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Avoiding the heat EU tour
  • Bec Moon
  • Phill Moon

Avoiding the heat EU tour

A 127-day adventure by Bec & Phill Read more
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    2142

    Soggy books

    October 22, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    This morning began with a cappuccino and some pastries before we got lost in the narrow streets of Venice.

    There was a marathon underway which congested much of the busy areas including St. Mark's Square and most of the main walkways, but we had fun walking beside the barriers for almost an hour watching the world go by.

    We ended up at a very cool bookshop where we had the chance to sit in a Gondala - this was nice because we decided against doing a Gondala tour as it was going to be 150/200aud and we'd have to share with 3 other people.

    After a while we headed back to the accommodation and undertook some more booking for future travels, trying to keep minimum 2 weeks ahead.

    We went for another afternoon walk, this time towards the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and we made our way back following the 'coast'

    Dinner was another serving of pasta, which I'm a fan of, before an early night.

    Step count: 23.2k

    PS. Didn't mention it yesterday but this hostel sucks, and seems to mainly be populated by mosquitoes    Read more

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    It's a hard life

    October 23, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    This morning we said goodbye to our mosquito infested room and the sinking city of Venice before jumping on a 2 hour train to the city of fashion - Milan.

    We got to Milan early in the day and were immediately impressed with the architecture and cleanliness of the city (especially compared to Venice). We were able to drop out bags off at the accommodation before venturing into the city to check out the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall, which had absolutely stunning architecture and was filled with brands and stores that we were too poor to even look at.

    We then explored the Duomo di Milano - a Gothic cathedral, which is actually one of the largest cathedrals in the world and took over 600 years to complete. This was one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings I have ever seen, definitely top 3 buildings.

    We headed to a fancy cafe for lunch, which ended up being one of Starbucks flagship stores where they roasted the beans in store - it was like a coffee Willy Wonka land. It was nice also having a drink that wasn't espresso or cappuccinos.

    We headed back to the accommodation afterwards, and went out in search of a laundromat, the first one we went to had a 60 minute wait, but we found luck at another one an extra 20 minutes away.

    After the clothes were washed and returned back into their packing cubes we got dressed for the evening and headed out on the town.

    And by town I mean a spa - we went to QC Termemilano which is a day spa. Because travelling for almost 2 months and not working is obviously super stressful, we decided to pamper ourselves to 2 hours of relaxing in some saunas and thermal spas.

    The coolest part of this spa is some of the rooms they have on offer - my favourite being a cinema room where all walls are LEDs and it simulates a storm and rain pours from the ceiling.

    After an exhausting few hours relaxing we headed back on the Metro to the accommodation before turning in for the night before a big travel day tomorrow.

    Step count: 26k

    See you in Switzerland!!    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    True Neutrality

    October 24, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    After a night of sleep which was gratefully devoid of mosquitoes, we started the day by downing a few cups of "free" coffee before heading on a wet walk back to the central station of Milan. While it is a beautiful building, it is also quite busy, so the way we could get a seat while waiting for the train was to buy another coffee (and accompanying croissant -- of course)

    We said goodbye to Milan and boarded the train for a ~4 hour ride to the capital of Switzerland, Zürich! The second half of the trip heading through the Swiss countryside was absolutely stunning! Comparable to the Fjords of Norway!

    Once we arrived in the city we were once again greeted by rain, and so we beelined directly to our hostel. Once the two of us checked in we headed to our dorm and witnessed the strangest occurrence, another female in our dorm! Very unprecedented.

    While it was still raining outside we hung around the dorm and chatted a little with some of the other dorm members. (With more coffee!)

    Finally the rain let up and it was time to go find something to eat for dinner. We couldn't stomach the idea of how much it cost to eat out so we went to a supermarket and picked up old faithful, instant soup and bread.

    We brought our meal back and ate it, before going for one final walk -- which was shortened by the rain...

    Step count: 11.3k    Read more

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    Chocolate wonderland

    October 25, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today we awoke and enjoyed our hostel's included breakfast of toast. We then headed to the bus stop so we could get to our main attraction of the day - The Lindt museum.

    Walking towards the building you could actually smell the Chocolate aroma outside, it was beautiful. We arrived at the holy land 30 minutes before our tour was to start, so we ventured into the cafe to enjoy a hot chocolate and a pretzel. Once we were deemed appropriate to enter we consumed at minimum a kilo of liquid and block chocolate each, while ignoring the history so we could eat even more.

