And…. We’re Off!

March 28, 2019March 30, 2019 | Mairead

(From Greystones to…)

It’s an absolutely beautiful day here in Ireland and we are on our travels again! It’s a bit later this year because last March we missed the snow in Ireland, so we waited to see what all the excitement was all about. Getting stuck on the motorway a few weeks ago returning from a visit to Cork in a snowstorm cleared everything up for me – I don’t actually like snow.

(Our car park near Wexford)

But today there is no snow and the sun is shining in a big blue sky. As usual we begin our adventure in a car park. (I know that doesn’t sound very adventurous but the surprising thing is you can have an adventure anywhere, including your own backyard. Really, you can!) This car park is just outside Wexford, about 20 minutes from the ferry port. We are (Denis and I) sucking up the last of the Irish mobile data. Although we are so very very grateful for the roaming data we get free on our travels, it is a much smaller amount than we get at home. Unlimited data in Ireland versus 8Gbytes (pronounced 8 gigabites) a month travelling. I don’t really understand how much data that is, I just know it’s not unlimited. So I’m already thinking I’ll be a bit limited.

(Work in progress… aren’t we all!)

Will I be able to look at the pretty pictures on instagram? Probably not. Will I be able to answer comments on Facebook? Probably not. Will I be able to send blog posts to the website and Facebook? Yes. Will I be able to read emails? Yes. Will I be able to answer emails? Yes. Email me if you want to get the blog posts directly into your email and I’ll set that up for you. So, not completely limited then. I’ll still be connected. Sometimes my thinking can limit me more that the Giggas (that’s what I call my 8Gbytes to make them like me and stretch as bit farther…)

(Art supplies donated by the Irish sea)

We will sail at 8.30pm tonight (Thursday) and arrive at approximately 4pm on Friday in Cherbourg, France. We have decided our first night stop will be Mont Saint Michel, about an hour away. And this makes me so happy. I love Mont Saint Michel. Just seeing it in the distance makes me feel so happy. It used to be an island when the tide was out but now they have built a bridge and there’s a free bus (or you can walk) right to the gates of the town. So you can visit all day every day. It may close at night, I’m not sure. Anyway, that’s where we’ll be on Friday night and Saturday morning. That’s all we know for now.

Wherever we end up my plan is to write to you everyday. I have a couple of projects too and I will share them with you as they happen, in the meantime from my car park adventure to yours big hugs, Mairead.

If this is your first visit…

September 24, 2018March 5, 2023 | Mairead

If this is your first visit to the blog, Welcome!

(That’s me back in 2010 when we travelled by motorbike)

My name is Mairead Hennessy and I write about travelling with my husband, Denis. We live in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Since 2015 our vehicle and accommodation has been our motorhome, Ruby. Before that we travelled by motorbike and stayed in AirBnB’s.

(This was my view on the bike)

I remember the exact moment we started to think travelling for bigger chunks of time was possible… It was 2001, we were both 40, we were in Paris, we had two children (13 and 10) and we had left them at home. No, not alone, both of our mother’s were taking turns minding them for a week. (This might be a good place to express gratitude to our Mammies. Thank you, Mammies!)

(Here’s Denis and me France 2017. Photo credit: John Newman)

We were sitting at a pavement cafe on the Champs-Élysées sipping coffee and watching stylish French people go by. I saw a small (low powered) scooter and I said to Denis, didn’t you always want to get a motorbike when you grew up? (I should have been more careful but I was full of the joys of a week in Paris with no commitments and he really did love motorbikes when he was 18). I had seen a scooter and said motorbike. He heard motorbike and (in his mind) saw a BMW 650. It was too late when I realised my mistake, he was never going to go for the scooter…

(Bikes get the best spot on a ferry – right next to the exit!)

It took seven years but in 2008 Denis had his motorbike, a touring one so in August 2010 we travelled around France for a month and I blogged. Since then each year we travel and blog. We can do this because Denis works as we go – he writes apps for iPhones.

(Now we travel by motorhome. Her name is Ruby)

At the moment (September 2018) we are in France. I have put a few links below to help you find the beginning blog for each period of travel. If you want to get new blog posts delivered directly to your email click (or tap) on the Sign me Up! link somewhere on this page. If you have any questions or comments or you’d like encouragement to start your own travelling you can reach me at mairead@hennessynet.com.

All is well, Mairead.

