We made a decision regarding all that extra time we accumulated during our efficient (theoretically) travels in Türkiye. Why not go to Ireland? After studying the calendar we determined there was just enough time to visit England and Ireland as well. When we traveled the UK in 2016 we planned on visiting Ireland but as it turned out, time was running short for us and the weather there was a disaster. We therefore decided to save Ireland for a future trip where we could do it justice and spend more time exploring Wales. It appears that that time has just arrived. Driving from Turkiye to Ireland on the same trip may sound crazy to many considering the two locations are such a significant distance apart but, the fact is, Ireland is not that far away from Dumo in Germany where we’ll be returning the motorhome in June. So, regardless of wherever we were going to travel, we would need to cover most of this long drive north anyway. Actually we have just enough time for a relaxed visit to Ireland with time left over for some quality travel in Wales. This will then complete my list of visiting and exploring every EU country so… here we go!.

Leaving Mt. Olympia, our plan was to drive east to Albania through northern Greece but nasty weather in the mountain region had us change plans to a route further south. We entered Albania with few expectations other than what we had heard from other travellers, “a very nice country with friendly people”. Good to hear considering not that many years ago Albania was as locked down as North Korea is now. When Bert and I traveled Europe in 1972 the travel book we used had two words regarding Albania… “Forget it”.

I can pleasantly report that the Albania of today really impressed us with its natural beauty and it’s warm and welcoming people. In Shkoder we visited a historically significant castle high above our campground next door and met some locals dressed in traditional clothing on their way to a festival celebration. Albania is on the development ladder and still has a ways to go before it reaches the standards of Croatia but it’s clearly on its way to reaching that goal and I don’t think it’ll be long before Albania is a top travel destination. Did I mention that Albania is also a great economic bargain for travellers right now?

Further up the coast in Montenegro we stopped in another historically fantastic place called Kotor. This place is eye candy with a serious castle that was built on an almost vertical mountainside making it a real physical challenge to anyone wanting to explore it. We passed on that climbing experience. The huge and beautiful protected bay is a popular place for travellers in buses, cruise ships and motorhomes too, so you can imagine how crowded this confined area gets, especially during the summer.

Croatia is a fantastic country with a coastline unmatched in it’s beauty and after four visits we’re still not tired of it. We had a great stay in a very memorable campground on the Adriatic before heading inland to visit a UNESCO World Heritage park called “Plitvicka Jezera”. Wow, this is a massive and magical place with a stack of sixteen lakes that overflow themselves and send a blanket of water through the forest to each of the lakes below. Very impressive natural wonder but also very crowded. We opted for the short 6 kilometre walking tour winding up the mountain but as we walked along we were thinking about how much Karen and Steve would enjoy the 16 kilometre trail option.

After Croatia we made a beeee-line drive north for the English Channel. We drove across the top of rainy Italy, stopping in Verona of course, before heading to the 11.6 kilometre “Mont Blanc” tunnel into France. Interestingly, we added up the length of all the tunnels in very close proximity to each other and the total length including old Mont Blanc was over 35 kilometres. The newer tunnels BTW, are truly engineering marvels, not that ageing Mont Blanc tunnel isn’t. With quick stops at Lake Annecy and Reims we made it to Calais on the French Coast in record time with only about $340 in Tolls (Ouch).

We jumped on the ferry from Calais to Dover and carefully (on the wrong side of the road) drove to Canterbury, a favourite place of ours. From Canterbury we’ve driven up the east side of England and then across some beautiful English countryside towards Manchester. We’re now in northern Wales at a great campsite that we stayed at in 2016 as we wait for our ferry to Ireland (Holyhead to Dublin) on May 9th.

Sorry, I don’t have a map outlining our repositioning travel venture as I don’t have a map scaled small enough to show that much distance in one picture but, I don’t think that will be a problem regarding a map of Ireland.