Day 9 - Enniskillen - Co Cavan - Do Dublin - Dublin city

Overview

We have seen some phenomenal contrast on this scenery and have marvelled at the sheer diversity from both S and N Ireland.  We didn't really foresee that the return route could possibly provide a completely new dimension - but IT DID!

On the evening before we had been on the Atlantic beach at Bundoran and the ruggedness of the western shoreline - but 20 mile heading east and suddenly we were in to a 'parkland' setting.  Parkland gently undulating with deciduous trees, rich arable farmland and by the vast expanse of Lower Lough Erne - all 26 miles of it!

Here is our route - including excursions:

Belmore Court and Motel

We had over-nighted at the swish, modern Belmore Court and Motel, situated just ok the edge of the Enniskillen town centre.  Enniskillen is the capital town for County Fermanagh – it has a rich history as a ‘garrison town’, being at the two large expanses of Lough Erne.  It’s a truly beautiful setting and we were not surpised to learn that the town has been award the prize for the "Best Kept Town Award" for Northern Ireland” – what doesn’t surpise me is that the town has won the prize 10 times!

There can be no doubt that the Belmore Court has made its own contribution to the town's status - it certainly proudly displays a number of significant awards in various aspect of the business.  Its profile on Tripadvisor is awash with praise and shows that the Belmore Court 'team' are worthy of the 96% satisfaction rating and an 'Award for Excellence'!   When you read all the Belmore Court - other awards - they are probably in the 'top echelon' for UK and Ireland!

Selecting a hotel from afar, we selected the Belmore Court because it had EV charging - solving one of a touring EV drivers highest priorities - start the day on 'Max'.  The installation is one of the EV network enable through the charity Zero Carbon World and has a 16/32 amp Type-2 socket, plus a 13 amp domestic socket option - ideal!

Breakfast was sumptuous and we got time to meet up with the front of house team: Terry, Alice and Sam - who left us in no doubt that EV drivers were extra popular and very much reflected their enthusiasm for 'environmentally sustainable tourism'! My TripAdvisor entry describes the Belmore Court, as the 'Ultimate Electric car Destination in N.Ireland' - in truth it was even better than that!

Manor Hotel and Marine

There were lots of activities and touring possibilities for Enniskillen; however both I have been lifetime boaters and we just had to check out boating options on Lough Erne - we headed for Manor Marine about seven miles N of town.  Its actually part of a huge parkland estate, which include a luxury hotel - The Manor House Country Hotel and Spa; the Manor House Golf Club plus cottages to rent and cruising boats to hire.

As we were not in immediate need of pampering, we headed for the Marina Office and were met by Paula, who manages the cruise boats.

Whilst hearing about the cruising options was a priority - the highest priority is always to get the EV hooked up, wherever possible.  Paula, who had never seen and EV before was quite bemused that 16 amp boat outlets could each support and EV!  All is needed is a simply made patch that uses a Blue Commando ply and a domestic socket - that accepts the standard EVSE! 

This was newest cruiser on the fleet - about 38 ft long - sleep 6-8 in considerable luxury and attracts holiday makers from all over Europe!  Hire fee - was out of our budget - but if you have 6-8 crew to share the cost its is much more affordable!

We focussed in on this 20ft 2/4 berth cruiser, which we would find acceptable with weekly rate starting at £600.  Cruising speed would be similar and it would be easier to manoeuvre in tight-docks - on a windy day!

Sceptics might say - OK nice boats - but where can you go?  Well the answer is - all over Ireland!  150 year ago Irish workers travelled all over the world and provided the skills to build the waterways that enable the industrial revolution - so it should surprise no one that they connected of the lakes and rivers of Ireland too.  This diagram shows the route south from Enniskillen to the Shannon River and Estuary.  Not show are the further branches that link Loch Erne, with Dublin - indeed you can connect all the way through to the Port of Cork - about 400 miles!

One of the places we passed going to / from Manor Marine was the neat like airport at St Angelo - there are no scheduled services - but it has been host to many epic flying event, over its long history!  Apparently the airfield opened September 1941 as a fighter base with 133 Sqn (Spitfires) and 134 Sqn (Hurricanes).  Later it hosted aircraft from 16 Group, part of Coastal Command and there were several squadrons of Catalina and Sunderland flying-boats operating from the runway and from Lough Erne.  In a later phase there were Bristol Beaufighter anti-submarine aircraft!

