ZigZag Wanderer

Wednesday 10th September 2025

As beautiful and as beautifully peaceful as Tullagh Beach was, the weather certainly took a turn for the worse. A front moved in (shades of Malin, Rockall, Hebrides for those who recall the Shipping Forecast being a fixture on the wireless set) with squally winds and associated rain, buffeting the van in its rather exposed position all night and well into the morning. Nothing scary; not even concerning, but a reminder of what is to come when the autumn storms begin to kick in (hopefully not before we go home!).

Choosing to keep our heads down a bit longer than usual, we eventually struck south for Buncrana, hoping to find a suitably dog-friendly café for a bit of lunch, but failing miserably. So, on southwards we went to Letterkenny, and struck gold with the Honey Pot, which served us pulled pork burger and pulled pork Eggs Benedict, both of which were superb. Washed down with really good coffee, and then more coffee with muffins, we were glad we’d missed breakfast, and sure we were also going to miss dinner. And so it transpired. Still stuffed at 7.30pm!

The weather hadn’t bucked its ideas up much by then, though, and indeed was chucking it down as we walked back to the van. Soft, warm, Irish rain, though…

We had a decision to make now. Either head west towards the Atlantic coast, or north to look at another lump of rock M wanted to look at.

M won.

Next stop then, via Lidl for odds and ends and bottled water, was Great Pollet Sea Arch, which conveniently provided a park-up with a view too, so that’s us for the night – just a tiny bit (latitude-wise) south of where we were last night, after a good many miles to get here.

Ah well. We have time.

Seen rocks. Happy now.

Thursday 11th September 2025

Wet and windy.

The weather wasn’t much better either. We were very much on the highest point for some distance around us, overlooking the lough and sea, and it got very blowy in the night!

Today was the time to reposition ourselves somewhat, as we’d probably spent a fair bit more time in the north of the island than originally planned.

So, we headed towards Donegal with the intention of viewing more rocks. Big, mountainy ones this time, though.

We’d seen a particular area featured on a You Tube video, and it looked rather scenic, so why not?

The Eagle’s Rock

As usual, it’s impossible to convey such majesty with photos, but trust me, these are majestic, and well worth the detour down some nadgery little roads.

A small section of the Horseshoe. Far more impressive in the flesh.

We could’ve spent a lot more time exploring, but sadly the weather (on and off torrential rain) made it impractical. We have nowhere to dry off, and that would make things very uncomfortable in a small van.

Instead we drove on to Glencar Lough for a light lunch (sausage rolls, almond slice, coffee) at the dog-friendly cafe there. Good, it was, too, and it sheltered us nicely from yet another torrential downpour.

We’d contemplated staying overnight there, but it just didn’t feel right, somehow, so drove on, through Sligo, to Dunmoran Beach.

There’s nowt there, but a few vans, rather bizarrely, a sauna(!), and a long and beautiful stretch of sand. And I managed to picture it during a couple of uncharacteristically dry spells.

It’ll certainly do us for the night.

Friday 12th September 2025

We awoke to the rumble of the Atlantic rollers just a few metres away, a fair bit of sunshine, and the by now obligatory rain – but only a few spots here and there.

It was a quiet night again, with only two other vans here.

It was nice to just laze around in (mostly) good weather for a change, so we were content to sit and watch the surf, eat a slow breakfast, and do a bit of planning.

After more than a week on the road in Ireland we’ve come to a few conclusions:

• There is a remarkable paucity of waste bins. We’ve been carrying our garbage for a couple of days, and being a small van, it’s taking up too much room.

• The van is too small for two full-sized two-leggeds and a medium-sized quadruped. We knew that, of course, but, y’know, try owt once, etc.
• We need a campsite for a few nights to do a bit of a reset, have decent showers, do a bit of laundry (see above two points).

All that said, we’re having a grand time in beautiful scenery, among some of the friendliest people you could wish to meet (apart from the English tourists, natch).

Heading south, then, we skirted Lough Conn and Lough Cullin – the former appearing pretty vast, before stopping in Castlebar for some Lidl provisions.

