Still a few months left of 2024 but the sports car season is over here in Sweden. Plans for 2025 are very much in the making. No dates set yet, but we will be going back to Italy and Brescia once more.
The route include the Mosel valley, Black forest, Route Grand Alpes, Brescia and one of the Mille Miglia routes,
Stay tuned for further updates!
Back home and time to clean the car, doing the laundry and summarize this years grand tour. We managed 6,450 km during 17 days. First the accounting, we spent in total 21.317 SEK on the hotels, 22.321 SEK on ferries and bridges. Plus 8.934 SEK on fuel. Meals and drinks not included, nor entrance fees to castles and museums.
The car, we bought a brand new Mazda MX-5 last year. We used it on the tour to Scotland. Since planned to be away for a couple of more days, we decided to buy a luggage rack and an additional suitcase. We managed to get hold of a used Mazda suitcase (no longer sold by Mazda). The luggage rack worked well although it’s a bit fiddly to fit the straps (in particular when it’s raining). We didn’t notice any increase in full consumption despite adding a box on top of the boot. The suitcase wasn’t entierly water proof. So, we used it for the laundry. We also used the set of bags we bought last year to keep things organized.
At home, we use a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. There are great when it’s dry and on track. But not so good when it’s wet. Given the destination and the fact that we had a couple of ferries to catch. We bought another set of tyres with a bit more threads. Some might argue that Yokohama AD08RS aren’t that much of all-weather tyres either, But they worked well both in rain and sunshine.
On the last couple of days, we noticed that the downshift from 4th to 3rd gear wasn’t as smooth as it should be. The manual gearbox on the 4th generation of Mazda MX-5 is a known weak spot. So, the car is now booked in for a visit to the garage. Should be covered under warranty but quite annoying.
Ferries and bridges, we had pre-booked the Öresund bridge as well as the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry via Scandlines. We’ve used thus route many times in the past. It worked out very smoothly this time as well. The bridge use number plate recognition. So, you just have to drive up to one of the gates, the light turn green and you can drive through. For the ferry, you have to scan the bar code on your booking confirmation. The machine is too high up if you sit in a sports car. But luckily, the lane is wide enough to allow you to get out of the car and operate the machine.
We used the ferry between Hoek van Holland and Harwich in both directions. Apart from a torrential rain on the way out, it went smoothly. They are very considerate with sports cars and you usually end up on the lower deck. Thus avoiding the ramp and risk of scraping the front of the car when embarking/disembarking. The breakfast onbord is better to be avoided. Once in Harwich, we usually opt for Costa in the harbour. On the way back, we just grab a sandwich and coffee on a service station.
The next ferry on the route was from Anglesey to Dublin. It’s a 3 hour trip. As usual, it was a bit confusing to find the way in the harbour (clearly intended for lorries, not turists).
Once on Ireland, we use three different road ferries. Payment by card or online worked well. They were a bit expensive by our standard (in Sweden, most road ferries are free of charge). 20+ EUR for a 10 minute boat trip might be a bit excessive.
From Ireland to Isle-of-Man, we took the ferry from Belfast to Douglas. This was a two and a half hour trip on a fast catamaran, doing 30 knots. To get back to England, we choose to take the ferry to Heysham instead of Liverpool.
Accomodations, we stayed at the following hotels and B&Bs; Good Morning Hotels in Lund, Sweden. This was just for a nights sleep while in transit. Very simple standard, but clean rooms, friendly staff and to our surprise a bar with outdoor seating. Works well if you just needs somewhere to sleep. Cheap as well at 984 SEK for a twin bed room. Black Boy Inn Hotel in Caernarfon, Wales. This was for the second night during the transfer to get to Ireland. A charming hotel within the city walls. Limited parking next to the hotel, so we had to park a bit further away. Parking was free during evening and night. 1.725 SEK for a twin bed room. We didn’t have time to try the breakfast in the morning since we had a ferry to catch. White Sands Hotel in Portmarnock was the first hotel on Ireland. Located just north of Dublin. In the evening, there was some football going on so the hotel bar was fully booked. It turned out that there weren’t any options nearby to get some food. The room costed 1.891 SEK for a twin bed room excluding breakfast. Parking was free outside the hotel. The next stop was Cork where we stayed at Commodore Hotel in Ballyvoloon. This was a really nice hotel, next to the water. There were several restaurants nearby, parking was free along the street during evening and night. The hotel also had an underground parking. The room costed 1.723 SEK for a twin bed room including breakfast. We continued our journey to Killarney where we stayed two nights at Killarney Court Hotel. We must have missed something when we did our research. This turned out to be a very busy and noisy hotel next to a major junktion and a service station. Luckliy, the city center was within walking distance. We opted to have breakfast at a little french café instead of the hotel. Parking was free just outside the hotel. Two nights in a twin bed room costed 3.536 SEK including breakfast (which we skipped).