    After we filled a ziplock bag with Lindt balls in which we were only allowed to take 1 each, we decided to walk the hour and a half back to the city.

    We lucked out and it barely rained at all today, so walking back along Zurich lake was slightly chilly and absolutely beautiful.

    We stopped in at the local Lidl for a snack before doing some more venturing around the town before coming back to the Lidl to buy a salad mix for dinner.

    After sitting in the accommodation and chatting to our bunk mates and relaxing for a while we headed out for a late night walk. Once we got back we ate our budget dinner with stolen salt and pepper packets before retiring for the night.

    Step count: 26.2k    Read more

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    Cheese wonderland

    October 26, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After a delicious included breakfast of toast again, we joined a free walking tour of the city and learned some of the history and found some fun spots in Zurich.

    After the 2 hour walk we decided to have the only meal out for our Switzerland stay - a cheese fondue. The place we chose unbeknownst to us was actually the first fondue parlour in the old town of Zurich.

    We got 2 servings of cheese, so it ended up being around 500g, it came with a side of bread and we got potatoes, beef and pickles/onions added too. It was absolutely delicious, it also cost the same amount as a small car.

    After this we decided to go for a walk to try and digest the carb and dairy overload. We caught a funicular train cart up a hill to explore the top of the city and enjoy the views.

    On our way back to the accommodation we came across a parade of what we assume is soccer fans on their way to a game. There was Swiss riot police lined up, which is not something I expected to see while here!

    Once we made our way back to the accommodation we took the time to try and plan the Ireland portion of our trip, turns out finding vans is not as easy as expected!

    Step count: 19k

    Seeya in France    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    Parlez vu Français?

    October 27, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We said goodbye to the beautiful city of Zurich this morning and took a 4 hour train ride to Paris.

    We walked an hour to our accommodation (not a shared dorm, yay 🎉) before rallying ourselves to go out and explore some more.

    We walked for another hour in the drizzling rain to watch the sunset on the Eiffel Tower and we got to see it sparkle while we enjoyed some wine, apples and leftover Lindt chocolate balls.

    The tower was quite impressive - not bad for something that was built to be torn down again. We decided not to walk back, so we caught the metro.

    We spent the rest of the night planning tomorrow and doing a cheeky laundry in our kitchen sink.

    Step count: 22k

    PS. I think penguins has fixed whatever issue it was having and I can upload videos again!    Read more

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    Escar-gotta-go

    October 28, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    This morning began with a fresh croissant and pain au chocolat while I caught up with my parents (hi mom and dad 👋)

    We ventured out and walked to the 18th Arr Montmartre, which is a cute neighbourhood on a hill with a very fancy (and old) basilica and some quaint shops. After perusing the area, we walked to the site of Moulin Rouge, did some touristy photos before hopping on the Metro to the Arc de Triumph.

    We decided to get tickets and climb, which was the right call because the view was stunning - luckily for us the rain had held off all morning so we got a clear view of the entire city.

    After this we headed to Carette, a cafe where we ordered some of their famous hot chocolate which comes with a side of whipped cream for you to stir through. This hot chocolate may have been the most expensive we've ever had, but it was so delicious, rich and thick - I would sell my liver to buy it again. (we also had an eclair which was phenomenal)

    We again jumped on the metro and headed towards the Luxembourg gardens, where Phill enjoyed a hot dog with raclette cheese. The garden was beautiful, We watched some men playing bocce before heading to the fountain where we watched some electric boat racing, the Australia boat didn't do too well...

    From here we headed to Shakespeare and Company, a library - the most beautiful library i've ever seen, where we enjoyed the two stories of the bookstore and the reading area they had available. I didn't buy a book but I did get yelled at by Phill for smelling too many of them.

    Notre Dame cathedral was right across the road, so we went and admired what we could see as it was under restoration after it's recent fire.

    On our way we stopped in at 59 Rivoli, which is a strange alternate reality where all 4 floors of the building are taken up by artists when use the space to display and create their art. It was super strange but a very fun and interesting detour.

    We headed home to relax for a bit, as I'm getting sick and I was starting to crash.

    We decided to head out for dinner and knock off some bucket list items. We headed to L'Escargot where we enjoyed a dinner of escargot, frog legs and french onion soup. The escargot was better than we both imagined, the texture wasn't as gross as expected. The frog legs to us had more of a fish texture rather than chicken, which is what we had heard from others.

