Winter in UK and Ireland. Completely stupid idea or not??

[Deleted member 3011]

Just looking for a bit of local knowledge and opinion please.

First off, to set the scene, we don't enjoy summer temperatures of more than 30C which is why we are sticking around in Alaska until early November before heading to Europe. Here in Alaska temperatures will be around freezing when we leave so we will be well acclimatized to the cold weather when we head off.

Current thinking is to arrive in Stuttgart about 12th November to pick up the motorhome and head down to Italy asap and then maybe over to Greece as well which would give us similar weather to what we are used to in winter back in southern Australia - wet and cold but not too much frost. If not Greece then we would head for Spain and Portugal after Italy/Sicily

Ireland is on Betty's list and we have to work around the 90 days allowance of Schengen so I was thinking of heading to England to arrive very early January (which leaves us a few days left in our original 90 days just in case we spend less than 90 days in England and Ireland and have to go back to Germany to leave the motorhome within the Schengen 90 days. We can stay in UK for 6 months and haven't checked Ireland yet but it should be OK for Australians to stay at least three months. That way we should be able to experience at least early spring in Ireland/UK

Question is - would there be at least a few campsites open in England and Ireland (and Wales) at that time of the year. I assume along the Mediterranean there would be no problems and we have experienced transiting France in January so know that many aires and water and dump points are frozen solid but a quick transit is different to spending months in a place so I don't really want to do it too hard once we get across the channel. Quite prefer boondocking of course - sorry, I mean Wild Camping - but it is nice to have laundry and power at least once a week and sit for a day or two in relative comfort, peace and quiet rather than being constantly on the move.

Any thoughts please.

 

[delicagirl]

i have spent many months in ROI and rarely use camping sites. The irish are a lot more laid back about wild camping than the English. But the marketing success of the WWW - Wild Atlantic Way - (a sign posted route along the west coast along tiny roads) may have made wild camping more difficult. There are often laundrettes in smaller towns and some garages in ROI - but sometimes it is a "service wash" which can be 15-20 Euros. Emptying loos in public toilets is what i have done from time to time, and as long as not too much tissue is used, it shouldn't be a problem. Many small harbours can be found along the south and west coast and most of them have taps and occassionally showers as well (sometimes free for the local fishermen). However i have not been in the winter so cannot speak for how many sites will be open.

On occasion i have visited residential "park home parks" and asked if i might pay to use their laundrettes and/or shower and have never been refused.

The beauty of the west coast is really everything people say it is, and more, and the wondrous Donegal is quite un-developed and has a wild and natural beauty of its own. It is a very sparsely populated area and roads are tiny, with few petrol stations, but all that is part of its charm.

Driving is easier than in England and there are far far far fewer road signs than here, roads are smaller, and drivers more polite than here.

Gas - if you are using LPG that could be a challenge to find - sometimes agricultural merchants have a supply "round the back" - but folks are vry helpful.

if you travelled from pembroke or fishguard (in SW Wales) over the sea to Rosslare you could then cross from Northern Ireland over to Scotland to Cairnryan - using the same ferry company's boats.

as you can tell i am a great fan of ROI.

Trevskoda on here is from northern ireland and is a great fan of the north and is astonishingly knowledgeable about the whole of the island or Ireland and also knows masses about fixing camper vans.... i suggest you follow his posts !!! tell him i sent you !!

best wishes

 

[colinm]

Whilst many UK campsites close in winter there's still enough open that you can find a spot.

 

[GeoffL]

Many UK campsites open all year. Giving a link to a campsite directory is probably in breach of the T&Cs of this site, but you should get a lot of info if you search Google for "UK campsites open all year". HTH, Geoff

 

[delicagirl]

since WildCamping POIs dont include Eire i cannot imagine Phil would object if you looked here Campsites open all year round * Motorhome Craic - hope thats ok ....

 

[Channa]

Considering you are possibly the most travelled member within our ranks , I don't think the UK or Ireland are going to present to much of a challenge.

For the mainland at least, I cant comment on Ireland, the POI listings will give you plenty of transient places to stop, For extended stays both the big clubs have sites open all year and perhaps more relevant Cls /certified sites to bed down for a few days at a time.

Whilst it technically requires a subscription, the reality is if you can get a location book for eg the Caravan club ( I dare say someone here will have one) a knock on the door at the cl sites I would be surprised if you were refused. Money talks and all that and in my experience never asked for membership once !

If visiting London access to the Abbey Wood CC site will require membership.

I have no idea how Schengen works as a British citizen but I am aware Australian tourist visas are "generous" compared to other parts of the World considering Northern Ireland is part of our family and no hard borders between ourselves and Eire flitting from one to the other shouldn't be too problematic.

Considering you are currently in Alaska, possibly the last great wilderness the biggest adjustment will be being surrounded by people again !..If you get time to share your tales there I would enjoy reading.

Channa

 

[maingate]

Plenty of Pubs will let you overnight, some even have 5 van campsites on them and are cheap.

 

[Canalsman]

The majority of campsites in France are closed in Winter ...

 

[delicagirl]

The majority of campsites in France are closed in Winter ...

he is asking about ireland

 

[Canalsman]

Not so:

I assume along the Mediterranean there would be no problems and we have experienced transiting France in January so know that many aires and water and dump points are frozen solid but a quick transit is different to spending months in a place so I don't really want to do it too hard once we get across the channel.

