb.  Yes, there were some ditches and other earthly-diggings.  No, it wasn’t interesting.  Or, was it that it might have been interesting if we had paid for the self-guided audio tour instead of relying on a couple of paragraphs from the Lonely Planet?  I am not going to argue the point.

It was getting on in the day and we had barely covered any distance, so buoyed by the Trim experience and deflated by the Tara experience we made a beeline for Carlingford.  There was some interesting countryside enroute and the weather was behaving itself better, so the drive was quite pleasurable, not sure if the road was worthy of being a toll road, but it certainly kept the traffic down.  We made it into Carlingford just before the TIC shut for the day.  The lady there told Tracy there was no camping site in Carlingford, the nearest site was some way up the road, so up the road we went, and back again because we couldn’t find where she was talking about!  Our guide book showed the closest park was too far away so we decided to “rough camp” for the night.  We drove Vinny to a seldom used suburban street near an almost-abandoned building site (signs of the tough economic times here) but we had views over the estuary and could watch the tide come and go. However interesting the tide might be, more interest was found by walking into the small town and counting the pubs! It seemed every building was a pub, but the old ruins of Taffee’s Castle just off the main street certainly did house a pub, with cold beer and wine. After a couple of visits to the bar, we wandered back through the little town and then back to the van for roadside dinner and sleep.