    Step count:
    Bec: 26k
    Phill: 27.5k    Read more

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    Getting reigned on

    October 29, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    This morning started slowly, with a cup of coffee in bed before we went off to Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, a century old department store used by rich locals and cashed up tourists alike! While unfortunately we are neither, there was another reason to visit -- it has a great view of the city on the roof!

    Once done, it was time to head over to the main attraction for the day: The Palace of Versailles, an 18th century Château which was the home of generations of French royalty. The interior was very impressive and stoked a lot of thoughts such as "Yep. Another royal chamber, this one's a different colour!" Admittedly, there were some incredible paintings in the palace, including a "hall of battles" which was about 50 metres long and filled with some of the largest works we've seen depicting famous French victories. This guy Napoleon showed up a few times, not sure what that's about.

    While on this trip we've seen a few royal palaces and their grounds, none of which held up to the sheer scale of the palace grounds at Versailles. Near the palace there was beautiful contoured gardens and water features... But it just kept going, it went past impressively large and became almost comical! (We walked for almost an hour at it still hadn't ended) There were even multiple smaller "palaces" that other members of the royal family would live in (ones that you wanted on the same estate, but didn't want to risk seeing more than once a month)

    Once the sun had gone down and we decided we had explored enough of the gardens, we took shuttle train-car-thingy back to the main palace and walked back to the real train which took us back to the city.

    On the way back we grabbed a baguette and some butter for a classic Parisian dinner, before planning tomorrow and hitting the hay!

    Step count: 23.8k    Read more

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    Happiest place on Earth

    October 30, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Today started off nice and early, we made our way to the station to catch a train 45 minutes down the line to the happiest place on earth - Disneyland (Paris edition)

    We ended up spending almost 14 hours at the park, went on every ride we wanted to - including some that we just decided to do because there was no line. We also ate 2 mouse shaped objects, and far too many sweets.

    The rain was on and off all day, but thankfully stopped around 17:00 and held off for the 22:00 end of night "Disney dreams nighttime extravaganza" fireworks and visual show on the castle.

    The longest line we ended up standing in today was 45 minutes, and it wasn't even in either of the parks! It was a pop-up outside where you could win some mini bags of M&Ms.

    Step count: 36.5k (big day)

    PS. We planned on giving a ride rating and review - but we left the accommodation at 7am and just got back and it's midnight, so it's sleep time instead.    Read more

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    Belgyum

    October 31, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Today we left beautiful rainy Paris on a 5 hour bus trip to a beautiful and rainy Brussels.

    Once we arrived we dropped our bags off at our hostel and made our way downtown. We enjoyed some Belgium waffles, and then some hot chips - which they are apparently known for. Both foods were incredible.

    We strolled and explored some more before we came across a barber, and Phill decided to go in for a hair cut as his was getting long - little did we know he would have to wait 50 minutes (longer than any of the Disney rides!?) As the barber gave facials and liked to smoke in-between clients. All worked out, as the cut was worth it.

    We then spent the remainder of the night doing boring things in the common area like budgeting the rest of our trip as we're pretty much half way through!

    Step count;
    Bec - 18.6k
    Phill - 13.4k    Read more

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    The two chocolatiers

    November 1, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We started the day slowly this morning with tea and coffee in the nice common area of our hostel. Now that it's getting nice and chilly, we decided it was time to clear some space in our bags and send some of our warm weather clothes back home. We put the plan into action, only to find out that today is a public holiday and the post office is closed -- oops!

    With that postponed until tomorrow, we decided to go for a walk and happened to stumble across a nice looking hot chocolate place. The two of us decided it was in our best interest to try it... And we were right, very nice!

    Next up was a chocolate tour which we had booked (don't worry, we left space after the hot drink!) It was quite interesting, probably more engaging than the one at Lindt. 1 point to Belgian chocolate over Swiss.

    Once we were full of chocolate and knowledge we then went for a walk around the town to stumble across various sights, including the Royal Palace, Parc de Bruxelles, the Cathedral of Saint Michael, the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, and another very important statue in Brussels: The peeing dog!

    As we haven't been feeling our best today (unrelated to the chocolate, we swear!) The next decision we made was to go back to the hostel and rest with some light planning.

    Once it reached the evening, the two of us went to find something affordable to have for dinner which ended up being the tried and tested bread and soup combo! Still a winner.