We had earlier booked into a campsite for three nights, starting tonight, at Cong, about 40km north west of Galway. On the way, we passed through Ballinrobe. Never heard of the place, but it almost seems to be the crossroads of western Ireland. There were huge traffic queues in every direction for no apparent reason other than basically there being no logic whatsoever to the layout of the roads. There appears to be an effort to route it all around the perimeter of the town centre, but no thought, or controls, at any of the junctions. As a result, it’s a free-for-all. If it were France, there’d be murders and a falling of the government!

We eventually checked in at Cong Camping around mid-afternoon; with the trip – and our arrival – marred by the inevitable return of the torrential stuff. Oh boy.

It’s an OK enough place. More of a bunkhouse kinda thing, with moho hard-standing pitches and very decent-sized hard/grass ‘awning’ pitches at the very far end. We chose the latter, and it’s certainly quiet. We’re surrounded by trees and very high hedges. But as yet there’s no sign of any Viets…

Cong was the setting for the John Ford film ‘The Quiet Man’ which starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. It still plays on it, some 73 years later, with a museum dedicated to the film. Ward Bond also features in the film – a long way from Wagon Train though.

Saturday 13th September 2025

Nothing much to report. It was a dull, very wet day, so it was spent showering, reading, drinking copious quantities of T and C, and eating. And trying to avoid the rain. At least having a hook-up we have been able to use our little fan heater to keep warm instead of burning our gas supplies in the blown-air Propex. That thing IS a little beast (the Propex) heating the van very quickly, and thermostatically controlled too. Gas consumption seems moderate as well.

Sunday 14th September 2025

It really is quiet though, as everyone else in this area left this morning. Something I said? I have had a shower!

I did say to someone before we left England that I expected to return in five and a bit weeks covered in moss. I was joking of course (mostly), but I’m beginning to wonder. The falling-down-stuff appears to be in for much of the week, with the added gloss of very strong gales hooleying in tomorrow, which is when we’re supposed to be packing up…

There has been, therefore, a slight change of plan. We’ll stay here one more night (boo!) as it’s relatively safe and sheltered (compared to some exposed Atlantic coast marina or car park, at least). Tuesday appears to be a little more settled, unless that changes, so we’ll strike camp in the morning and drive into Galway city – one of the places I wanted to explore. I’m not sure there are any rocks there though, so M may not be too chuffed.

There’s one more major change to report: From the 20th, we’ll be ensconsed in a wee converted barn for a week. M has decided, quite rightly, that we need a ‘holiday’. I can’t disagree.

It looks really lovely, and is very good value for money too. It’ll give us a base to ditch the stuff out of the van, sort things properly, and also do a bit of exploring without the van being rammed with kit. It’s in an area that we are slightly familiar with (near Bantry, which we spent a day at thirty-odd years ago, while holidaying at Crookhaven, Co. Cork). It’s also close enough to the Ring of Kerry, which we haven’t done, and the Ring of Beara, which we have, but was lovely, from memory.

Looking forward to it, I must admit.

Anyway, by early afternoon, we were all pretty stir-crazy and there appeared to be a slight break in the wetness, so we decided to walk to Cong. It’s a fair step (about 5000 in the round trip according to M’s magic step-counting watch) but we welcomed the exercise.

Queen-Cong

We were under the impression that there was not much there, but it turned out to be a rather decent place to spend an hour or two. There are quite a few shops, pubs, and cafés. Lots of waterways (little Venice-ish) and ducks, and ruined church and abbey to explore.

Abbey…

…and church ruins

Of course there are the inevitable references to The Quiet Man, on various film-set houses and pub etc, plus a bronze of Wayne and O’Hara.

It’s all well-kept too, and really doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard, neatly dispelling my earlier cynicism.

I like it!

One oddity that caught my attention was an arrangement that was supposed to be in honour of those who served during Covid, but also carried handprints of various celebs (!) mostly done before the Covid period, including David O’Donnell (a singer I believe?), a previous Rose of Tralee winner, and for some reason Pat Lam, former Samoa and NZ international and currently coach of Bristol Bears Rugby. My claim to fame now is that I have bigger hands than the All Black No.8 ☺️

Oh, and by 6.30pm we had five neighbours. I get the impression they were looking at the upcoming storm and were taking shelter. Who could blame them?