Next stop was The Waters Country House in Newtown. This B&B is a little gem! Located some 5 minutes drive outside the village. It’s owned by a lovely, italian, couple. The building is quirky to stay the least with plenty of charm. It has both a library and a bar. Plus a wonderful full Irish breakfast. One night in a twin bed room costed 1.757 SEK including breakfast. Needless to say, parking was free. For dinner, you have to drive into Newtown. We continued north and the next hotel was Westport Woods Hotel & Spa in Westport. It’s ok as a hotel with large enough rooms and a small wood nearby. Situated in the outskirts of Westport. Parking was free and breakfast included for 1.995 SEK. BUT (in capital letters) avoid their restaurant. There are alternatives down by the harbour that must be better. Their ”catch of the day” should be renamed ”what we found at the bottom of the fridge today”. Luckily, the next stop was so much better. The Lodge @ Harvey’s Point was excellent. We had opted for the lodge which was a bit cheaper than the hotel. But with access to the same bar and restaurant. Lovely staff at the reception as a start. The rooms in the Lodge are small, but we knew that already when we booked. The hotel is located in the countryside next to a small lake outside Donegal. We had an excellent three course dinner. Great service and attention to details. This is a place we would consider coming back to just to relax and enjoy the food! One night at the lodge costed 1.701 SEK including breakfast.
We then continued to Northern Ireland where we stayed at Ballygally Castle Hotel just north of Belfast. We found out about this hotel via a youtube channel that we follow, Harry’s Garage. Harry Metcalf, who runs the channel, visited this hotel while driving his Jaguar XJ-C on the island. Anyway, the hotel is built next to an old castle by the sea. One night including breakfast and parking costed us 1.735 SEK. On Isle of Man, we spent three nights in Douglas at The Sefton Hotel. There was a small car park under the hotel but also a publicerad car park nearby. We are usually not fans of public car parks, but we had to use this the third night since the hotel car park was full. The hotel sits along the main street next to the beach. Like most of Douglas, it had seen better days. But it was ok, especially considering that three nights including breakfast only costed us 3.373 SEK. The last hotel night was again at Good Morning Hotels in Lund, Sweden.
Things to do, we had an ambitious plan of things to do. But subject to change and the weather. We were only three people this year, which made things easier. See each day in the blog for further details of what we did plus more photos.
During last part of the transfer, we decided to drive through Snowdonia national park. We visited the area back in 2019 (see the first part of the blog for more details and inspiration). Once on Ireland, we spent half a day in Dublin. The weather wasn’t great but it was worth taking a look while there. Driving in Dublin wasn’t fun, to say the least. The next day we drove to the Wicklow Mountains National Park. It was foggy in the morning, but it cleared up later on. Really nice views in that area and worth visiting. Baltimore Beacon and Mizen Head are both worth a visit, in particular Mizen Head with breathtaking views.
Ring of Kerry plus the addition of Skellig Ring is well worth to drive. There are multiple places to stop at along the drive. We only did a few stops. Kilkee cliffs is a better option than the Cliffs of Moher. The later is full of tourists and buss tours plus shopping. Not really the nature experience we were looking for. Further north, Connemara National Park is worth a visit (and some hiking). More cliffs can be viewed at Downpatricks Head. This is also a great alternative to the Cliffs of Moher. As is Malin Head on the most northern part of Ireland.
Once on Isle of Man, driving the TT course over the mountain is a must. The Motor Museum is worth a visit, despite the less than cheerful staff. If the weather is better than when we visited, take the train up on Mount Snaefell. The views are spectacular according to Google.
Conclusion, we didn’t really have any clear expectations about Ireland. Having watched several youtube films helped us doing the planning. But we were positively surprised, great roads, stunning scenery, friendly people. We might fly back at some point to explore Dublin (and eventually spend a week or so at Harvey’s Point). Isle of Man can now be ticked off the list, but we won’t be coming back.