Hard to imagine that the sky was once filled with the drone of heavy piston-engined aeroplanes!

Now it was time to move on and we returned to the Belmore Court - to ensure we had the maximum range to make the first leg of our journey to Dublin!

A Navigation Error

We knew that the 1st Rapid Charger would be available after 84 miles in the town of Navan.  At A-road speed we expected that out Mitsubishi would runout about 10 miles short.  OK, we could have drive at the speed of a horse-driven hearse and eeked out the range - but that hard to do - besides with Fast Chargers to choose from - we thought that a touristic stop would be no penalty!

How wrong we were!

This was our first (and last) navigation error of the trip and our simple error was to be compounded by the under-performing charge-points. In the above plot of that morning you can see how we went N to Manor Marine, before returning to Enniskillen.  We left with almost a 100% charge and headed off towards Navan, but missed a sign on the W side of town and headed for Sligo.  Our error was detected at Belcoo - about 10 miles W of our route and when we looked to the GPS, there seemed to be no direct re-route possibilities - we had to return to the W side Enniskillen to get back on track!

Now our available range was down by 20+ miles - worse still the only Rapid Charger was 7 Miles N of Enniskillen, near St Angelo!  Here is the photo.  We arrived nearly 30 miles down on range - no matter the charger worked and the boost was underway.  Some will know that these chargers work fairly quickly to 82% and you have to restart them and they will take you up to 96% - this we did.  We were now 2 hours behind schedule - but even worse, when we got to the Dublin road we had a range deficit of 20+ miles and to gain that range would penalise us 2-3 hours on a Fast Charger! 

County Cavan and More Woes!  

We elected to make that Fast Charger in the City of Cavan, in the County of Cavan.   The first charger proved difficult to find - due to the lack of detail in defining the location - Dublin Road is 2+ miles long. It didn't help that it was on the kerb-side hidden by parked cars.  Well the 'frikkin' charger didn't 'frikkin' work!

The next charger was even harder to find - described at 'Off Farnham Road' - Farnham Road being a mile long!  Had it been defined at at the Old Court House - or in the Ministry of Fisheries and Food - we might have found it sooner!  At least it worked!  We lost 40 mins in our searches and abortive attempts to get 'on charge' - our day was slipping away!

We had time to kill and at least we were on the Cavan Walking History Tour.  Just a shame that beg foreigners we don't have 3G access to get an overview.

At least it wasn't far to the Cavan RC Cathedral The Cathedral of St Patrick and St Felim!

A stunningly impressive building - worthy of any European Capital - though in a city of 10,000 people!

Next Charger Connected - but Delivered Zero!

Having taken nearly 2 hours on the charger, we knew our range was still marginal - but we decided to push on - to Virginia.  A beautiful wide boulevard with the Fast Charger clearly in view - it was irresistible.  Swipe, flug-in - connected-lights change - success!

No so - 15 mins later we check the car and the post - all seems well - except there are no additional miles and the upload was recorded as zero Kw!  

The next has ICE's so we went on the Pavement!

Next attempt at was at Kells the charger again on the footpath - and blocked by two cars!  With a range of 4 miles and a distance to the Navan Rapid Charger of 7 miles - we bump up the kerb - block the footpath completely and get plugged-in!

Not an instant success - it makes lots of bleeps - appears to do a start-over - but does eventually deliver!

The sun is setting, the evening cool and we are anxious to get on our way!  Fortunately, the Garda (Police) don't appear and we are soon on our way!

Navan Rapid Worked

The Navan charger was a welcome sight and we were soon rolling towards Dublin down the the N3/ M3 to Dublin - with range to spare!  

At the Dublin Ring Road we strike it lucky by ignoring all the main routes and taking the only non-Motorway exit from the interchange.  GPS went haywire and couldn't cope with the unrecognised roads - but luck of the Irish, the Travelodge Phoenix Park was right there on the slip road!