Overview
We stopped in the Travelodge on
the Dublin western section of the ring road! Not our first choice of hotel
- but on this night other prices were unacceptable (£100+). No big
problem though, as we had to be at the port for 07:30!
When we considered the homeward
route - we quickly came to the conclusion that the EU Ten-T funded Rapid Charging
Network was more of a 'trucking route', rather than what we prefer - leisure/
pleasure motoring! So we opted for the Snowdonia Route - via Shrewsbury
and to remain west of the Midlands conurbations! i.e. Bridgenorth and
Kidderminster. Picking up the M40 at Warwick!
Farewell to Dublin
We had
chosen the Travelodge - Phoenix Park for our last stop. It was
super-convenient as we approached from the W on the M4/N4 - we
knew that crossing the city would have been a nightmare - with traffic
and circum-navigating the city, which would involve paying Tolls - on line! I
had looked at the website and found the implementation challenging, for
a non-resident. Dropping a few Euros in a tub is fine - but having
to do full registration was not interesting - for a visitor without working 3G!
With a ferry departing at 0805, we were up early and sneaking around in the dark, trying to cause no noise. The hotel had allowed us to charge from our room and allocated us a suitable room, on the ground floor. It was still 50 ft to the car park - so the long extension cable proved essential. However, scrambling in the gardens, pre-7 a.m., must have looked ridiculous!
Whilst the hotel had an eerie silence - not so the N4 into Dublin! It was only 7 miles - but there was lots of traffic lights and bus lanes - so, at times, it was a crawl!
However, we did make it comfortably and found ourselves given priority boarding - for being all-electric! The boarding service was truly excellent as the check-in staff called on the mobile radio to indicate we were 'priority' and the message was relayed from port staff to ship's crew and we free-flowed to our parking bay!
We were met by a ship's engineer who handled the whole connection service and we were quickly 'on charge'!
This was the Pod Point 16/32 amp service:
There also appear to be an option for a domestic socket and a further one with 16 amp Blue Commando! So I would guess they could charge up to 3 EVs!
EV Motorists should note that Irish Ferries are the only shipping company servicng Ireland that offers 'onboard charging' - one ship on the Dublin-Holyhead route and one on the Roeslare-Roscoff route.
Its certainly worth flxing your schedule to make use of these services!
Back to UK
The crossing to UK by the
Irish Ferries Ulysses was ultra smooth and took a modest 3.5 hours - it has every mod con!
3.5 hours is such a nice duration - time to to have a full breakfast, connect to the Free Wifi - even to catch '40 winks' on the comfy reclining chairs! As you 'recharge your personal batteries - its nice to know that the car is also being filled to the maximum!
However, come arrival time we were impatient to get moving - on what was (yet another) 'sky blue' day!
Stop a Betws-y-Coed
Having elected to take the scenic route down the A5, we had to forego the Rapid Charging Network, which is on the
Ecotricity Website and make use of the 'open church' offered by
Zap Map.
As you can see from the Zap Map site there are precious few chargers in Anglesey and N.Wales - indeed many of them are chargers donated by
Zero Carbon World (ZCW).
Our options were limited though and we cherry-picked the Chargemaster at ASDA (Bangor) and the ZCW at Betws-y-Coed.
Bangor was only 22 miles from Holyhead - but we were unsure of road ahead in terms of penalty to climb the hills and the potentially limted uptake, at the ZCW in Betws-y-Coed.
Apologies to the good folk of
Bangor, Gwynedd for not staying longer, a spin around the city centre and lunch at ASDA was our cultural peak! We will try to do better next time!
We head up the hill leading to Snowdonia, expecting the EVs range to drop like a stone - in fact this Thomas Telford engineered highway was bendy, but otherwise fairly gentle. It seems like a rise of only 200 ft in the 20 miles to
Betws-y-Coed and we cruised into the eclectic mountain pursuit's centre at the
Siabod Cafe with at least 60% of our range remaining! We had our bikes in the car and stout walking shoes - we plugged in the car and stuffed ourselves with home made apple pie and Cappuccino!
The setting is stunning - and they have a menu to match! See
Siabod Menu!
Get an insight into the potential of the Siobod local area, by watching their video!
However, we only managed a 30 minute walk by the mountain stream, which passes the cafe and our whole conversation was about what we were missing! Clearly there were passing places that didn't deserve to be overlooked - historical places, stunningly beautiful places - and as you will have seen in the video - thrilling activities to get involved in!
We've just go to do an EV_adventure to N.Wales - watch for the blog in 2015!
Next Stop Llangollen
It was a blissful drive from Betws-y-Coed to
Llangollen mostly - a gentle meander downhill. Our range help up well and we exploited the energy recovery capability to the full. Which was just as well, as there were no chargers of any type before Oswestry - we speculated on making Shrewsbury without a charge, but it was still touch and go! We did observe that the Llangollen marina had shore power, but we it was going to take time to drive over there and negotiate a connection - we opted instead for the touristic circuit!
Despite its very small size,
Llangollen - the town attracts 1000s of visitors daily! Apart from the natural beauty of the area - the town is very attractive indeed, with hanging baskets and other flower arrangements!
The steam railway is clearly a big attraction and the entire station is has all the artifacts from the 'age of steam'!
If you have time to spare you can see the trains in action earlier this year!
They also offered short canal cruises by horse-drawn canal boat - charming in its way, but not our choice for recreation!
Late September and there were still some canal boats circulating - again it has its charm - but life at 4-5 kts is not for us either!
Rather than make a trade off - we opted to simply take our ease by the weir at the
Cornmill Pub! Check out that link!
I'm sure it will tell the story of the weir and the historic Corn Mill; however, we opted for a light wine and a pint to amber nectar! The sun may have been fading - but it was strong - like the real ale that was recommend!
A superb pub - with commendations that would fill a book! Whist I cannot say - you can see it all from here - there is a temptation!
Last Stop in Wales - Pontcysylte Aquaduct
We all know that there is a famous aquaduct in N.Wales - some may even know that it was designed and built by Thomas Telford - some may even know its a UNESCO World Heritage Site - but I doubt that many non-Welsh EV drivers will remember that its the
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Check the link for the full background!
We were at the end of a long and exciting day - but we couldn't pass it by!
If you have time you might like to watch Julia Bradbury's documentary, on the Aquaduct:
Julia Bradbury - Llangollen and Pontcysyllte Aquaduct
Finally to our Hotel
You might have gathered that we had no hotel booking for this evening - partly because we wren't sure we could make Shrewsbury, but there was another factor - we were baulking at the cheapest hotel in Shrewsbury was either of 2 Travelodge's, at £69! Llangollen didn't seem to offer anything at all interesting - our experience with B&Bs has not been good, so no point in looking along the A5! In one final, inspired move - I tried on
Hotwire.com and search to find hotel in wider Shropshire - Hotwire offered the Hawkestone Park Golf Hotel (known to have an EV Charger) and the
Macdonald Hill Valley Spa H & Golf - it was a gift!
You might to try the link above and see if you can repeat the deal! I've not stayed in one before, but several hotels in the chain have Tesla Chargers and I have been naive enough to ask for a charge - that was back in the days when any plug would do. The answer then would in invariably be, to leave my number and we will call back - which didn't happen!
No such disappointments this time! Check in at the desk and after getting the room key - its "Oh and one special favour...?". We have now charged at more than a dozen hotels and we have NEVER been refused!
The MacDonald Resort are to be praised for the all-electric Golf Buggy policy - apparently they have 27 golf carts - all of which are electric! Our Mitsu was able to park on the golf buggy line and draw current (13 amp) from the 8, or more, charge-points!
