Polly Van to Camp

As many of my regular visitors to this blog will already be aware I am hopelessly disorganised. This sad state of affairs extends to many, if not most areas of my life not least blogging! Unlike my cyber friend Amanda from Feelgood Organic Hampers I do not follow through on my good intentions regarding gardening and producing my own food or scheduling blog posts for when I am on holiday!

Holidays you say? No it's not going to be anything exotic, in our house it seldom is. The most exotic holiday I've ever taken was the visit to the troglodyte cave hotel in Guadix, Spain. That of course is another story...

751 metres of Mt Errigal

No, it's camping yet again for us. Although I have managed to commandeer the plans and use them to my advantage much to everyone's disgust. Yesterday I booked us into Sleepy Hollows Campsite, which is a new one for us. It's still in Co Donegal, but it is also a few miles from the beach and only yards from the foot of Mount Errigal which I have determined to surmount during our well deserved rest from routine!(I wonder if this will count towards the mountaineering badge for the boys?)

After three days in the heart of the Donegal gaelteacht, (irish speaking area) where my children will have ample opportunity to practice their native language and gain confidence in using it for everyday things like shopping, we will move a little closer to the Atlantic Ocean. So much so that you can hear the waves lapping onto the shore from your berth nestling behind the sand dunes.

Downings, Co Donegal on a bad day - still no rain though!

My Mum describes Downings as being one of the last places that God created (presumably by then he'd learnt from his previous mistakes) and it's easy to see why. The sea is almost as blue as that of the mediteranean, the sands silver and the sun never ceases to shine - at least we've been lucky on that score. Last year as the rest of Ireland was doused in freezing cold rain the sun was splitting the stones on the north west coast of Donegal!

My only regret is that I still haven't saved enough invest in hiring a campervan. Compared with an average cost of between €20 & €30 per night and an overall investment of perhaps €300 in tents, airbeds, sleeping bags, etc the lap of luxury doesn't come cheap. Let's face it folks, Polly likes her bargain priced holidays!

I'm not exactly sure how I'd adjust to the confines of an RV after so many years of camping under canvas anyway. I dare say the children would be delighted, especially as it would have all mod cons and a telly! They'd be able to charge up their hand held computer gaming consoles and thinking about it, I'd be able to indulge my internet addiction and post while on holidays, listen to music and stand up while cooking or washing up.

There's generally a bathroom/shower area, which of course would do away with the midnight trips to the loo and a built in refridgerator too (strange combination of thoughts there?!) I'd also be able to indulge in my creative whims and use the electricity supply to heat emboss while making cards to send home, read by a good light and in the eventuality of the weather breaking keep warm and dry.

Me thinks I dost protest too much! Some very good friends of ours are heading in the opposite direction in one such vehicle at the same time as us and I really do have to admit that I am just a little bit jealous. I mean, who wouldn't be? Imagine getting up in the morning and piddling in your own loo at a time that suits you, rather than having to make yourself decent and then pluck up the energy to walk to the shower block. Yes, there are many advantages to hiring/owning a camper van and yes, I'd love one! Scratch that: I want one!!!!

Anyway, with all this beauty and my (too many) plans for excursions and mountaineering, it's quite unlikely that you'll be hearing much from me in the next couple of weeks. Then again, if I can get into the community centre beside the camp site I might even spend a couple of bob on logging in and posting some photos...

Camper Van, or no camper van, I still have to locate, prepare and pack for our excursion. So, if you will excuse me, it's time to get moving before we have to head off into town for the last Scouting activity of the summer. We're going bowling, having a sleep over, eating pizza and kayaking with Van Gillesan and the Tullamore Canoe Club at their open day tomorrow... (action packed weekend!)