Automatic for the People

A deep dive into reflection on life of the 70s was the REM album, so I'll take that spiritual steer as we hit the backpacker with style approach to life again. Hardly the hippy trail but we have our moments. I'll also take a literal steer, quite literally a steer in fact, as we ended up with an automatic car out here which actually is my preference when abroad.

So round 2 of the Summer tour has begun, a few health issues this week cast a potential cloud, but post covid travel perhaps adds that layer of fear, as well as being a nearly 50 year old hypochondriac. All to one side for now and we have arrived in Sardinia. Just to clear up that first question on everyone's lips - are Sardines named after Sardinia or the other way round (answer to come)

So what's the plans for this one, having done some skimming of the Lonely Planet must dos I'll see how many of the following we can tick off in the next 5 days:

- Beach Bliss (found my own favourite patch of white sand already)

- Village Hopping

- Explore Ancient Civilisations

- Food from the Source (locally produced cheese and beer consumed within first day)

- Soaking up the Culture

- The Great Wide Open (glimpses today on our drive across the South East)

- Taking to the Seas

- Country Living (perhaps the toughest one, we are beach bums this week)

Went to bed 10.00 last night after watching the highlights of Wales beating South Africa. 1 hr 15 mins of no sleep later I was up and readying myself for the midnight departure. Was nearer to 1 when we hit the road up to Gatwick,the M4 and M25 at their finest at that time of night. Straight through, no dramas; we had decided (knowing sleep was going to be hard to find however we did this) to pay for meet and greet parking at the terminal at Gatwick rather than booking hotels/car parking.

We were checking in at 4am as the airport was stirring into life. Having checked in online, printed our boarding cards at the airport and used the self service bag drop.Felt just like the self service at Sainsburys, and luckily we didn't need to call for assistance. Sticking our own flight labels on and sending the bags down the chute felt a leap of faith, but staff shortages and all that, we have to do our bit!

Thank goodness it was an early flight, they were already queuing for Wetherspoons. We took up our usual position, but maybe not our usual diet. I went for a healthier eggs benedict and a pint of Guinness, just to transition out of the Ireland holiday properly

Our BA flight was actually operated by Iberia Express (Vuelling) so we had the rather peculiar experience of Spanish cabin crew providing us our Italian transport. European unity alive and well.

I took the rather lastminute decision to download some Netflix and More 4 stuff to watch on the Ipad on this flight, recalling the rather dearth of entertainment last year en route to Iceland.  Went past though in the blink of an eye, mainly as my eyes did actually close for a good part of the trip.

We were soon in the Sardinian sunshine, and then quickly after in a long passport queue. No rush today so not too bothered to be in the alien line, and actually quite liked having my passport stamped. The second limited benefit I have found of Brexit, I am scratching around though to be fair.

On reclaiming our baggage, we did a great job, I'm asking for a promotion.  It was then hunt down the Avis desk and getting the relatively good news of the automatic car. Thinking of names, something Italian, is Robert de Niro still talking?

Was just over an hour drive to our Air Bnb in Costa Rei, most of the roads were large highways, just a few local hills to navigate towards the end. Our abode is very much on high, and we took a short while to find out way in via lock box and the use of keys!

We did feel a bit worn out, but decided that we had things to see, and the sea could see us, and was truly breathtaking.  So we tried to walk down, ran into a few dead ends, and decided to get back in the car to do a bit of local orientation.

Carys and Chrissi particularly interested to have their first dip in the Med, I sank into the golden sands and fell into a deep slumber. It was really quite relaxing, and I was really quite exhausted. But replenished enough after that to take a short reviving dip myself, what a beautiful spot.

Not much open and we knew we all needed to wind down after a long day, so bought a stack of local beer and cheese and fruit to consume from our viewing point, well above the stunning resort of Costa Rei. 