    Step count: 19.3k    Read more

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    Blown away

    November 2, 2023 in Belgium ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    Today started off at the laundromat, where we *had* to go buy a coffee so we had enough change to not be walking around in crusty clothes.

    The summer clothes package was sent off too, and luckily it was - because today was the windiest day we've both ever experienced. We're talking about parks being shut down because trees are leaping from the ground, not being able to walk straight or against it without the likelihood you'll be pushed over.

    So what did we decide to do? Walk an hour and a half in it. Not only this but it started raining about half way to our destination and we couldn't use our brollies because they would immediately fold inside out and break.

    After a beautiful but turbulent walk we arrived at the meaning of life, the Atomium. This structure was originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, standing at 102 metres it's an impressive structure. Up in the spheres it felt like being on a ship it was shaking so much, but it gave a very nice view of Brussels.

    We trained back to the city where we went to the supermarket to pick up some soup for dinner, and a relaxing afternoon.

    Step count: 17.5k    Read more

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    Bus-y day

    November 3, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Our original bus out of Brussels was supposed to be at 8:45 and take 3 hours, instead we left at 11:30 and got to Amsterdam just before 4 and they dropped us off at a different stop. But we got here 🎉

    We decided to take the train to the city center to get to our accommodation rather than braving a 2 hour walk in the rain with our packs. Our accommodation this time is similar to the space pod hostel - it's a pod type room with just a bed and a little walkway.

    After checking in we decided to get lost and just wander, we somehow made a wrong turn and ended up in the red light district, which was "interesting", after escaping the strange street we ended up at a hot food vending machine shop, where we grabbed some snacks.

    We strolled for a while longer before getting some fresh stroopwafles and heading back to the accommodation to sleep.

    Step count: 14k    Read more

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    Beer and chocolates

    November 4, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    This morning started with the two of us going to a cafe where Bec was finally able to get a decent (albeit expensive) caramel latte.

    We then took a trip to the Rijksmuseum, a 19th century building housing many "golden age" painting masterpieces, from artists such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh!

    The Dutch are good painters. Neither of us particularly cares for artwork, but the quality of these works were probably the highest that we've seen around Europe thus far!

    After finishing up there, we went to the old Heineken brewery for a tour (with beers, of course...) This was also particularly impressive, they've poured a lot of money into making the building flashy and interesting (almost like an ad 🤔) But they serve up good beers, so I won't complain.

    Once we had downed a few drinks, it was time to head back to the accommodation to recharge for a few hours but before that we passed by Tony's chocolate shop to get some of their famous chocolate.

    When we emerged for dinner we grabbed different Dutch style chips and wandered around the streets, enjoying the (mostly) lack of rain.

    Step count: 24k    Read more

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    Cheese Gromit!

    November 5, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    This morning started slowly, we relaxed in the room for a while this morning before heading out on a quest for a belt.

    Phill's belt broke a few days ago - because of the amount of food we've been eating? Definitely unrelated. We eventually ended up in TKmaxx, which put Australia's stores to shame. Funnily enough, Phill found the exact same belt that broke, when we got it at TK at home it was 15aud, and today it was 15euro.

    After our quest was complete we explored the city some more, bought a heap of lollies and went into 5 different cheese shops to eat all their testers. We stopped by the Anne Frank house and came back to the accommodation to dry off and defrost.

    After some road trip planning and speculaas eating we decided to head back out and walk down some of the streets on the outskirts of town and enjoy the quiet before getting noodles for dinner and watching Knives Out.

    Step count: 16k    Read more

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    Dutch Courage

    November 6, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    This morning we enjoyed the last morning of sleeping in accommodation that you cannot drive around in, before a stroll on the town checking out some more shops.

    After a while we made our way to a boat for a canal cruise with included wine and cheese. After a very informative tour we decided to retrace and explore some of the locations that were pointed out to us, including the thinnest building facade.

    The day finished with some Kapsalon (fancy HSP), dutch pancakes and churros.

    Step count:
    Bec: 14.5k
    Phill: 15.4k

    Cya in Ireland!

    PS: Today marks the halfway point of our holiday!    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour

    Van lyfe

    November 7, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    This morning we said goodbye to the Netherlands and flew to Dublin. We had our first flight with Ryan Air, and like many of the stories we have heard the flight was indeed delayed but luckily only by 30mins.

    After landing we made our way to a carpark to pick up our new stallion for the next week and a half, a Ford Tourneo campervan!