The Most Recent Trips:

Portugal via France and Spain 2022

France by Motorhome September 2018

Portugal via France and Spain by Motorhome February 2018

In the beginning:

First trip France by Motorbike August 2010

France by Motorbike 2011

Italy by Motorbike 2013

France by Car 2013

Prague, Krakow, Budapest by Train and Plane 2014

A week in Ireland Motorbike 2015

First Motorhome Trip France 2015

Trip to Portugal 2016

Wales, England, Scotland 2016

France September 2016

Portugal February 2017

France July 2017

Portugal February 2018

France September 2018

Just leaving France now…

May 23, 2018May 23, 2018 | Mairead

2018 14

(Tourist Office in Palencia)

We’re still on our journey home but only just. As I write we’re sitting in a supermarket car park in Cherbourg, less than twenty minutes from the ferry and almost the last bit of the journey home. We’ll soon be moving over there to get into the queue. Lots of things, nice things have been happening since I last wrote to you. We stayed an extra day in Palencia, which was lovely, but it meant we had to drive longer between sleepovers. I suppose that’s another difference between the outward journey and the return… the consequences.

2018 1

(Old stationery shop)

So I got another chance to walk the streets of the old town and I even visited a very old original looking stationery shop. The owner was a young man, maybe it had been his grandfather’s shop. He was chatting to a friend when I came in looking for blank cards (you remember I ran out of them in Portugal?) Neither of them spoke English but they did everything they could to understand me. The friend guided me to a computer behind the counter and brought up Google Translate for me. I typed, I want to make greeting cards, do you have any blank cards? (Maybe I could have been more eloquent or possibly clearer?) Or maybe no one in Spain makes cards or “blank card” means something completely different. Google couldn’t help. The friend was explaining he would go and get someone who speaks English when I decided maybe this is how my stationery addiction ends. I thanked him multiple times and left empty-handed but kinda joyful.

2018 8

(Where are we?)

Next day we drove to another city we hadn’t been in previously, Vitoria Gasteiz. The brochure from the tourist office says it holds the sustainable tourism certification Biosphere… and it has 42 square meters of green space per person who lives here! We were only here for one night but I would love to visit again and see some of the seven parks dotted around the city.

2018 7

(The tram runs on grass)

They also have a free motorhome parking and it’s very near their tram system, making the journey into the old part of the city easy peasy. The tram line is set in grass which is surprisingly nostalgic. I think there’s something similar in Krakow. Can’t help saying, Aww isn’t that lovely, even to yourself.

2018 9

(Made in Cork!)

I wandered around for hours in the very quiet afternoon and found some Irish pubs. Parts of the city looked like Temple Bar on a sunny Sunday with people sitting outside pubs on the narrow streets. The I found a little cake and coffee shop crying out to me. There were empty tables outside and when I opened the door there was no one inside but the smell was amazing. You remember the smell… you are little, you arrive home from school and there’s a sponge cake baking in the oven? No? Ok, if your Mammy didn’t bake (my Mammy did – thanks Mammy!) then it’s worth your while finding an easy recipe, bake a sponge cake and give yourself the treat of the smell. You don’t even have to eat it!

2018 10

(One of the squares in Vitoria Gasteiz)

There was a cake baking. Eventually a young man in an apron came out of the kitchen, he and his girlfriend love to bake and decorate cakes and they run the shop together and bake. Yes the cake and coffee shop was indeed open. I had green tea and lemon drizzle cake (the sponge was still in the oven.)

2018 11

(One of the pieces in the Artium, Vitoria Gasteiz)

I wandered some more and found the Modern Art Museum, Artium. Very interesting with a bonus …the names and description of the art was only in Spanish and Basque. This is a bonus because then you can only enjoy the pieces you like and ignore the pieces you don’t with no need to understand someone else’s interpretation. I’ll tell you about our journey through France tomorrow. In the meantime…

…see you in 17 hours, Ireland! Mairead.

Dog Necklace and Free Wifi

May 17, 2018May 17, 2018 | Mairead

2018 5

(Tierra de Campos from a moving motorhome)

Yesterday we travelled through a vast flat landscape, with gently undulating bits for added variety, called Tierra de Campos. The name means Land of Fields and that describes it well. The road we drove on was very good but no places to stop for photographs. I took some from the van but wished I’d washed the windscreen first…

2018 3

(See, no space to stop)

After two hours we arrived at the Spanish town of Palencia. We had never heard of it before but there’s a great motorhome parking spot with electricity and wifi, all free, so here we are. The town which is surprisingly beautiful, is a short walk through a park and over an old bridge. I got some pictures there and wrote in my notebook.

2018 10

(Main pedestrian street is called Calle Mayor)

The shopping street is full of beautiful buildings interspersed with very old cathedrals, churches and monasteries. There’s a lot to see in a very small space.

2018 8

(The old Roman bridge between the park and the town)

We’re getting used to being in a different country. There’s been a few changes… The time zone is different. The language is different. The availability of English speakers has reduced dramatically causing us to dig deep into our Spanish language resources. The love of change instead of banknotes is gone. The ease of using a credit card has increased… detrimentally.

