Ireland 2026
“Memorial trip for Nick”
We set off on the 13 October at about 7.50 am from Liskeard in our Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV for Bangor in North Wales. Some 360 miles distant, the weather was pretty good. Other than queuing at the Tamar Bridge to get out of Cornwall there were no hold-ups. We had three comfort stops and arrived at our hotel in Bangor about 3.30 pm.
The next day, after refuelling in Bangor, we arrived at the Holyhead Ferry terminal at about 9.45 am, in plenty of time for the 1.15 pm sailing. Surprised to find the only other car there in the Irish Ferries queue was Jack from Holland in his Alfa Romeo 166. He had by then covered over a 1,000 miles from Holland, via Calais, then to Exeter for a few days, onto to Chester and then Holyhead.
As time wore on we were joined by other Alfa’s, the 939 Spider of Jason and Janet Hood, another Giulietta and two 1970s Berlinas. Having borded the Ulysses we met several other members of the group. The crossing was calm. Arriving in Dublin at 4.45pm, it took a little while to disembark.
The route to the Sandymount Hotel, our first stop for two nights was well mapped out by the excellent road trip guide provided. And apart from getting in the wrong queue for one of the tolls there were no hiccups.
Like all the hotels on the tour the Sandymount proved to be an excellent choice. The next day after a fortifying Irish breakfast we ventured into Dublin. Taking the “Dart” train from the nearby Lansdown Road Station, that is right beside the Lansdown Rugby stadium.
We took the open-top hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city boarding at O’Connell Street. A complete circuit takes near two hours. On the second circuit we got off at the Irish Emigration Museum. Later we got off at the Museum of Literature on St. Stephens Green, which was sadly closed. There is a plethora of Museums in Dublin which would take many days to cover. By the time we got to the popular Guinness Storehouse, St. James Gate time was pressing. The area was crowded with tour buses, taxis even horse-drawn carriages, thus we did not join the queue. Not being overly fond of The Black Stuff. We had a good meal in Madigan’s art-deco pub on Earl Street, before tired, making our way back to the Sandymount Hotel and a drink in the bar.
There were twenty-one cars on the tour, nineteen being Alfas. The next day we all set-off in excellent weather for Galway on the west coast. A run of about 130 miles, it was not like the Mille Miglia with cars setting off every two minutes. Far more leisurely I suspect depending on the excesses of the night before. However we were about third or fourth away. The only organised events were to be at Dungarvan on the last day.
The Irish roads were excellent with a virtually complete lack of potholes. Although the toll booths took a little getting used to, paying in cash you needed the exact money; try over-paying and the machine would throw a wobbly being unable to compute it. We stopped at Athlone on route, in the Heart of the Lakelands for lunch. Sitting on the River Shannon the town is divided by a bridge. There is a castle there built in 1210 for King John of England.
We arrived at the Menlo Park Hotel Galway about three that afternoon, to find several Alfa’s already in the car park. The hotel was full of football supporters there to attend a derby match; although boisterous they were extremely friendly. We never did work out who was playing who.
The next day we took the local bus into Galway city centre. Known as the city of tribes for its rich medieval past. It certainly had a warren of narrow streets. There were buskers on the streets entertaining the Saturday shoppers giving the town a vibrant feel in the warm autumn sunshine. We engaged with several locals, who tended to have that endearing quality of telling you their life-story in five minutes. We had by now got into the habit of having soup for lunch in the wonderful Irish pubs.
The next morning we found the Giulietta covered in frost although the days had been bright and warm it was autumn. We re-fuelled leaving Galway; there is a lack of E5 fuel here, although the Giulietta QV ran fine on E10.
The morning run south was misty with low cloud to start with until the sun broke through. We were heading for Foynes on the Shannon Estuary and a visit to the Boeing 314 Clipper Flying Boat museum. This was of particular interest to me, as I am currently working on a novel ‘City of Spies’ set in Lisbon in World War II, from which the Clipper Flying Boats also ran. They were the high-point of luxury air travel, crossing the oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific.
The museum was excellent, although the claim the reproduction of a 314 Clipper was full-size I think a bit exaggerated. Yet it did give a good impression of the aircraft. We were the first to get there to be followed by both the Berlinas and a Stelvio.
After cake and coffee in the café we set off back along the estuary to take the road south to Tipperary, arriving at the Park Hotel Dungarvan, a run of about 150 miles from Galway, about four in the afternoon.
The next day Monday 19 was group photo day and Gala dinner that evening. The tour was a Memorial trip for Nick. Nick Clancy from 1994 had organised this event over the years. Sadly shortly after returning from the 2025 run, Nick passed away.
However Nick’s old car the Berlina 1750, crewed by Ian Jephcott and Phil Peer completed this run and the car took centre stage in the group photograph. We all wore this year’s T-Shirt; many of the veterans of the run have shirts from other years.
That night the Gala dinner rounded off the tour, which many of Nick’s Irish family joined our group, entertaining us with local music, songs and anecdotes.
All too soon, the next morning it was a run back to Dublin to catch the afternoon ferry back to Holyhead. On board we said our goodbyes all hoping we might meet again on another run, providing someone takes up the mantel from Nick. Again the crossing with Irish Ferries went smoothly, and we arrived at our hotel in Bangor about 5.30 pm.
We got away fairly good for time on the 21st, by the time we got home to Cornwall about 4 pm, we had covered 1,255 miles. A fair distance, but nothing like Jack from Holland or Frank Staats in his Alfa 33 from Germany had covered, and in two of the older cars.