    After them handing us the keys and saying 'have fun' and no other form of a handover we took off and drove 2 hours to Killkenny where we stopped off and explored the beautiful Killkenny castle before venturing down to Cork.

    Getting into Cork at peak time was interesting, we tried getting into a few supermarket carparks but we couldn't enter as the van was too tall. After driving around in peak city traffic for far too long we finally were able to stop off at an Aldi to gather some basic supplies: like water, lollies and toilet paper.

    After shopping we were both ready to wind down for the day so we made our way to our stop for the night, which is a carpark along the Marina (hopefully we don't get a knock from the police at 2am telling us to move).

    It was dark and raining when we stopped so we started going through and exploring what our new beast (Tilly is her name here forthcoming). The bed was made and we figured out how to pop the roof, but as there was no handover we struggled to figure out the water and gas. We found the manufacturer booklet for the car and followed the instructions but still nothing - so no late night cup of tea for us tonight, we will have to call them tomorrow.

    Because our plans for dinner were spoiled, we ate some other goodies from aldi. Such as peaches and custard.

    Sleep tonight should be interesting.

    Step count: 14k

    PS. Tilly photos coming tomorrow    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour

    Inch by Inch

    November 8, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    This morning we awoke on the "second floor" of our campervan with a better than expected sleep! We rugged up and walked a few hundred metres down the river to a coffee shop.

    After warming our bones with a hot cuppa (and a call to the van company to get our gas working properly) we hit the road in the direction of the town of Kinsale and its nearby military installation -- Charles Fort. We started by exploring the 17th century star shaped fort, then drove into the township itself. Oh boy, these Irish roads are thin at the best of times. But when combined with a busy town it's a bit nerve wracking! We successfully parked and then found ourselves at a small market where we got ourselves a small kebab (to keep our energy up, of course!)

    Next up, we set our sights on Killarney and its beautiful castle. It was raining pretty hard when we got there, but we braved the weather and went to look at the castle on the lake. Fortunately it quickly stopped raining and we were able to view it in all its splendor.

    At this point it was starting to get later in the afternoon but we wanted to try and squeeze in the gap of dunloe, unfortunately when we got there it turned out it was just for walking... And horses and carriages (a service which they conveniently offered for 50€.) We didn't have the time or money for either of those options, so we instead continued onwards to our campgrounds for the night.

    We picked a small caravan park near Inch Beach, it has spectacular views of the Ocean and only has one other van here, we almost get it all to ourselves, yay for the off season!

    For the evening we went into the nearby town of Dingle for our first pint of Guinness and some excellent fish and chips! And finished the night by doing some more washing while we had a washing machine available to us... Yay for chores...

    Step count 16.5k    Read more

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    Castles from coast to coast

    November 9, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    After surviving the hectic wind and rain during the night, we got to celebrate with our first hot coffee brewed freshly inside the campervan! While we consumed our hot beverages we planned out a route for the day.

    First up was another castle back in the direction of Dingle, it was an offhanded pick, but ended up being absolutely beautiful. One of the most serene and impressive sights to date! An old ruined castle with a beach of large round rocks. The waves were breaking violently and the wind was whipping our faces. It was lovely.

    After the rain started to get too hard, we retreated back to Tilly (the campervan) and continued our journey to Dingle. Exploring the town in the daylight was lovely. We enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate and found a sculpture of Fungie the Dingle Dolphin!

    We intended to take a beautiful scenic route through the mountains called Conor Pass to get to our next destination but turned around as we were passing signs warning us of the width and weight limit of traffic... Both of which we greatly exceeded. We may have been daring enough to attempt it, if it was not for the pelting rain and extremely strong winds battering the van.

    We ended up backtracking a bit to get to the next town of Tralee where we stopped to get our hands on a nice stack of 1€ coins to use for laundry. We also got ourselves some shoes to help combat against the rain and cold.

    Our final destination (and where we're camping tonight) is Carrigafoyle Castle, another seaside castle that we can fortunately stay at for free! We arrived here at the end of twilight so the view is still a mystery to us -- we're excited to see it in the morning!

    We ended the night with hot chocolate, some cookies and an apple while relaxing and listening to the rain and wind... It's really lovely out here.

    Step count: 12.8k    Read more

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    All according to plan

    November 10, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Bacon, scrambled eggs and white pudding with a buttered baguette looking onto a castle ruin was not a bad way to start the day.

