This is a guest post by Lucas from Elektrisiert Reisen (all images in this post © by Lucas). Take a look at his website with some interesting EV trip reports through Europe.
After many trips to Scandinavia, it was about time to go in another direction. I was still going north, but this time more to the west.
On Sunday, September 8, 2019, I started my trip to Ireland. After an early start at around 05:30 a.m., I travelled from Vienna via Linz to Salzburg where I crossed the border to Germany.
In Germany, I passed Munich, Ulm, and Karlsruhe to spend the night in Saarbrücken. I arrived in Saarbrücken at 6:15 p.m. after driving 885 km at relaxing speeds.
After a good sleep, I started the next morning at 07:30 a.m. to continue my journey. Since Luxembourg was on my way, I took a break to have a walk in the city.
During my stay in the city, I parked my car in a garage which also has charging stations. These chargers were free to use, the parking was already expensive enough! After some hours walking through the city, it was about time to get going again. Before leaving Luxembourg, I needed to charge a little bit more. The free charging in Luxembourg was not really fast, so I wouldn’t have been able to arrive at the next charger in Belgium without some additional charging.
The rest of the day’s trip was very smooth and I arrived in Dunkerque in France where I spent the night.
After a short night, I left the hotel at 04:30 a.m. the next morning. Well somehow, I was also happy to leave the hotel, which was not very nice for the price. From Dunkerque, I took the ferry to Dover, which takes about 3 hours.
After the ferry ride, I got on my way to the first charging station in the UK. It was a very nice and convenient way to start and stop the charging – only with the credit card.
From Folkestone, I passed London on the M25 and continued my journey through Reading, Newport, Swansea to arrive in Fishguard where I took the ferry to Rosslare Harbour. I was way too early at the harbour, so I had time to enjoy the landscape around. Sadly, it was very cold and windy, so I did not spend a lot of time outside.
After some hours of waiting, it was finally time to get on board. At around 3:45 a.m. the ferry arrived in Ireland, so I went looking for a place to spend the rest of the night in the car.
Some hours of sleep later, I started exploring the streets around Ireland. From Killinick I drove to Ballyhack where I had breakfast at the small harbour. After this, I went to Jerpoint Abbey and took a tour. From there I went to Kilkenny to take a walk through the city.
During a city walk, it is always good to charge the car, so I looked up some charging places. The first one I wanted to use, was not accessible. The parking place had a barrier and didn’t open because there were no free spots according to the display. It was clearly visible that the charging ports were free. But there were some other places as well, so I navigated to the next. This place was free and I was able to charge. I also got told that parking in Kilkenny is free when you are charging. Rules about free parking for electric vehicles are different in every city. Most of the time I paid the (mostly) very small parking fee, just to keep away some trouble. Because the last night was not really enjoyable, I decided to search for a room earlier. In Carlow, I found a nice one. Right next to the Bed & Breakfast there was a parking lot with charging stations. When I arrived, I plugged in the car and took a walk in the city. After eating I got back to the car, which was already charged up enough and I removed it from the charger.
The next morning, I decided to skip Dublin and spend more time in the countryside.
I took some small, enjoyable roads and drove all the way to Monaghan where I had a late lunch.
During eating and walking through the city, I plugged in my car. After two hours in the city, I had seen everything and the car was charged up enough again. For staying overnight, I went to Carlingford to stay at the marina right next to the sea.
On the following day, it was time to cross the border to Northern Ireland. Well, technically I had been to Northern Ireland the day before, but this was only following the N53. Driving on this road you spend about 4 minutes driving 5.4 km through Northern Ireland. This time I’m going to stay longer and even spend the night there! After waking up to a beautiful sunrise, it was time to leave Carlingford and go to Newry. Eating breakfast and walking through the city took long enough to recharge the car to 95%. From Newry, I drove all the way to Carrickfergus to take a look at the castle and enjoy the view.
This time I wasn’t lucky and all the charging stations were occupied, so I had to take a small detour to go to a fast charger. After charging up I was happy to leave the motorway again to drive on some small roads and go to the Causeway Coastal Route. The first stop on this route was Glenarm, where a charger right next to the marina was waiting for me.
From there I drove to Torr Head which is a very scenic viewing point and the closest point to Scotland.
The road going there is very small and twisty, but with an electric vehicle very fun to drive. Because it was already getting late, I drove to the Guesthouse in Portrush where I spent the night. To finish the day, I took a walk in the city, ate fish & chips, and went to bed early.
The next day I went back on the road to visit the Giant’s causeway.
During my visit, I was able to charge my car. After spending some time in the museum to warm up (it was really cold and windy outside), I drove to Magilligan Ferry Port to cross over to Greencastle. Instead of going all around this short ferry crossing saved over an hour of driving and probably a charging stop. From Greencastle, I went to the Sand Dunes at Lagg.