 

[TeamRienza]

As posted earlier by Delicia, for Ireland your best plan is to register with motorhomecraic.com . Free and friendly and there is at least one thread which lists campsites that are open all year.

If you post with specific ideas about where you want to visit or stay you will probably get answers. In any event the site is searchable.

Also worth £5 is an app developed by craic called motorhomeparkingireland, android or Apple available. It lists approx 600 points of interest from proper sites, through aires, wildcamp locations, harbours, LPG stations and pubs and restaurants who allow overnighting in exchange for purchasing a meal or a few drinks. The app autorenews each year but can be set not to. You are likely to find that in winter some members will help with water and waste disposal etc.

Davy

 

[trevskoda]

Lots of places to wild up in donegal and down as far as galway,main thing apart from pubs everything closes autumn time,like castles ,gardens etc,so come quick,our best weather is from may to september/october whem temp drops from about 18/20c to about 4/12c later in year,rains about 5 days out of seven late in year,this summer has been best since 1976/7 ,temp july 27c but this is not normal & we are not used to it here,do come and have a good time.

 

[jagmanx]

Some ideas 4U

Hi Tony

We spent a month in ROI and a month in Scotland last summer and indeed a month in South Wales.

We paid for very few camps and managed for water easily and grey waste but black waste not as easy (but we only have 1 cassette)

Summer 2017

2017 Stage 2

2017 Stage 3

2017 Stage 4

I have no info re campsites
Harbours are good
Ireland rarely suffers from freezing But WET WET WET and so Green Green Green
Scotland a different climate but near the coast OK
Some of the hills might be a challenge if icy

So
Maybe cross to Rosslare do WAW clockwise Then Larne to Cairnryan

The IRISH are rubbish at rubbish..few bins etc
After shopping we unpacked as much as possible and donated the now redundant packaging back to the supermarket where we made the purchases!

 

[delicagirl]

Irish rubbish .... folks now have to pay exorbitant amounts to private companies for their household rubbish disposal and some households even put padlocks on their wheelies !!! i used to use small freezer bags for rubbish, having cut up old packaging into tiny pieces so that i could then put these into street rubbish bins or garage bins (which often have a vertical bar across the miniscule opening so you can only post a crisp packet !!) ~It is a problem.... but there are recyling sites... whether they charge foreigners or not i dont know.... But in spite of these restrictions there is FAR FAR less litter in ROI than in the UK generally.

 

[wildebus]

I have never camped in Ireland but have been many times and would echo Delicagirls comment about the West Coast.
In fact the South Coast from Cobh heading west and all up the West Coast right up to Donegal and all around Northern Ireland are great to visit.

The bit of Ireland I would tend to bypass is the East Coast and the Midlands (especially the Midlands!). There are a few gems in there but surrounded by places you would prefer not to be (at least I preferred not to be whenever I was there)

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Thanks to all for all that very positive information - really helpful.

I'll join the ROI Motorhome group for sure - and get their app. Nothing like local knowledge to ease the way, Just as the Wild Camping POI will do in the UK.

Yes Channa, you would think we would find UK and Ireland a bit of a cakewalk, and that may well be the case now but when we did a pretty fast run down from Scrabster (1st August 2008) and out at Dover (8th September 2008) it was part of our very first overseas 'foray' and we didn't find it very easy to find places to stay, partly because there were far fewer public camping resources available then and it didn't seem worth joining one of the clubs just for barely a month. I learned then that the club rules about sites only being for members was easily circumvented by paying the normal fee, and now with the camping and wild camping apps, the club sites will probably be fairly irrelevant. Big difference now of course and most of the adventure has been "apped" out, but the fact that we will be there in fairly high winter led me to ask for a bit of advice - which you all gave. Thanks.

See you next year.

 

[shaunr68]

Irish rubbish .... folks now have to pay exorbitant amounts to private companies for their household rubbish disposal and some households even put padlocks on their wheelies !!! i used to use small freezer bags for rubbish, having cut up old packaging into tiny pieces so that i could then put these into street rubbish bins or garage bins (which often have a vertical bar across the miniscule opening so you can only post a crisp packet !!) ~It is a problem.... but there are recyling sites... whether they charge foreigners or not i dont know.... But in spite of these restrictions there is FAR FAR less litter in ROI than in the UK generally.

This is great advice. The key is to dispose of small quantities of rubbish regularly, like every time you visit a shop, petrol station or go out for a walk. However in my view I would disagree with the last point, there is a huge problem with fly tipping in rural locations precisely because of the restrictions and cost of domestic refuse collection and of course that some people are ignorant, selfish and inconsiderate.

 

[delicagirl]

scotland in the winter will be midge-free, tourist-free (almost) and beautifully wonderfully magical to wander through the snowy mountains especially on the west coast. i have not yet been to any of the scottish islands but there are enough scots folks on here who can recommend which ones are great to visit in winter. It will probably be wet on the west. Avoid Aberdeen..... i drove through this grey concrete place and drove straight on through !! i enjoyed Perth very much and Dunbar on the East Coast is a joyous wee place with its red sandstone cliffs. Scotland is a lot bigger in reality than it looks on UK maps - and the roads are small in the highlands - "A" roads can sometimes be single track roads with passing places - so progress can be slow.