    Other than making hot drinks it was the first time we have cooked something, it all went well and the smoke alarm only went off once while cooking the bacon. We somewhat cleaned the dishes then put them in a bag to deal with when we have access to water.

    We began the drive for the day and half an hour into the trip we made an unexpected detour to a museum we saw on the side of the road: The Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum, this caught Phills eye as they had a B314 flying boat on display (turns out the building was the original hanger). It was quite a good experience, it captured the story of how Foynes became one of the great aviation hubs of the world between 1937-1945 (including a flight simulator). Foynes is also home of the original Irish Coffee.

    We continued driving and got distracted with another detour! This time in the form of castles. This was in Askeaton, we parked the van and walked to the castle ruins which was block off due to OH&S and safety renovations (booo). On our way to Askeaton Friary on the other side of town, a man was walking out of his house and said 'good afternoon' Phill responded with the "g'day mate" - long story short he ended up being the local tour guide and we went to the Friary with him for a hour long private tour.

    As our plans for the day had all but gone out the window as it was 5pm by the time we left the Friary we decided to just head to Doolin in preparation for tomorrow.

    We decided that we were probably just going to park on a random road tonight, but as we headed into town we saw a caravan park, we had low hopes considering it was 18:30, but as we pulled in a guy ran out to greet us, next thing we know we washed our dirty dishes from this morning, showered and headed out on the town in search of a pint.

    The first stop was a quaint bar at the end of town which we were taken to by a cat who walked in front of us leading the way for almost 10 minutes. We then headed into McGann's Pub where we enjoyed another pint and an Irish stew with live traditional Irish music playing.

    After soaking up the immaculate vibes, and stew we finally headed back to the camper where we walked around in circles to hit 10k steps before retiring for the night.

    Steps: 11.3k    Read more

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    It's beginning to look a lot like ....

    November 11, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    We awoke this morning at our campgrounds in Doolin and enjoyed a hot drink and the view of the river that we slept next to the night before.

    We figured out why our van wasn't holding drinking water and finally filled it up, then we went off to the local pier.

    It was another amazing sight, we could see the closest of the three Aran Islands, as well as our main destination for the day: The Cliffs of Moher. Though there was one other concerning thing we could see... Someone surfing near the pier! It was about 6°C and the wind was blowing a gale... No thank you.

    After getting back into the car and defrosting, we drove the relatively short distance to the cliffs. We drove past the standard tourist location (where they had to pay 8€ each to park) and went to a less popular spot where we only had to pay 5€ each! We talked to the gentleman who was managing the site and he told us of the best path to take and he did not let us down!

    The cliffs were huge and you could walk all the way up to the edge and look over... If you dared...

    We hiked for about an hour and a half to get to an old stone tower looming on the edge of the cliff. The views were stunning the whole way there. We got lucky and picked the best possible day to be there! There was no fog and (incredibly) no rain! However, it was fiercely windy so it was fortunate that we were rugged up otherwise we would have turned back very quickly.

    The journey back to the van was a little quicker since we were ready to be out of the cold. The hike was about 2.5 hours in total.

    Finally, we set our sights on our destination for the evening: the city of Galway.

    When we arrived there we did a bit of shopping to pick up the essentials (i.e. milk and chocolate) and stopped for an unplanned dinner where we finally got to try out the Irish fast food chain "Supermac's".

    We then drove through the city center and found our "accommodation" for the night, which is a quiet parking lot near a rugby field. Once we were set up, we went to check out the town.

    We struck gold because the town had a large Christmas market on so we walked around and enjoyed all it had to offer! Finally, before we retired for the night we stopped at a pub for a cheeky pint (and to use there restrooms).

    Step count: 25.2k    Read more

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    111

    A castle a day

    November 12, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    Our covert carpark accommodation worked out well for us this morning, with our bladders full we walked into the town centre to buy a coffee. While we had access to free wifi we stayed a while to plan our day while uploading the plethora of images and videos from the day before.

    With that done we walked back to the car, but not before getting distracted by a coffee van that was parked 10m from us. We ordered ourselves another coffee, as well as a crepe! Then got chatting with the lovely attendant.

    We weren't expecting to be still around the town at 12pm, but the time came around anyhow. There were more Christmas markets opening at that time, so we had one more quick trip back to the town centre. The two of us are quite happy that we didn't wait specifically for them, because the new stalls weren't any good.