2018 9

(Some lovely old shops here)

Another change is the shops close during the middle of the day, they open again around 5pm. So far we haven’t seen a big change in prices, definitely more expensive than Portugal but still way less than Ireland. I don’t know if it’s true of all of Spain but in this town there are a lot of Dad’s taking care of small children. There was an adorably lovely Dad yesterday pushing a small (<12 months) boy in a buggy with another possibly 3 year-old child wandering around him. But what made the Dad adorable was he was holding the little boy’s soother in his mouth. Well, that’s where I used to keep it clean too.

2018 7

(Interesting exhibit in the Archaeological museum… not dog hair)

I went to the Archaeological museum too and it was free on certain days and to certain ages and if you are a member of the EU. I seemed to qualify under one of those, the man in the ticket office didn’t have an English, but he decided it was free to me. Full of interesting exhibits including mosaics. They also had an exhibition of the work of art students in the area. The one I cannot forget is a felted necklace made from the artist’s dog’s hair!

Better that than stuck to the cushions I suppose… Mairead.

You can see Spain from here…

April 14, 2018April 14, 2018 | Mairead

2018 1

(The view today)

We finally moved on from Serpa. We’d been there ten days, the longest time we’ve spent anywhere on this trip. We were still missing it when we arrived at our new spot on the Spanish border… until we opened the door and saw our view. There are no facilities (no water, no dumping, no bins, no toilets) but it’s completely free and beautiful and the sun is shining. It is also really peaceful.

2018 2

(If you can see a road going up the side of the hill on the left… that’s a Spanish road.)

There could a problem with the internet and phones… but I spotted a cafe when we were winding our way down here, maybe they have wifi. It’s the weekend so one night without internet connection will be fine, right, Denis? I can hear hens crowing and pigeons cooing and tiny birds chirping. And just over the water is Spain. There’s a bridge, we could even visit.

2018 3

(What’s this?)

There’s a strange fruit growing at the far end of the car park. Could it be figs? Well, there’s another thing to imagine – figs growing in the car park by the river. The man in the yellow boat from the first pictures is working in his vegetable garden in Spain. He must have dropped over to Portugal earlier to have a coffee. I see he has a chair waiting for him when he’s finished work. Oh hang on he’s taking out a fishing rod. He’s moving the chair closer to the river bank. He’s taking a long time to sort out the fishing equipment.

2018 6

(There’s a rusty old winch machine near us)

I took my eyes off my man in Spain for a moment and he’s disappeared. I am feeling a strange sense of responsibility for him, no one else is watching him. What if he falls into the river? It’s ok, he’s back in the garden. Must have just been taking a break with the fishing rod.

From my patrol station on the Portuguese/Spanish border, Mairead.

ps Linda (remember who gave me the craft kit?) is running a great workshop in Glendalough next weekend (21/04/18) called MindCraft. There’ll be mindfulness and stories, you’ll learn how to make pebble craft pictures and quilling and you get a lovely lunch. Find out more on MindCraft.ie (or on the Facebook page.) It’s a fun day and you go home with your very own work of art! Tell Linda I sent you and she might forgive me for swanning off to Portugal!

pps My man in Spain is safely sitting in his chair, fishing.

We’re in Portugal!

February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 | Mairead

2018 1

(We’re here!)

We have arrived! Less than a hour’s drive and we’ve crossed the border. We forgot about the time change (we’re now back to Irish time) and went looking for coffee at 9am! But that’s one of the great things about Portugal – there’s no set time for meals or coffee, you can get fed and watered any time of the day. Really, really helpful for the confused travellers.

2018 7

(Is that the time?)

We were very confused last night… We decided to mark our last night in Spain by going out for dinner. So, as you do, we looked up some restaurant reviews and it turned out that 6 minutes away from our parking spot there was a very good and inexpensive place. Of course being Spain, they opened for dinner at 9pm.

(Festival time in Pontevedra)

On this trip we have dinner around 6pm and I go to bed at 9pm (it’s insurance against grumpy behaviour!) so it was a struggle both to stay awake and eat nothing, but I managed. Two minutes to nine arrived and we were on our way. A quick look in the restaurant window showed lots of empty tables, brilliant we’ll have the pick of the seats. The owner welcomed us in with a huge smile and said some Spanish words that sounded very like “do you have a reservation?”

(Secret passageway)

We didn’t. He said some more Spanish words and gave us his business card. Time to mention we don’t speak Spanish. He was very apologetic and spoke to us in English. The tables were all booked, it was the weekend and there was a festival. He suggested that we walk on to the old town, we might be lucky.

