We returned early this morning from a very enjoyable weekend in Ireland... here's the low down:
Friday morning 2:30am, left Kent with a full tank of fuel, a full boot, the kids strapped in. Route was M20, M25, M1. A500, A51, A55 all the way to Holyhead in north Wales. Arrived there at 7:10 & met our friends who were heading to Ireland for the first time. They were in a 2005 Disco 3 TDV6 HSE. We got the 8:55 ferry, and finally drove off the boat in Dun Laoghaire at 10:40. We drove west then, to my folk's place in Galway. Total mileage for the day was 450. Most notable was the way my humble Touareg left my friend's Discovery for dead - it really did accellerate well, and was much better on fuel than his too.
Saturday, not too much driving involved, probably about 50 miles all told doing some shopping etc. Total miles so far on this trip: 500.
Sunday, went out west towards a town called Carraroe. Began to be amaxed by the amount of Touaregs on the road in Ireland - mostly 3.0 V6 TDI's - some commercial vehicles (i.e. no windows or rear seats) but mostly proper Touaregs! That was another 140 miles before I had to fill up at a place called Cong (Ashford Castle) where it tool 95 litres to fill (?113 - ?75... or ?0.79 per litre). The cashier started laughing when she saw ?113 on the pump - I don't think it happens too often. 640 miles done at that stage, equating to almost 31mpg - which I was happy with, given I wasn't sparing the horses. My friend was averaging 23mpg in his Disco. Another 40 miles back to my folk's place made the running total so far 680 miles.
Monday, it was time to take a deep breath, and do the return journey (without any Discovery in my mirror this time - he's still in Ireland) - Galway back to the ferry in Dun Laoghaire, than back from Holyhead to Kent - the same long 450 miles again. We arrived back somewhat exhausted at 1:30 this morning. 490 miles done since that refuel from Cong, and there was still 280 miles showing. Just out of curiousity, I filled it again this morning, worked out the consumption, and it worked out at a very impressive 36.8mpg on the return leg - very happy with that.
Overall mileage since Friday am: 1130 miles :sleepgo:
So, lots of Touaregs (might have seen over 25), As many Discovery's, Lots of RR Sports, only 3 BMW X5's and one sole Lexus RX300. No Cayenne's.
Nice picture when parked up at a place called the Coral Beach near Carraroe - beautiful beach composed of coral (can't be seen in the Pic) - very unique & very beautiful.