    With that ticked off, we were back in the van and off to our next adventure! Aughnanure Castle! A 16th century fortress which was home to the O'Flaherty clan. We got lucky as the groundskeeper told us when we got there that not only was it the last day of the season that the castle is open, but it also is free entry. Nice!

    We explored the castle and its grounds, which were especially interesting as the interior was mostly free for us to explore.

    After that we continued onto one of our most anticipated stops. The 1897 Happening! You won't believe it, but at that site in 1897 nothing happened!! Isn't history wonderful?

    With our heads still spinning we took the short drive to where we are staying for the night: the town of Clifden.

    Once we arrived at our fancy new accommodation (another parking lot) we went for a walk of the town to scope out our first official Sunday Roast. Lady luck was not on our side. And so we visited some supermarkets for inspiration, and ended up with a wrap and some snacks. We finished off the evening watching movies in the van!

    Step count: 19.2k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    21

    Red alert

    November 13, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    We made our way to the Clifden rec centre in search for showers, which the worker was kind enough to let us use. We then decided that after our failed roast search yesterday we deserved a treat - which came in the package of a big Irish breakfast.

    The breakfast didn't disappoint, and it fueled us enough to begin exploring for the day, we decided to start off with something different. We parked Tilly and walked for about 15 minutes through a farmer's land until we came across a gem - another castle! This castle was just ruins that we had free reign exploring throughout. It was definitely one of the coolest ones we've seen.

    We then took off to our next stop which was Dimond Hill, because what better to do in a weather warning day then go for a hike? But because of the weather warning (definitely nothing to do with fitness) we decided to do the shorter of the hikes and not go all the way to the top.

    Next stop was the Killary Fjords and Aasleagh Falls. This part of the drive was breathtaking and a whole different range of scenery and landscape. The falls were a fun little detour, the waterfall was flooding the walking tracks and overflowing much of the countryside due to the rain the past few days. Phill tested the weatherproofing on our new boots a few times by sticking his feet in places he shouldn't.

    It was getting dark at this point so we drove to our stop for the night, a lovely carpark that has a slight incline. We wandered around Westport before heading to the movies to watch Killers of the Flower Moon, which was interesting and not at all what we expected.

    Step count: 17.1k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    103

    Whatever floats your goat

    November 14, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    We enjoyed a carrot cake and coffee this morning in conclusion to us trying to find a bathroom, because the cafe that had said snacks had the magical and elusive throne.

    After wandering around we said goodbye to Westport and headed to Achill Island for our day of exploring. The first stop was the White Cliffs of Ashleam, which was stunning and very windy. After enjoying the views from the top we hiked below to explore the beach.

    After we frolicked on the beach we headed to Keel where we enjoyed our lunch overlooking another beach and lots of goats.

    From here we visited Keen beach before deciding we should find our accommodation for the night, we needed to find somewhere with a electric connection as we haven't had one for the past 3 nights. The first place we tried visiting had no one there to take our money, so we left the island and found a carpark with no facilities but they did offer a powered site for cheap!

    As we were now off the island we didn't want to drive too far to the next town so we enjoyed a dinner of cup a soup, boiled eggs and raw carrots - living a life of luxury.

    We spent the night relaxing and walking circles in the carpark (in the rain) to get our step count to 10k.

    Step count:
    Bec: 12k
    Phill: 10.4k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    21311

    The floated goat

    November 15, 2023 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    This morning started with a coffee and a trip to what else but The Old Irish Goat Centre! Where we learnt a bit about Ireland's unique breed of goat which has all but disappeared due to hunting and cross breeding. We talked to a very excited lady who showed us two of their goats, as well as a 10 minute film on their conservation efforts.

    Next up was a trip to the National Museum of Ireland, a free and large exhibition of Irish folklife over the past few centuries. This started with an enjoyable short film, and then 3 floors of exhibit. A lot of it was dedicated to weaving things made out of straw or hay. We didn't realise how important it was to their lives! The grounds around the museum were particularly beautiful too, they even had sculptures (effigies??) made out of straw.

    After this we started our trip back inland towards Dublin, as tomorrow will mark our last full day before returning Tillie.

    We stopped in the town of Boyle for the night, which is a nice and small town with a large and fast flowing river (which we will be sleeping next to)

    For the evening we walked around town to get our daily steps in, and stopped at the pub for a pint. Then grabbed a quick meal from a takeaway shop and retired for the evening!

    Step count: 12.5k    Read more

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