Ireland interim balance

We've been on the Emerald Isle for a few days now, now it's time to draw a short conclusion.

I think it's great here, some things are different and take some getting used to, but one thing is clear:

The Irish are friendly, helpful and always very polite!

We (unfortunately) chose the peak travel time, so you can say that we brought this on ourselves because there is a lot going on. There are relatively few caravan campers here, mostly the Irish themselves. There are a lot of mobile homes and motorhomes here, and in some cases you can easily (and usually expensively) rent one of these on site. We are quite exotic here with the caravan.

The roads are good as motorways or N streets, after that it quickly becomes relatively narrow, but you get used to it. I like the Irish street signs because they just look different here. My favorite is the "snake", a multi-winding arrow on a yellow background that announces several curves. This is something you should definitely keep in mind here!

The campsites here are partly of different nature, we had two farm campsites that impress with a simple honesty box or payment when visiting the owner, we were in the hinterland, or rather the heart of Ireland, we have also been to the coast.

I can't write anything about the Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula, because we simply left them behind because of the current high season. It was hard enough to get a place for Palumbi, to find hikes for us and the dogs, beyond that hustle and bustle of the tourist route. That sounds harsh, but it is our reality, because dogs are not always welcome in the busy southwest. Now we have landed in Connemara and things are getting a little easier in terms of tourism, but there are still holidays, which is why we have booked a campsite this time. It was British here, payment first, then you can go to the place. It's unusual, but since the main travelers here are also British, it's not surprising.

If you want to experience Ireland without too many tourists, September and May are definitely the better months, as there are supposedly no midges that hit us hard this morning. Now there's a little wind again, so the little biters are gone again. (By the way, it didn't say that anywhere, you always read that in Scotland!)

The prices are rather higher here in Ireland, that's because of the UK, otherwise they would just come here to do cheap shopping and vacation. Grocery shopping here is not as cheap as it is at home. A pint in the pub is a lot more expensive than you initially expect, but that's just part of it. I won't complain because guidebooks had already announced this

The cities have so far been largely spared from us; in terms of shopping they are linked to the same chains as the inner cities in Great Britain, so there is hardly anything new. I miss the small, independent shops so far, but maybe that will come. I also miss wool because there is so much of it here, but only a tiny fraction is made into yarn.

However, these are small things that should not contribute to the fact that you don't visit Ireland. I think the island is very beautiful, I like the wild Atlantic! I feel really comfortable here in Connemara, but I'm still excited about Mayo and Donegal. Hopefully we can finally stand there and test the installations that Christian has researched and then installed for this opportunity for Palumbi over the years.

The hikes are getting better and better, we now have THREE apps and the Coillte website so that we can be absolutely sure that we won't get into any trouble with the dogs. So far it always works and it's getting more and more fun!

I should also mention the weather, supposedly in Ireland there is every season every day. At the moment I wouldn't sign it like that, we had a storm, a long spell of rain, but also the small rain shower with more of a drizzle and two seconds later the sun again. Most Irish people don't wear raincoats, so we're clearly outing ourselves as tourists!

One thing strikes us the further north we move. The majority of the street signs are now only in Gaelic, so if you are looking for a specific beach, parking lot, etc., you should first check for the correct spelling in Gaelic, otherwise you may find it very difficult.