"The land of fairy, where nobody gets old and godly and grave, where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue..." Maybe W.B. Yeats was writing about this magical fairy glen, hidden from sight under majestic Knocknarea mountain, where raindrops gather on early holly and the beardy spagnum… Continue reading Sunsets, Slingshots and Surfing in Sligo
Back in November, we bought a house. Nothing big or fancy (or mortgage worthy, thankfully) but a cute and warm and quiet spot to use as our base and to rest Dixies weary wheels between travels. The house is basically a manufactured mobile home encased in rendered concrete block, complete with a tow bar, and… Continue reading Neither Here Nor There (Galway in the Mist)
We found ourselves one Sunday, late February in County Donegal, cruising the deserted country roads in search of a refill for our empty 6kg bottle of butane. Time was of the essence, the radio man predicted a yellow warning, a cold weather spell coming our way in the form of Winter Storm Emma and dealing… Continue reading Beds, Breads and the Beast from the East (Moville Boutique Hostel, Feb 2018)
This is Ireland, and this long grey inland chunk in the middle? This is County Cavan. Dixie the Backwards Van rolled into Cavan with little expectation really, just full tanks of both diesel and fresh water (and thankfully empty tanks of everything else), we were looking for a week off. A week off what, I… Continue reading This Is Cavan! (Vanning, Planning & Shelter from the Storm)
As our first full year of vanlife drew to an end, we celebrated the waning summer with family in Dublin, dawdling on the driveway until the time came for Dixie to make the many airport runs required to dispatch my family for the usual winter diaspora. When the opportunity arose to escape the city (for… Continue reading Louth: A Week in the Wee County (and Where We’ve Been Since)
In 12 months on the road, we have yet to use the services of any kind of campsite for any kind of reason. Slightly reluctant to have Dixie The Backwards Van herded into a flat field and parked regimentally alongside so many other vehicles, unsure that we want the associated rules and regulations but whats… Continue reading Hook Head Revisited (Vans, Clans and The House People)
I'm from Dublin. I was born, bred and buttered here as they say, raised on the north side just a couple of miles from the city centre so being in Dublin is just... being home. You'll have to forgive my romantic, soppy and sometimes rose tinted view of our nations capital for most of my… Continue reading Dixie Does Dublin (Daytrips Down Memory Lane)
William does 100% of the driving in Dixie, I have never driven as much as a car nevermind a house and that is most likely the way things will stay. But being co-pilot comes with its own pressures, I'm chief cigarette roller for example, which is a full-time position in itself, I'm the entire navigation… Continue reading By Hook or by Crook! (Whatever will be, will be)
We had been taking it easy for a few days, parked up safely outside number 109 in Dublin to catch our breaths, a couple of administration details needed to be ironed out and no better place to hang around than the house I grew up in. Some bureaucracy in life is unavoidable; modern humans need… Continue reading Laying low in Curracloe (or, Saving Private Dixie)
Achill (pronounced Ack-ill) Island, Irelands biggest island, tethered to the mainland of County Mayo by a single bridge, is almost as westerly as one can get without falling off the country altogether. We drove in from the Mullet Peninsula on Monday afternoon, a lazy, winding route that took us leisurely along the stunning Wild Atlantic… Continue reading Boycotts, Bog Holes and Booleying (or, The Start of the Affair)
the backwards van 