Final stretch, Lund to Åkersberga (north of Stockholm). The weather forecast indicated rain. So, we opted for highway driving to get home. 630 km among caravans, mobile homes, and the usual trucks on the highway. Not our definition of fun driving, But an effective way to get home. We did take a look at the Calimoto app though. Then it would have taken us 12 hours instead of 6 hours. Maybe another time.
We stopped for lunch in Jönköping, at the A6 golf course. There used to be an artillery regement there, thus the name.
Once we got home, we didn’t do much. But in the morning after, the luggage rack was removed, the BBS wheels fitted and the car got a much needed wash.
Soon we’ll summarize the tour, so stay tuned.
Hoek van Holland to Lund, 912 km through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Based on our experience from day 2, we were a bit sceptic. We’ve driven this route many times before, so we know that anything can happen. The good thing was that we didn’t have a specific ferry to get to in time.
It was warm when we arrived in the harbour. For once, getting off the ferry and through the border controll went smoothly. Last year it to more than an hour. We bravely set off with the softtop folded. Despite some very dark clouds above is. We quickly had to reconsider a couple of kilometers later. The dutch weather gods gave us a wet welcome back.
We had breakfast at a service station once more (better than the ferry though). There were more intense showers along the way towards Germany. The weather then shifted to blue skies and 34 degrees!
Two road works and one accident caused some stau. But all in all, the drive went well. We even managed to catch an earlier ferry from Puttgarden than the one we had booked.
There was very little traffic on the roads in Denmark and we arrived at the motel in Lund just after 20:00. A cold beer at the terrace was very welcome.
Tomorrow we’ll drive the last part back to Åkersberga, just north of Stockholm.
We left Douglas and Isle of Man in the early morning. The roads were almost empty. Quite a difference from the chaos when we arrived.
We had to skip the breakfast at the hotel in order to catch the ferry. So, we had a light breakfast on the ferry. We had booked seats in front of the boat. The views were great snd the sea calm. There were a few fishing boats, many wind turbines, and some gas/oil riggs.
Once we got off the ferry in Heyesham, we set off towards Harwich. Some 515 km across England. We only had one roadwork with some queues. A quick lunch at a service station and finally an excellent cod & chips at the Pier in Harwich. It’s our goto place for dinner where we’ve been several times.
We are now waiting to board the ferry to Hoek van Holland. Tomorrow will be a long drive, the plan is to get all the way to Lund in Sweden.
Misty mountains, that summarice today’s activities. Based on the earlier weather forecast, the weather today should be better than yesterday. However, the weather gods decided differently. It was cloudy and windy in Douglas. As we embarked on the train from Laxey up to Mount Snefell the weather detoriated. There was a dense fog/low cloud over the mountain. The prerecorded guide told us about various views. Which got the whole train laughing. We could hardly see the ground next to the train!
After a light lunch at the top station, the weather got worse and the rain poured down. Even the train cars were leaking.
Once we got down to Laxey, the rain stopped. We decided to walk to the waterwheel while we were there.
We took the tram back to Douglas and did some shopping. A cap, a t-shirt and some stickers as memories of being at Isle of Man.
We had dinner at the Terminus tavern, which was good. Now we need to go and pack our stuff and get ready for an early ferry to England tomorrow morning.
Cloudy, windy and rainy day today. So, we decided to explore various museums. We had noted down a few already during the planning of this Grand tour. Which happened already late last year. There was a thick fog up in the mountains which made for some slightly scary driving.
First stop was Peel on the other side of the island. We had noted down three things to do there. First out was the Peel castle. This was outdoor, but the rain had stopped briefly. Despite the state of the castle now. It’s easy to get an idea of how impressive it must have been back in it’s golden days. The second quest was to visit the location of the Peel factory. We found the road but no indication as of where the factory had been located. We’d read about a plaque that eventually should be there. The third quest was to visit the Manx Transport Heritage museum. Which turned out to be open on Saturdays and Sundays only.
Next stop was Port Erin and the railway museum. Once we managed to find a parking space, we walked to the museum in the rain. This was a small but very well maintained museum.
Next stop was Manx Aviation and Military museum in Castletown. It’s located next to the airport. On the outside it doesn’t look like much. But inside it tells an extensive story of Isle of Man during WW1 and WW2.
