Leg 16 - UK and Ireland - A Cork'in Good Time Again

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Top Times

* Partying the night away in Kinsale
* Staying with family; both sisters and their families making us so welcome (plus catching up with extended family)
* Soaking up the England World Cup spirit (well the beer at least)
* Dave laughing at Christina always banging her head in the campervan (and you thought Dave was the clumsy one!)


On return to the UK which happened to coincide with the World Cup (funny that, eh?) we stayed with Neil & Jenny in London for a few days, and then Dave used up all his 'brother points' by us staying at his sister Helen's in Gloucestershire for several weeks (thanks all !!!). Most of this time was spent searching for, and equiping, a camper van. Many, many hours were spent browsing the internet for bargains, and lots of vans were looked at. Eventually, however, we bought one from the camper garage just round the corner from Dave's sisters!

Before venturing off to mainland Europe, we had the fortune to go Ireland for a second wedding there, and took the opportunity of trying out the newly-purchased van. The wedding was of Shaun and Lojana, ex-colleagues of Dave's when he worked back in Australia (in fact, since Dave interviewed them both he was part of their get-together).

We took "Trevor" the Trident VW (since Christina insisted it had a name) across Wales for the ferry to Ireland and then onto the picturesque town of Kinsale (in County Cork) where the wedding was to take place. We had a great time at the wedding party, a combo of Irish country rock and Sri Lankan pop.

After Kinsale, we ventured down the rugged coastline to Skibbereen where Dave's grandfather's family was from, and then back up to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. By chance our Aussie friends Neil and Lourdes and kids were in the region too, so we took the opportunity to catch up and have a few Guinnesses with them (the adults, not the kids).

Return was back via the overnight ferry from Cork to Swansea.

During this whole period the weather was fantastic in UK, and even pretty good in Ireland ! The only downer was England performing so badly at the World Cup when expectations (as normal) were so high.

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Photos

"Trevor"
Enjoying his first outing in Wales.

Good clean family fun
..clean because of the amount of washing up liquid used in this back-garden slide!

England Lions
No roaring on this occasion. At least USA did equally as well.

Kinsale Pub
The town has more pubs than shops, brilliant!