2018 10

(That’s Spain over there on the other side of the river)

We were not lucky… Well, we were very lucky, actually. Sure we were hungry and I was tired but here we were walking the streets of an old Spanish town in the middle of the night (a full half hour past my bedtime by now) full of happy smiling people. We tried loads of restaurants and there were no tables free so we headed home to (half a stale baguette) toast and tea. But then just around the corner from the very first restaurant, Denis spotted a pizza restaurant (I had given up by then and was looking forward to toast and bed). Long story short, they had a table! The owner was really friendly and spoke a little English and we got exactly what we wanted on our pizza and it was delicious.

As I write Denis is barbecuing sausages in the car park – hopefully that’s not against the law? Mairead.

Discomfort Zone

February 24, 2018February 24, 2018 | Mairead

2018 2

(Freezing grass)

It was absolutely freezing when we got up this morning. It was also literally freezing… outside the van. Luckily it was over the 4℃ necessary inside to keep the drinking water inside the tank. We decided in spite of the lovely electricity, Ourol probably wasn’t the place to be, altitude wise. So we headed south down the mountain and closer to Portugal. The weather didn’t initially get better, it got worse hitting -3.7℃! …and then the fog came back.

2018 3

(Sitting outside in the sun!)

Now we’re in the Spanish city of Pontevedra. The old part of the city is very attractive and the weather is very attractive too, 15℃ (am I very Irish, talking about the weather all the time?) we were even able to sit outside and top up our vitamin D. We found another lovely free aire close to the river and the old town with cafes and shops. As it’s Saturday most of the shops are closed – Saturday afternoon closing. They will probably be closed tomorrow too. The restaurants close in the afternoon and open from about 9pm to 11.30pm – the Spanish eat very late.

2018 4

(Convento de San Francisco de Pontevedra)

I mentioned in an earlier post that there was one week in March when we need to be in Lisbon and that’s because I am attending a workshop. I was very excited about attending until the pre-workshop homework arrived. Nah, I’m only joking, I’m still very excited! But there is one assignment that has me concerned. I have to take a picture of a person. A real live person. I only take pictures of streets and buildings and trees and flowers, I don’t take pictures of people. They don’t like me taking pictures of them. I really don’t want to upset them…

2018 8

(Huge cross…)

So I need to ask their permission. Of course I could cheat and take a picture of Denis, but something about connecting with a stranger, another unknown human takes me so far from my comfortable picture-taking that I think it might actually be a good idea to try. As we walked the old streets of Pontevedra today I began to look for people I could possibly, maybe ask. The first person was an older man wearing a knitted hat, he was walking towards me down some stone steps. Just as I reached him he sat down on the steps, I think he was tired. I kept walking. I can still see his face and that hat… Then I saw a young man wearing a tan apron, walking purposefully while smoking a cigarette, for some reason he made me think of a shoemaker. I didn’t go up to him. Then I passed a woman in a pale pink fake fur coat, I was so close to asking her but I kept walking when I realised she was sitting in a wheelchair. I thought I might offend her. I can still see her too and the thing is, her wheelchair was a beautiful blue. It’s a really good picture… in my head.

2018 9

(Nature in the city)

I think I’m (definitely probably) going to start asking people, I just hope it’s soon. Because now I’ve put myself into a discomfort zone… And the discomfort is growing. There’s the discomfort of asking someone can I take their picture and now there’s the discomfort of not asking them.

Do I have to wait for the discomfort of not asking them to exceed the discomfort of asking them? Mairead.

We have electricity!

February 24, 2018February 23, 2018 | Mairead

2018 5

(Just as the sun was rising at Ortiguera. Can you see the fishing boat coming home?)

We have moved from our lighthouse location overlooking the Bay of Biscay, but before we left I took some pictures as the sun was rising. Now we’re at a new location on the edge of a small town called Ourol, it’s further west and inland a little, there’s a map below. The lovely people of the town provide free electricity, free wifi and free water!

2018 7

(The little beach this morning)

This is our first time this trip availing of free electricity and it means we could stay here a second night. Normally we generate our own electricity, by driving. It’s not enough to run a heater or the blender or the coffee machine but it’s plenty to charge our laptops and phones for the day. Depending on how far we have driven the previous day we could possibly get a second day’s worth of charging. We’ve been travelling short amounts so we keep moving to keep generating.

2018 1

(Huge tourist map)

Free wifi on the other hand is unheard of, except for that time last year in France when there was an aire beside a McDonalds and we were able to reach their wifi. Of course the smell of the frites was too great a temptation. Because we have wifi here there’s a project I would like to do.

Map 23rd Feb

(The red marker shows where we are now, the black circle where we were last night. Map from Google Maps)

We have a camera on the dashboard all the time as we drive and I thought it might be interesting to put a few clips of the roads we travel each day so you can see how beautiful (and sometimes scary) it is. The wifi means I will have enough “power” to upload the video. (I will put a link here where you can watch it.)

Now I’m really looking forward to coffee for breakfast, Mairead.