 Greek origin to the name BTW, a big footprint, the inhabitants the original sardines, the large numbers of said fish found off the island means the species took the name around the 15th century by all accounts https://totalsardinia.com/how-did-sardinia-get-its-name/

-Carys-

Diving straight back into the travel, with my first venture on a plane, which to me counts as my first abroad since before covid, since summer 2019. Yet weirdly, I feel like we never stopped. A very early start for us, which we haven't done in years I don't think, well at least not from home anyway. Its typical now for us to stay in an airport hotel and catch an early flight following that, but this time, we were out of the house before 1am. Having set the alarms for just gone 12, I tried to get a reasonable 3 hours of sleep which I was lucky enough to follow up a little in the car. The journey to Gatwick felt quite delirious as it didn't feel like we were driving late at night, but obviously it was dark out. We just missed the start of the sunrise as we left the car and got ourselves checked in. After some short queues and waving goodbye to baggage, we made our way through security, reasonably smoothly (but did have to rush to empty a water bottle first of course, having forgotten to before we went upstairs oops.) In all honesty, i prefer Heathrow to Gatwick, but interesting to have a different experience, and it we made our way through very easily today.

 I think the lack of sleep caught up with me though as I felt very drained (for most of the day really). We had a spoons breakfast to fill us up, and boarded the plane. I found the flight not among my favourites - maybe i'm just out of practise - but it was a quick one so was over reasonably soon. Having got off near the back of the plane and visited the toilet, we queued for a long time in the arrivals area, and when we eventually got our bags, it took us a short while to acquire our car. We're still debating on a name, but looking into something Italian, Will keep you posted. We drove said car out to the coast, which we had seen on our flight in (the views had been lovely in all fairness), where we were greeted with more spectacular scenery. 

After following the windy roads up the hillier part of the coast, we arrived at our destination, essentially letting ourselves into the accommodation as we'd arrived early.

 A cute spot - not as convenient as we'd hoped unfortunately, as access to the beach is not as easy as imagined, but the views absolutely make up for this. I'm sure we'll enjoy some stunning sunsets over the next few nights. The ocean is one of the prettiest i've ever seen, made up of the loveliest blues and greens. To try and navigate our way around, we did some wandering, but realised the car was the best bet for getting down to the seafront easily, in such heat. we parked up and strolled down, picking up some quick refreshments. Mum and I decided to test out the waters, literally, and they were amazing as hoped. Amazing temperature and just calm enough - though the salt is quite off putting for me personally. But i can put up with that, and we had a lovely time cooling off. 

We spent some time in the sun then to dry again, before picking up some bits in the obligatory European supermarket sweep, where we observe what's different to home and what's similar. We collated enough things to make a lovely buffet, which we've now enjoyed on the balcony - with the lovely sunset as mentioned before. Still feeling very tired so thinking of getting an early night to rejuvenate ourselves! 

YMA O HYD

Bit later after a long day yesterday but we are " still here". Perhaps a true taste of Ireland today, everyone has been incredulous at the wonderful weather we have had so far, today though was more of a rainy feel, but embraced it as part of the experience, got my waterproofs on and did my morning run, a little shorter than normal for a Sunday, but more exploratory in feel, taking in the quiet homesteads surrounding Duncormick, and even venturing off road very briefly on a very sanitised river path on the banks of the Muck.  Love that as a name for the river that runs through the town.

It was a last breakfast in our Air B nb and then a big thanks to the hosts of this truly wonderful place that has allowed us to find a home away from home but a launch pad for many little adventures.  If you are looking for a great place to stay in this part of the world take a look at The Courtyard Mary and David have a lovely place and make you so welcome to the area.

We drove over to Wexford, taking in some of my earlier running route, so was able to stop a bit more and point things out to the family, riverside walks and normal, innocent men.

30 minutes later we were in Wexford, and very impressed at the wide range of car parks, charging stations galore here some of our readers will be noting this I'm sure.

Had to borrow Chrissi's rain coat with mine sodden from earlier run and we strode purposefully past the churches and shops to Centenary Stores, as recommended by our Air Bnb hosts.  It did not disappoint.

