The summation of the day is there are no dinosaurs in Ireland, so we had to get our fix on the way!
There can't be too many dinosaur themed places that we've not been to in the UK, but one such place was Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World on the outskirts of Telford. We didn't have a great deal of time before we'd need to set off on the drive for Holyhead, so after breakfast at the Brewers Fayre next to our Premier Inn we were at Hoo Zoo just after opening time.
Like many zoos the map made the site look a lot bigger than it was, but there was enough to keep the kids entertained, both with the living animals and those from more prehistoric times. Whilst the zoo didn't have any large animals, they had a good selection of the smaller big cats that Amber enjoyed watching as they went about their morning routines which mainly consisted of sleeping! There were also some dinosaurs that we hadn't seen before in model form, but that didn't stop Forrest knowing exactly what they were well before he was anywhere near the information boards. His love of dinosaurs seems to be showing no signs of abating and after chatting to the resident 'Dinosaur Ranger' the kids got to experience his alternative "umbrella" when he let them into the enclosure and up close with the T-Rex!
With the weather turning from the odd patches of drizzle to more sustained rain we decided to hit the road for North Wales. The journey was quite slow to start with and very reminiscent of driving through East Anglia with many villages and tractors to contend with, but once we'd cleared Chester (with a quick pit stop for toilets and cake) we had a fairly brisk journey west along the North Wales Expressway to Holyhead.
Our crossing to Dublin was on the Irish Ferries high-speed catamaran Dublin Swift. The boat has a strange history, having originally served with the US Navy as a Military Prepositioning Ship, before being converted to civilian use in 2018 for the Dublin to Holyhead route. The crossing time is just over two hours, however from driving on to the ship and driving off it was a lot closer to three. We killed time onboard by spending some time at the small outside deck area at the rear of the ship and then having dinner from the onboard restaurant. We made use of a €60 family meal deal that was good value compared to the individual meal prices, but offering a chocolate coffee cheesecake as the only inclusive dessert for kids seemed a bizarre choice. We can only assume they'd ran out of other options and thankfully they did allow us to swap it for yoghurts for the kids (and me)!
We were soon approaching the Irish coastline so we returned to the outside area to take in the views as we arrived in to Dublin. By now the weather had really improved and it was lovely and sunny as we docked. The car was up on a raised part of the vehicle deck so once the lower deck had emptied and we'd passed Irish Customs and Passport Control we were on the road. The SatNav offered a few routes to our hotel in the town of Naas, but I decided to take the quickest via the Port Tunnel and M50 motorway that both required toll payments. The tunnel is via typical toll booths that took card or cash, but the M50 is like the Dartford Crossing and requires an online payment before 8pm the following day.
I'm now writing the blog, having paid our online toll, from what must be the largest family room we've ever stayed in! Our hotel, Lawlor's of Naas, is right in the centre of the town and has a very convenient large free underground carpark.
Tomorrow we plan to have a quick explore to find some breakfast before we continue heading west towards Ennistymon where we will pick up our motorhome ready to start exploring the Wild Atlantic Way.
Blogged by Matt
