Bois in Bundoran
Following the initial cancellation of our 2.30am Thursday night ferry due to high winds, we finally made it to Fishguard for a 2.30pm Friday afternoon crossing - far more to my liking, we even managed a cheeky dip at Rest on the way down!
A fairly uneventful crossing, though we weren't entirely sure we were gonna get on at all.
'The General' and I were in my car (which soon became know as the 'Noodle car' (due to Hooper's constant noodle-arm excuses!) and 'Cheese' and 'Hoop' were in 'Cheese's' van know as the 'Garri car' (very long story!)
Two surfers, a white van full of boards and one very excitable sniffer dog led to a few nervous minutes on the keyside at Fishguard. Fortunately, Hooper had remembered to wash behind his ears that morning and they got through OK!
We touched down in Rosslare and started the marathon trek to our final destination, Bundoran, which is on the NW coast of Ireland.
The noodle car came equipped with 'Sat Nav' and according to her, it was a mere 220 miles to Bundoran. No worries we thought, 3-4 hours and we're there.... No chance!
For anyone who's ever driven in Ireland it'll come as no surprise to hear it took us a full seven hours to get there. A journey not without incident...
'General' had acquired a pair of walkie talkies - as you can imagine, this led to all sorts of banter twixt vehicles, with stupid overtaking, hazard lights on and off, cheeky shortcuts, main heads off and stupid general road banditry!
The speed limit in Ireland is 60mph... we wanted to get there asap and having left Rosslare around 7.30pm, by midnight we were getting pretty heavy on the gas pedal.
I overtook the 'Garri car' at about 90 mph, with General and I ripping it into them on the walkie talkie. There's me looking in the rearview, anticipating 'Cheese's' next move...what do I see? Blue flashing lights behind the 'Garri car'! ;)
The 'Noodle car' promptly cut off all radio contact and high tailed it like a bat out of hell towards Sligo! Luckily 'Cheese' got off with a slapped wrist, phew! Shortly after, it was my turn to feel anxious as just up the road the Police were spot checking for drink drivers.
I'd had 3 pints on the ferry, but that was hours ago...but all the same, I was still mightily relieved when it showed "ZERO" on the breathalyser.
We got to Bundoran eventually and checked into our apartment, aptly called 'Seaview'. I'll say! The sea was approx 5 yards from our doorstep and the Peak at Bundoran "One of Ireland's most famous waves, which has hosted the Quiksilver Masters" was about 100yds paddle away!
Saturday morning we got up to find it pretty much flat, with not much showing on the buoys. Drove north to Glencoumcille which supposedly picks up all and any swell. Flat!
We took a walk over the cliffs to look for any sign of a wave - nowt. The boys did chance across some mushrooms though which proved to be very tasty when cooked up later that night.
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