Skerries and home

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I arrived in Skerries, south of Drogheda, on Saturday afternoon and the place was heaving with bikers at the end of their annual rally. The town was on a north-facing promontory with the harbour on the west side and the east-facing sandy strand curving southwards. The sun was shining, there were several camper vans parked in free parking areas, and it looked to be a good spot for a Saturday night.
I think I've found my spiritual home. Live music bars, an independent supermarket, sea views on three sides of the town and a hill on the fourth, and everyone is friendly. Mind you, that does seem to be an Irish trait. People smile as they’re passing and I'm frequently caught out when people wave and I haven't waved back. in the UK they only wave if they’re in a VW too. here they seem to wave if they think your van is cool; and a lot of them do.
Skerries id only 20 miles north of Dublin, has train and bus links there, but seems to be a thriving community, even without the bikers. The pub I went to, Raff's on the Corner had two big bars; one with a Rockabilly band and people my generation dancing, the other with a young duo on guitars with a varied and interesting repertoire. There were posters for live music there each weekend. This pub was in the town (five minutes walk away, but the two main pound in the harbour were spilling out onto the pavement, and we're still going strong when I toddled of to my bed at 1.30am. One of these, Joe May's s open for coffee at midday the next morning, and he was happy to serve me at 11.30.
The sailing club is welcoming, and the clubhouse had views over the harbour and the Strand. They have an annual regatta there each August, and while I was there they were having a Topper race.
The town, like many in Ireland has several sculptures; these are mainly seabirds as befits the area.
I wandered about deciding which view I would want if I moved there.
I stayed there till Monday afternoon, walked round the town, had a guided tour of the windmills, and sampled the excellent home made ice cream from a hut on the quay called Storm in aTeacup. I had this on Monday as the queues were too long ovet the weekend. I had orange and chocolate and it's life changing.
The weather turned windy and i set of down the coast southwards, checking out Rush (Housing-Estate-on-Estuary), Malahide (Designer-Shops-on-Sea), and Howth (Very-Dear-Tea-by-the-Harbour). Howth had a fabulous hill in the centre of the promontory, and I drove up and round hoping for a summit with a view. It seemed to be full of posh houses, so I stopped by a track which didn't seem to be a long drive to someone's house as it was a quarry. There were bags of gravel and slate waiting to be transported to someone's drive, but as well as the view of the bay there was also an oasis of a garden seemingly unconnected with anyone house. Many of the bushes and three full size trees were in white builders’ bags. There were three steps which might have led to a garden, but they were covered with a thriving bushy laurel bush. There was a pond and stone seats, and three palm trees in the centre. It felt surreal.

I'd made a conscious decision not to go to Dublin. Skerries was so lovely, big cities are always a culture shock and i don't know where I'd have stayed. Trying to find the port was problematic enough, and having got there I decided to get an early boat back.
I disembarked at Holyhead at 1.00am and half an hour later found a quiet corner near a campsite to spend the rest of the night.
Now, Tuesday morning, near Chester, I am waiting for the RAC to come and sort out a grinding noise that I seem to have developed under my nearside wheel. I don't need to be home till Wednesday so there should be time to sort it out.

Good things about Ireland;
Blue cashel cheese, soft and creamy with a subtle but sharp tang;
Many wagtails - they look so chirpy with their tails wagging up and down, and they run across the road like cartoon birds with their legs ablur.

Seafood - lots of it and very flavoursome it is too.

Although everyone speaks English and so are the road signs, they are also in Irish, which helps me remember I'm in a foreign country.

A warm welcome from everyone. Let's hope it won't be the last time if their worst fears are realised about border controls being re-instated because of Brexit.

Total miles done approximately 1500.
Footnote.
Motorway distance markers are in miles, which seems strange as their distance signs are in kilometres. It's the other way round in the UK.

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