TechnomadicsVagabonding Europe

We turned up nice and early for the ferry from Pembroke to Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland’s South East, and sat in Nettle while I did some last-minute caravan park/wild camp/mobile Internet research from my painstakingly slow iPhone. Time came, and we were herded by friendly and jocular Welshmen onto the ferry, a big ol’ cruse-liner-esque thing: Nice and easy to get Nettle on and off, thankfully.

Our ferry

Good calm passage over, which lasted just shy of four hours, during which I used up every scrap of available 3G airtime before we left the UK’s radio range, trying to make a plan for our arrival. With not much success finding a particularly appealing option (between spending upwards of AU$40 for a caravan park, or a good-sounding wild camping spot half an hour’s drive in the wrong direction), we decided to wing it upon arrival, like the free spirits we are.

So, upon hearing an unintelligible string of syllables coming from the ferry’s public address system, which we interpreted as ‘please return to your vehicles, we’re nearly there’, we were reunited with Nettle, and following a stream of traffic into the Republic of Ireland! No fanfare, no customs, no passport checks, just a sign proclaiming that speeds were in kilometres, and one reminding us to kindly drive on the left side of the road. No worries.

Having been told by a little birdie during a forum crawl (Motorhome Facts is a brilliant little community) that we could probably park overnight at or beside the dock, we inspected the car pack and realised that due to our needing to take two parking spaces, the overnight parking fee would cost about just as much as the overpriced caravan park. Instead, we found a beside-the-road car park that worked for us, right behind another motorhome, which is always a good sign.

Our first, somewhat inauspicious wildcamp

Sunset over the harbour So, with cars and trucks zooming by about a metre away from us, rocking Nettle on her suspension, the sun setting over the harbour, and the odd family or couple wandering by our front door and peering in curiously, we fired up the stove, chopped up a huge amount of zucchini and made ourselves some lemony chickpea stir-fry. Sleep was a little disturbed by trucks sweeping by at high speed, inches from our toes.

Making dinner

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