Beuatiful irish melodies, home cooked food, a nice pint of guinness, old pub style feel, gaelic footie on the telly. Where else would you want to be on a rainy Irish afternoon.

On the food front, we all went to town as our last meal before post holiday puritanical eating returns.  I really pushed the boat out and had 3 courses. They serve so fast here, and another thing, you don't have to get the bill, you just go to the bar when you are ready to pay. How refreshingly normal.  In terms of food I had vegetable soup with thick, soft, spongy rye bread. Main was sole bites in Brioche with chips and some gorgeous coleslaw, multi coloured swap shop, so much going on. And then the piece de resistance, banoffi pie with ice cream with layer upon layer of biscuits, cream, custard, banana, who needs trifle eh, this is the real deal.

A final walk through Wexford admiring amusingly named pubs and shops, spirits still high even with the end post of this particular trip now in sight.  Collected our car and made the 30 minute trip down to the Port of Rosslaire and joined the car ferry queue.  Wales kicking off against Ukraine to got tuned into 5 live for the first half, big cheer as we boarded as the Bale deflected free kick went in.

Dashed straight to the bar on board where wall to wall TVs with the football on and I created my own living room space for the second half, Guinness in hand.  Couldn't quite believe Wales managed to qualify after all these years, quite a number of people around me couldn't quite believe how vociferous my non belief was.  

Rest of the journey passed quickly and ebulliently with a couple more pints which meant Chrissi picked up the driving reins for the 2 hr 20 ish trip back east to our home and the first trip of the Summer ending on a perfect high.  We're "still here" though, check back in around 9th/10th July for the next instalment, where I might start with a tally of firsts achieved on this trip. Watching Wales qualify for a World Cup would have to be on the list.

- Carys - 

Another little lie in this morning, appreciating our final few hours in the cottage. I had some toast for breakfast and did a little bit of revision but was feeling less productive today. We packed up and sorted the house to the best of our ability - leaving it in what I thought was a very nice state.

We said our thanks ans goodbyes to Mary and David and started to journey into Wexford, with a quick stop at Dad's new favourite nature spot, a short walk by the riverside. I agree it was pretty but a bit of a random stop but either way, nice to have some fresh air.

Then we continued on into Wexford city, where it was now tipping down with rain. Just our luck, but in all fairness, we've been very fortunate with a lovely few days, so I guess this provides a bit of balance. We found shelter in a pub recommended by Mary, where as we'd hoped they were playing live music. Keyboard, flute, double bass, and a bagpipe type instrument, you name it, I'm sure they were playing it. 

I enjoyed 3 courses - cream of vegetable soup with that lovely thick rye bread again, then goats cheese tartlet with chutney and salad, and my favourite course: rhubarb and apple crumble tart with custard and cream. I realise I had this dessert just a few days ago, but it's delicious, so I couldn't resist. It's cropped up on multiple menus since arriving here, so maybe it's a local favourite? 

We stayed a long while in the pub, but it was a nice place to stay settled and we had plenty of time to kill, so we enjoyed our food, the music, and general ambience for a good few hours. When we eventually did set off, it was still spitting of course, and we made our way back to the car via some shops to have a look around. From then we drove to the port, and waited a bit to get onboard. We parked up and I casually sprinted to find the seat where I knew there was a plug, but Dad had found a better spot situated just in front of the TV, where they were playing the Wales game, with plugs also. I was extremely happy with this, and even better, it was next to a window too. I had an enjoyable trip home, relaxed a bit, then did some revision.

 It wasn't long before we were back in Wales, and by this point I felt very tired. We didn't get home until after midnight, and feeling like I might fall asleep at any moment, we got ready for bed. So, although it felt like it went very fast, I'm really glad to have had a little taster of being away again, and it's all the more got me excited for the rest of our adventures this year! That's me signing of for now. See you soon.