Sadly, I didn’t spend much time there because the wind was blowing really hard and it even started to rain, other than that it is really interesting to see. Afterward, I went all the way around to take a look at the dunes from the other side. It was not the best, but nice anyway.
The next stop on my route was the Glenevin Waterfall.
After sitting in the car for some time it was about time to take a small walk. After being to Norway and seeing huge waterfalls this one has not impressed me that much, but the surroundings are very nice to see. On my way to Letterkenny, I had a short break in Buncrana to charge a little bit and get some supplies from the nearby store. In Letterkenny, I met with a friend which was also in Ireland and did a similar route the other way around. After three hours in Letterkenny, the car was nearly fully charged and we split up again and continued our journeys. For me, it was time to go in the direction of the Glenveagh National Park where I spent the night.
Early in the morning, I continued my drive. I charged up my car in Falcarragh, where I had some breakfast. This is not a very big city and I struggled to find something to eat in the morning. In the end, I found everything needed and charged enough to get to my next destination. This next stop was Dungloe.
Sadly, it was very rainy, but the view of the sea is very nice. I only stopped there for half an hour. Continuing the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ I stopped in Killybegs and Donegal before arriving in Streedagh Beach.
It looks really nice, unfortunately, the weather did not get better and I was not even able to see ‘Benbulbin’. Following the road, I did a short stop in Sligo and continued my way to Castlebar where I just had a fast-charging stop. I did skip one part of the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ because this region was lacking a little bit of charging infrastructure. Looking at it in retrospect, it would have been no problem to go there. Nonetheless, I needed to fit everything in my schedule to be home in time. From Castlebar, I went to Clifden where I stayed in a hotel for the night.
The next day I started the drive by following the ‘Sky Road’, which is a really cool road with good views.
Continuing on the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ I stopped in Galway to explore the city a little bit.
This day the weather was better, at least it was not raining. The next destination on the route were the Cliffs of Moher, probably the most famous cliffs in Ireland.
After spending a lot of time there, walking around taking photos I decided to find something to eat. As there was a charging station close by, I decided to go there and find something around. Well, the car park with the charging station was a little bit outside the city, but I managed to find some fish & chips. There I met a nice EV driver from Limerick, we talked a lot until my car was charged to 100%. When I was at the marina in Kilkee, the sunset was very nice so I stopped there and watched it.
After it went dark, I drove a little bit outside the city to find a spot for the night.
On the following day, I woke up to an amazing sunrise. My spot for the night had a really nice view to enjoy it. I drove all the way to Limerick to do some sightseeing in the city, which is a really nice place.
From there I already went to the Hotel where I spent the night, but I just checked in before I continued my route to Dingle.
At Dingle, I relaxed a little bit and walked the streets before taking the ‘Slea Head Drive’ which is a very beautiful panoramic road on this peninsula.
Sadly, I did not take the Connor Pass on my way back as it was already getting dark and the view would be limited anyway.
After a good night and a great breakfast, it was time to leave and go to Killarney to get on the ‘Ring of Kerry’.
After driving this road, I ended up in Killarney again, where I took a walk through the city. This time I was using the slow charger as I spent some time in the city finding something to eat. As it was getting later, I was looking for a place to stay and went to Bantry, where it was possible to stay at the marina.
On my last full day in Ireland, I did the last kilometres of the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ and stopped at some charging places to explore the surrounding areas.
The town of Kinsale was a very nice place. Maybe it was also the weather which made everything look even better.
Arriving in Cork I had a long walk through the city, which was the first ‘big’ city after a long time during this trip.
Next destination on the way: the famous city of Cobh, it was the last harbour the Titanic has docked before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
After leaving Cobh it was time to go to my hotel for the night in Dungarvan. There was also a charging station next to the hotel where I parked my car while getting some food. When I was finished, the car was also and I could repark to the hotel parking.
The last day in Ireland started a little bit cloudy, but after some time the weather got better – even the sun was visible!
From Dungarvan, I took some small roads to Tramore, where I spent some time at Tramore Beach.
Continuing to Dunmore East, I have seen a Lighthouse on the other side and I wanted to go there.
I took the ferry from Passage East to Ballyhack, to shorten the drive (50 km detour). The Hook Lighthouse is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world.
There I enjoyed some time before heading back to Rosslare Harbour. This time the ferry had a much more decent departure time and I arrived at 10 p.m. in my room in Fishguard.
The next days were just crossing the UK and going back with the ferry to France. After arriving in Dover, I spent the night in Belgium. On Sunday it took some time to cross the Netherlands.
On Monday I visited some friends which I got to know on a trip to Latvia in July 2019. After lunch, I had to get going to cross Germany halfway. On the last day, I only had 600 km to go and arrived at 4 p.m. in the afternoon.
The whole trip was 6934 km. The charging costs were only about 150 € because charging at ESB in Ireland was free. The start of the trip was on September 8, it ended on September 24.
EV Overlanding 