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I just said goodbye to Ireland. Holding my last Guinness draft in my hand (the crossing takes 3.5 hours. The Guinness won't last that long.
All the time I was on the west-coast I was hoping for a sunset. There never was one. Now that I am leaving (maybe due to the fact that I am on the east-coast), there is one. Let's just hope that this means the weather in France will be good (so I can skydive instead of playing the Colonists of Catan the entire week).
About the rest of this day. This morning I was further to Ballyvaughn as I did think. In fact I was only a few hunderd meters away. When I left I saw some parkings at the edge of Ballyvaughn stating that there was no overnight parking allowed. So if you are in Ballyvaughn, just drive out of town to the west and you'll have a perfect spot. While I was starting the engine, I looked in the mirror's to see if there was anything behind me. Then I noticed a chrysler with a dutch license plate and a small window at the back. I did see this one before! Indeed it were the same people I met at Torr Head. We did share some experiences, like that it is hard to find a place for the night in Donegal. They did find a great spot. I can't use it anymore this year, but next time I will certainly make use of it!
I did not want to leave immediatly, I first liked to have a look in the Burren a little more. So I first did the dishes (reduces some of the noises while driving). Then went for diesel and water. And only after that I was able to leave. I only found time to visit the ..(sorry can't remember the name by head).. tomb. Of course there were a lot of tourists here, but not to much. In the Burren centre they had a display that showed how it was used in the past (or at least how they think it was used). Besides buring people underneath it, they also put their deads laying on top of it as a kind of sacrifice.
By then my time was already running short, but I wanted to have a look to find some part of the green roads (those were made as relief-work during the famine). I was already told by some other people I met that it was hard to find the trails. If you are planning to do some walks in the burren you will need to buy a good map. The ordnance survey discovery series 51 (I am not sure about the number) should be fine. Getting a map locally is not always as easy. Just like the other people I was not able to find the path. Not such a problem cause I didn't have time left for walking anyway. While driving, I did get to some nice spots, that made enough impression to me to make sure that next time I'll do some serious walking here.
Then at about 13:20 I was actually on my way to France. I was expecting to need about 5 hours to get to Rosslare. I also expected that the roads would improve as I was getting closer to Rosslare (less hilly landscape, a higher population so I expected bigger roads). This is completely true when you leave Scotland or Norway/Sweden. But not completely for Ireland. Indeed the quality of the roads improved. But they did not turn into moterways. They remained 'main-roads'. That means: You can have a tractor in front of you. You also will go straight trough the cities. They are congested since all traffic is going trough them. Even at the bigger cities there is no round-road. Due to that I needed a little bit more time. I arrived in Rosslare-Harbour (I made a mistake in the beginning of my trip, I was in Rosslare-harbour, there is also a Rosslare-town) at about 19:10. My first stop was at the Fish&chips place I visited when I arrived in Ireland. This gave a strange feeling. Only 3 weeks ago this was one of the first places in Ireland I ever was. Anyhow, the fish & chips were indeed as good as one of the best I ever had in Ireland. They were also the cheapest. I will give you a description how to get there when I add the photo's.
Since the diesel is much cheaper here then it is in the UK, I also filled my tank. Then I went to the terminal to see which company could get me fastest and cheapest to the UK. The prices were excatly the same. Irish Ferries was leaving one hour earlier so the choice was easy: Irish Ferries. At 0:45 I will arrive in Pembroke. I think I will just crash my camper somewhere and go to sleep. There were some more campers on the ferry and I expect them to do the same.
It is now 21:41 so I have plenty of time left so I'll start finishing the compass page that I partly promised.
I did leave my camera in the camper so no pictures added yet...
