THE LAST OF THE BOOMERS... MOTORHOME ADVENTURES AND MORE

      While we never considered a permanent move we have often considered the merits of owning a holiday home in a warmer climate but to date we still enjoy van life or our version of it but we have not ruled it out sometime in the future .It would probably be a good topic for one of my blogs to explore the merits of both to help us decide one way or the other. Our latest trip was to visit our good friends who were brave enough to pack up and move to Spain permanently last October.     Nine years ago on a campsite in Andorra De Ville while planing to spectate at a stage of La Vuelta the Spanish cycling tour I mistakenly pulled onto the wrong pitch. This sparked a conversation with a very reserved Dutch man who I now know to be called Tom and his bubbly partner Con who had booked the very pitch we were standing on. We hit it off right away after a bit of banter it was agreed that we would stay where we were and they would find another  pitch  ...

 After our usual winter brake from the motorhome and with our winter sun trips out of the way it was time to get the van back on the road. I took the van from the yard back to the side of the house so we could give the van a good spring clean there were no winter mods this year so just the usual top to toe clean.With work and the cold wet spell to be honest I was lacking a bit of motivation to actually go anywhere.I did eventually bite the bullet loaded the mountain bike into the garage and spend a night in Carlingford on my own. Polly was working nights so was not available, it was as bleak as I thought it would be for a Wednesday night in march I was the only van on the marina that night ! I did however enjoy a pint and a chat with some locals in Juniors Bar up near the church at the top of the village. The following morning  I had a nice couple of hours in the hills on the bike I got caught in the rain and had to cut my spin short .... but as they say the worst day in the v...

As I indicated in my last blog we tend to park up the motorhome this time of year, but that doesn't mean we don't get out and about, well when I say we I mean me.   Our interest in motorhomes was sparked many years ago when motor cycle road racing was my main interest and I purely needed a van to use as a base while we attended the events, to cut a long story short for various reasons (not only the numbers of fatalities) we fell out of love with the sport of road racing in-spite of giving many years to the sport it is highly unlikely I will ever attend one again. But as they say as one door closes another one opens. As a young man I had spent a decent amount of time racing push bikes and so @the age of 45 a come back to cycle road racing was planned and 15 years later I can safely say I had a very successful return to cycling competing at a hi level until recently, even now I still ride out with the local fast men but its getting harder ! Over the last few years part of my tra...

Christmas is a busy time for us as we both work over the holiday. But we try our best to get into the Christmas mood with the full Christmas Day dinner with all the trimmings being a hi-light in our house with most of the leg work being done by the lovely Polly in-spite of the fact that she works a full shift on the Christmas day (some women) , in my defence I do the washing up .Another tradition is the Christmas shopping trip this also seconds as our final Motorhome trip of the year. We tend to take a wee brake from our motorhome trips around this time of year until there is a bit more of a stretch in the days. A friend had mentioned that Beyond the trees in Avondale House in Rathdrum Co Wicklow were doing a Christmas lights display so we decide to check it out , cost is €15pp plus €5 for parking for the guided tour of the house with entry to the tree top tower included. The tour of Avondale House was very interesting giving a feel of what it was like to live in a big house in Victori...

 When it comes to motorhomes and campers there is an infinite number of so called must have gismos and gadgets. Over the years we have had some excellent items that have proved very useful but just as many that have fallen fowl to the 12 month rule and ended up in the garage of our house never to see the light of day again. The 12 month rule is that... if an item has not been used at least once in previous year it gets taken out of the van no exceptions ! Below is a list of the some of our favourites and some that didn't get the use anticipated.    The first and top of the list for any van is the humble leveling ramps, ask any one that's had a motorhome for any length of time and they will tell you that everything works better when the van is level . The fridge works better you will sleep better but more important your drinks won't slide down hill when your relaxing of an evening , the second item which should be purchased in conjunction with the chocks is a spirit level ...

 I consider myself very lucky that I have the lovely Polly to share my motorhome trips with but sometimes for whatever reason when we can't get away together I have been known to go on a solo run. This varies from a couple of days and on one occasion putting Polly on a Ryanair while staying on in France by myself for 10 days. The most recent of my solo trips was back in early October with the forecast looking promising I decided I would incorporated delivering the van to Derek Walsh's in Limerick for a small repair with a 3 day trip to the midlands. I loaded up a bike and hit the road there was no real plan other than to enjoy the late autumn sunshine and get a bit of exercise.   As most motorhome owners will know Waterways Ireland is one of the few government backed agencies that you could consider a friend to the motorhome/camper community with large amounts of government money invested into revamping the waterways for recreational use. I'm not sure if it was by design ...

Ireland is a small country particularly if you're looking to have a motorhome repaired. I can count on one hand the number of good professional repair shops that I could recommend.  If there is a job that you just can't DIY what are your options.  There was a time in the not to distance past where it would be just a matter of ringing your nearest or trusted (they were not always the same) dealer to make an appointment that suited you then would be looked after within a week or so. But with the surge in motorhome/camper van ownership the dealerships/repair shops are overrun with work plus they are encountering the same problem that many sectors are experiencing with being unable to find experienced staff to increase capacity. If anything over the past few years the availability of good quality repair shops has declined with Donagheys in Letterkenny one of my favourites closing down completely. At the moment if you contact the same trusted repair shop or dealer looking of a quic...