Our Camping Experience on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way

The one regret I have about this campsite is that we didn't have more than 1 night. Robert said he thought I was a little overly ambitious with our first few nights. Since we lost a day waiting to pick up the camper, it didn't start out that way. Instead of having a full day in Clifden, we only had hours. 

Our first campground was Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Carvanning Park in County Galway. The campground is literally right on the Atlantic Ocean. 

It is on private property with a gate requiring a code in order to enter the grounds, so it's very safe. Upon entry, Tatiyana checked us in and Kris showed us around. They require green tablets for the toilet. Fortunately, Mark at Bunk Campers found some and made sure we were set. Otherwise, we would have had to drive to a place to empty our toilet cassette and bought some from the campground. 

They have bathhouses and a camper's kitchen available. Wi-Fi is available in the common area. The bathhouses are not heated (none of the bathhouses at any of the campgrounds where we stayed were) and I never had hot water while washing my hands. We didn't shower there so I can't speak about the water pressure, but they charge €5 for a 5-minute shower. They don't have designated women's/men's bathrooms/showers, so that was a little awkward when I almost walked in the door and there was a man at the sink. 

Looking into the shower

Inside the shower. 

Entrance

Camp Kitchen

Electricity is available but it's not "full power". It suited our needs; we just needed to be able to charge up our cell phones since we were only there 1 night. I'm not sure if any of the sites have water; ours did not. But we had some amazing views:

These aren't pictures of views from our site, but they were just around the corner, across from the bathhouse:

Kris drove us into town and brought us back for €15, which was cheaper than a one-way taxi ride from the Dublin Airport to the City Centre. He gave us a good tip on where to eat in town as well as a couple of pubs. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, he & Tatiyana suggested that we leave by 9:00 before things got too rowdy. 

This should go without saying, but it was very windy so be prepared. Of course, since it's right on the ocean you would expect it to be windy. You can tell in this video just how windy it was:

I need to backtrack a bit. On the flight to Dublin, a young woman from Galway sat next to me. I struck up a conversation with her and she told me that we had to stop in Oughterard. She said there is a shop that has fantastic coffee and wonderful pastries made from farm-fresh products. We had no trouble finding the shop. Once we found someplace to park we went in and picked up some of the most amazing pastries we've ever had and a latte (which was absolutely wonderful). "Galway Girl" (which is what we call her because I never asked her for her name but I know her boyfriend's name is Joe and he drives a lorry) was spot on with this recommendation. In fact, we liked it so much that we stopped again the next day when we left Clifden to go to Killarney! This is a "must stop": Sullivan's Country Grocer on Main Street in Oughterard. You have to go right by it to get to Clifden from Galway. Just don't stop on a Monday because they're closed.

Right on Main Street!

Stop #1. Notice the green icing on the cinnamon roll for St. Patrick's Day!

Stop #2 (minus the sandwiches we bought)

We left Oughterard the first time just as the St. Patrick's Day Parade was beginning so we had to take a detour. That took us down this road:

A bit exciting, but we didn't see any sheep, cows, or horses crossing the road. I don't remember if we met any cars on this road, either. 

The verdict: Would we stay at Clifden Eco Beach again? Absolutely. I would definitely put it on a list of "re-dos"! 

Follow along with more recaps and pictures on my personal blog: Life in a Small Town. (The link will take you to a list of the Ireland posts.)

Portsmouth Island (NC): The Third Time's the Charm

Robert tried to get me to Portsmouth Island twice before. The first time there was a hurricane, and then, during our first trip in the Mystery Machine, we had some minor trouble with the van and ended up in Wilmington. This time was the winner!

The people at the ferry allow people to stay overnight in the parking area. It seemed a little strange, and unfortunately, there wasn't a restroom available. So I just had to make do. (Read what you want into that.)

When we first got there, everything seemed great...until the sun went down and the mosquitos came out. Those things don't play around...they bit me through my leggings. (Word of advice...no matter how hot it is, wear jeans.) 

We boarded the first ferry to get to the island and were the only passengers. I wasn't sure how I would like to be on an island with nothing there and supposedly without much cell signal. The man on the ferry told me people either hate it or love it. Great. I was going to be there for 2 nights and 3 days; I certainly hoped I fell into the "love it" category. 

Once we rolled onto the island we were greeted with abandoned cabins and a bathhouse. As it turns out, there are hot showers to be had! The only request is that you clean up after yourself. Not a bad deal at all. 

We drove down the beach in search of a perfect site. Not being sure if I was going to be a lover of the isolation, I didn't want to drive too far down the beach. We ended up getting a decent spot. We set up the gazebo and the Gazelle tent...plus the utility tent.

Yes, I said the wrong name for the Sound...it's Core Sound!

The stars at night were just incredible. With very little light pollution, the sky was filled with stars. 

This isn't a great night-sky picture. It was my first attempt.

One evening, a couple of spinner sharks put on a show for us. We had never heard of them before, but we were mesmerized by the sight of them jumping and spinning out of the water. 

The sunrises were just jaw-dropping. We fell asleep to the sound of the ocean and woke up to this:

We had enough cell signal to text and make calls; I'm not sure if we were further down the beach we would have had the signal. I was actually a little disappointed that we were able to connect with the "real world". 

Walks on the beach whenever I wanted, reading with my toes in the sand...I definitely ended up in the "love it" group. I want to go back and stay longer. 

Rutherford Beach (Louisiana)

 

We stayed at this beach for our annual New Year's Camping Trip in 2019. One of our sons lives nearby, so we decided to turn our visit into a camping trip. Robert found this free place to camp; Mary was skeptical. A free beach on New Year's Eve? She could just imagine the place crawling with drunken teenagers. But, it wasn't like that at all. 

The white speck in the background is Robert's truck.

When we arrived, we drove down (on the beach) to the furthest place we could. We had that whole section of the beach to ourselves. Well, except for a creepy doll attached to a post.

With visions of Chucky dancing in her head, Mary thought it was best to just let it be. So it stayed.

Our campsite was pretty basic. We didn't put the utility tent up since there was no need for privacy. As mentioned above, we had that whole section of the beach to ourselves. 

There is a porta-potty available, but it was at the entrance of the beach. We were as far down the beach as we could get. We felt pretty isolated. There is a field on the other side.

At night we were treated to beautiful sunsets. The oil rigs in the distance did nothing to deter how beautiful they were.

Even from December to New Year's, a screen was an absolute must. The Rhino-Rack saved us from getting eaten alive at dusk.

We had plenty of cell signal. We were able to stream movies, check email, and check social media.

We just put Robert's tablet in the pouch at the top of the tent and we had a perfect place to lay on our cots and watch a movie.

Fires are allowed on the beach, so Mary enjoyed her first-ever beach fire. 

We enjoyed our couple of days here. We were entertained by dolphins swimming close to the shoreline.

There is no water or electricity here so make sure you bring your own or do without. Definitely take out what you bring in. We cleaned up around the site a bit when we got there, but some things had to stay.

Would we stay here again? Most definitely. Keep in mind that our stay was before Hurricanes Laura and Zeta, so we aren't sure what Rutherford Beach looks like today. We found that it was very calming and peaceful to camp on the beach and feel like we were all alone. There were some campers closer to the beach gate, but no more than 10 campers were there. In fact, I would say it was more like 5 or 6 and only 3 of them (not counting ourselves) were right on the beach. The best part about it was the price!