The day started out sunny but slightly frosty looking. This has been a day of things going wrong.
The van didn’t want to start, last time it was like this there wasn’t enough voltage to the coil so I rewired a new section in. Then the van wouldn’t stop running when you took the key out so I took it out again. It went eventually, but it’s another job for the “to do” list.
My original plan was to stay at a campsite near Dungloe for the evening, but double-checking the website it doesn’t open until 17th April. Not sure how I made that mistake.
In any case I will be heading North and want to get up near the top of Ireland today. In total the van ended up covering 142 miles which is one of my larger hops. Skipping through Sligo and Donegal, I’ve elected not to spend time in the towns, concentrating on the countryside instead.
Past Donegal I got to a place called Ballybofey which was full of takeaways – it was also lunchtime so I took advantage of the facilities. County Donegal is in the province of Ulster and in the chippy I noticed the accents are now taking on a Northern twang.
Heading up North past Letterkenny I got to a place called Ramelton. It was so picturesque I decided to grab a cold can of Coke out of the fridge, sit by the waterfront and catch the sun for a little while.
Travelling further up on the lovely quiet Irish roads, I noticed that the drivers side front wheel bearing is starting to make expensive noises. That’s not good. Also, the Bambi is hesitating up hills so I suspect the fuel pump is on its way out. That’s not good either.
Finally, I arrive at the campsite at Portsalon but it all seems to be static caravans, and in any case it looks closed. Can’t believe I’ve messed up the campsite plan twice in one day. With a combination of google, the satnav and some campsite indexes, I’ve found another campsite 15 miles away due to open on April 1st (today), let’s hope it’s not an April fool joke.
I’ve now made it to the campsite at Downings, the sun is baking down and I’ve got a campsite for the night.
Tomorrow it’s over the border to County Londonderry. I must remember to get some cartons of UHT semi-skimmed milk in a Tesco (they don’t “do” UHT in the Republic), and some Sterling cash.