Time to get some lunch. We saw a small sign along the road that pointed towards a café on the other side of the airport. It turned out to be very good!
We then drove to the northern part of the island. That’s only 50 minutes drive. There we visited the Isle of Man Motor Museum. It contains a rather impressive collection of motorbikes and cars. There are quite a few microcars including several Peel models. More surprisingly is a rather large collection of american cars. It’s unclear to us why they have ended up on Isle of Man.
In the evening, we drove up the mountain again to Creg-ny-baa. This restaurant sits next to the TT course.
Tomorrow we plan to catch the train to mount Snefell.
Today we left Ireland behind us and took the ferry to Isle of Man. We’ll have two full days to explore the island. If the weather gods are with us, we plan to take the train up on Snefell. We’ve booked one of the sea front hotels in Douglas for the stay. Apart from driving the TT course and going up Snefell. We have planned a few other activities as well.
We had a 30 minute drive from the previous hotel to the ferry. It turned out that the traffic in Belfast was a lot easier to deal with compared to Dublin. So we had a lot of time in the harbour waiting to embark on the ferry.
We arrived in Douglas at Isle of Man around 13:30. After checking in at the hotel, we went out looking to get some lunch. It turned out that many of the restaurants and cafés were closed. Either permanently or just because the tourist season hadn’t started yet. But we got the impression that Douglas is struggling a bit. We saw several cancelled building projects as well as empty houses and stores. Even the railing along the promenade was in a state of disrepair, despite being just over 20 years old.
After a late lunch, we decided to have a go at the famous TT course. Too bad that the road wasn’t closed for us to use. We had to stay behind busses, a tractor and general afternoon rush. Nevertheless, weather an incredible drive. All respect for the motorcycle drivers who compete here. It took us 1:08 to drive the full course. They do it in less than 20 minutes! The current record, according to Wikipedia, is 16:36.114.
Once back at the hotel, we went to a fish restaurant and ate a delicious curry.
Tomorrow we will continue to explore the island.
Today we left Ireland and drove into Northern Ireland. But before that, we had a wonderful breakfast at Harvey’s Point. Including locally baked bread, a chef that prepared omelett on order, fresh orange juice etc. Something you would expect from a much more expensive accomodation. Check them out at https://www.harveyspoint.com (no, we don’t get any kick-back from this link!).
The first stop was still in Ireland, Malin Head. This is the most northern point on the island. Apart from a chaotic parking situation, it was s nice place to explore. We walked around the area for a while before we continued out journey.
We took the ferry from Greencastle to Magilligan Point. Once we entered Northern Ireland, we started to look for somewhere to eat lunch. The restaurant in Magilligan was closed. So was also several other restaurants that we passed. In the end, we ended up at a camping site where we found some Ceasar sallad which was ok.
After the lunch, we set off towards the Gigants causeway. As expected, the parking was fully occupied. So, we drove on to the dark hedges. Although they didn’t looked as impressive as they might to on film. It’s still worth a visit. Beware that the parking fee is 6 GBP at the moment which micht be a bit to much.
This nights hotel is Ballygally Castle Hotel. The room is great and so is the location and service. The restaurant isn’t so impressive though. We wanted to order some monk fish, but that was no longer available. So, we ended up with a dry hamburger instead.
Tomorrow we will be heading to Isle of Man!
We continued our journey north along the Atlantic coast. Through the counties of Mayo and Sligo. The first stop along the way was Downpatrick Head. Yet another impressive cliff that drops off into the Atlantic ocean.
The second stop was the Devil’s chimney in Sligo. But this was clearly the wrong season since there was no water in the waterfall. Looks cool on the internet though. Beware that there are very limited parking spaces along the road.
The next step was another waterfall that we got as a suggestion from one follower of the blog to visit. There wasn’t a lot of water, but sufficient to get an idea at least. We also had lunch at the tea house there as well.
After refueling we drove to the hotel. We’ve opted for the cheaper The Lodge @ Harvey’s Point. In the main building there are proper hotel rooms whereas the Lodge has smaller rooms and is situated a bit further away. But the whole facility is very nice, super friendly staff, clean rooms and amazing food. We had dinner in the bar, there are also fine dining in the restaurant for those that want that.
Tomorrow we head into Northern Ireland.
Europe by car 