Another cool overcast morning the folk in Southern Ireland aren’t as helpful as the Northern Ireland they don’t put themselves out of their way to help you and they always look miserable no smile or hello. Tried to sort out my Vodafone PAYG as it wouldn’t accept my Debit Card to pay on the internet, but the chap said it is a UK SIM and I needed to go online to chat with the UK. You would think he might have tried that for me.

Today is a long day as we will be back tracking to Letterkelly to Donaghey Motorhomes to have the two dents in the drawer repair plus the back door flyscreen adjusted. Easy drive there on the N15 to Ballybofey then onto the N13 to Letterkelly with nice scenery of rolling countryside, small villages by the roadside, forests and farm houses dotted in the valleys and distant hills. Diesel is much dearer in Southern Ireland topped up before Letterkelly €1.195 and the chap wasn’t happy when Richard asked if he could fill up the motorhome water tank (50Lt), he thought it was for the radiator.

No luck with the drawer at Donaghey Motorhomes, Jim the Service Manager couldn’t even find our email took his time to look at the dents and after a long wait said it would be 5 to 6 weeks for a new drawer front panel and even then it may not be the same colour. I just think the job was too small and not worth it to them, what a pain and the only thing we got out of it was a large bottle of chemicals for the toilet.

To top it off there were roadworks on the main road through Ballybofey and when we approach the chap turned the sign to “no through road” and walked away no signs to divert. The road we turned onto did not go back onto the main road so we back tracked to the other side of the road and finally found signs to divert back onto N15. A wasted morning of nothing going right except for once the satnav guiding us to Ballyshannon with no problems.

Bypassed Donegal to on the N15 and to top it off no layby’s to stop for coffee and lunch just the usual scenery of small villages and farmland, views of Donegal Bay, road lined with trees and the Dartry Mountains in the distance as we approached the Ballyshannon through the outer suburbs before reaching the main centre.

Ballyshannon overlooks the Erne Estuary with panoramic views of the surrounding maintains, lakes and forests, it is of Ireland’s oldest and most historical towns having been created by Royal Charter in 1613. Plus there is a statue in town of Ballyshannon’s most famous musical son Rory Gallagher (born 1948) one of the world’s most famous guitarists.

It is now rain making exploring the town difficult plus the Tourist Information is closed so we have no maps etc. Camping and caravan parks are far and few in-between in Southern Ireland Richard was lucky to find Lakeside Camping and Caravan Park on his IPad. Small basic site on the Assaroe Reservior outside of Ballyshannon, a bit expensive €29.00 includes WIFI which is very slow. Toilet and shower building is unisex very basic but lovely hot water to stand under after the quick showers of our confined motorhome ensuite.

The Owner told us there is no Tourist Information and gave us a guide book listing the Touring Caravan and Camping Parks. So tomorrow if it is not rain we will explore the long bridge spanned from the north bank to the port on the south bank and if the famous scenic Assaroe Falls is not too far away we will go there.

Hopefully the rain stops tomorrow as it is not nice touring in the rain.