The Ham Nomads

17 May 2014. <GB-WLS> Anglesey; <IE> Co. Wicklow —

South Stack area

South Stack Lighthouse

Puffin Rookery

Bird Watchers

One of the round houses

Woke up in our layby south of Holyhead. Took our time — we were crossing to Dublin in the afternoon. Decided to go out to the north-west tip of Holy Island. A few back roads and we were parked near South Stack, an island with a lighthouse on it. Decided to give Susie a break, and not walk the 400 step down to the lighthouse (and the 400 back). So we walked the clifftops — spectacular views — and went to Ellins Tower, erected in 1868 for bird watchers. There is a superb puffin rookery in the inlet just by South Stack — we got a good view of the birds, and an even better view of the hordes of bird watchers! Went up to the visitor centre for a cuppa, then went about 100 metres downhill to a collection of about 50 round houses dating from 500BC to about 100AD. An impressive array!

Entering Ferry

Farewell South Stack

Then we made our way, via the retail park (where we got diesel for the van and cleaned the mud from it as well), to the Ferry Terminal at Holyhead Harbour. Our timing was perfect — we went into the feeder queue, and left the van to get some internet time in the passenger terminal. Time was all too short, and we were called to rejoin our vehicles for boarding after only 15 minutes. Then onto the ferry — not our first experience with Stena Line ferries, but they're always impressive. Went up to the top deck and outside to get a few shots of our departure — were able to farewell the South Stack lighthouse on the way out! Then sit, read, internet (very slow!), have coffee for the 3¼ hour crossing. Lovely relaxing trip!

Parked at Wicklow

Ireland. We decided not to throw ourselves in at the deep end right at the start, so set our Garmin for points further south of Dublin and ended up in Wicklow. Parking for the night may be a little more difficult in Ireland, as many of the possible parking sites are gated with barriers at 2 metres during the night (and often during the day) specifically, it seems, to prevent campervan stopovers. We found a side-of-the-road parking bay with no restrictions for Saturday into Sunday — we would not have been able to use it during the week!

Problem. The van's recreation battery — i.e. the one that runs the campervan section, not the vehicle it is built on — is not working. Solved the problem for tonight by using our you-beaut torch propped pointing upwards to provide indirect reflected lighting from the ceiling. Will look into it in the morning.

Distance driven — today, 60 miles ( 97 km ); to date, 1,236 miles ( 1,990 km )