County Sligo.Credit:Chris Hill
Repetition can be hard to tolerate at any time but it's especially grinding when the thing being repeated is a quote from a film as woeful asLove Actually.
"We hate you,Uncle Jamie,"say my three cousins in unison,dissolving in laughter at my continued indignation. I'm looking after Isabel,16,Noah,14,and Megan,9,and now that we're a few days into our week-long motorhome adventure in Northern Ireland and the Republic,they evidently feel relaxed enough to tease me.
"I'm not even your uncle,"I mutter as we make our way to the new Dark Hedges Experience,half an hour east of Coleraine. Before it lost several plots,Game of Thrones drove thousands of visitors from all over the world to this strange tunnel of centuries oldbeech trees,despite it only appearing briefly on screen in one of the early seasons. The kids are too young to have seen GOT but between our great guide and the visual oddity of the trees,they seem fully engaged.
Bushmills:crowd of tourists to see Giant's Causeway.Credit:iStock
IfGame of Thrones can be at least partially credited with the recent boom in Northern Irish tourism,our next stop has been pulling in punters for centuries. Rather than simply drive to the Giant's Causeway car park with our Swift Escape 695,we head to the ruins of Dunseverick Castle,then walk eight kilometres along a clifftop path to the famous basalt columns.
Guaranteed sunshine should never be part of your planning in the British Isles,but we are unbelievably lucky today and every day of the trip. The drama of the coast is revealed for 100 kilometres or more in every direction,the shimmering Atlantic slipping in between the satisfyingly craggy coasts of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
A few hours,dozens of photos and all of the snacks later,we're bussing our way back to the motorhome,after which we'll head to Drumaheglis Marina and Caravan Park to park up for the night. Our trip has been arranged by the Caravan and Motorhome Club,which has booked us into these camps where we can use power and top up our water. I manage to convince the kids that it's better to use the site's shower and,more importantly,its toilets,too.
As the trip progresses,the kids may have taken to teasing me,but I realised that at their age,they can also be cajoled into helping with the chores. After this epiphany,my life gets considerably easier. I take charge of the cooking,but threaten to cut off their food supply if they don't do any washing up which proves a successful tactic.
Each person gets a daily duty,with Megan proving to be particularly adept at filling the water and Noah specialising in setting the dinner table. To my embarrassment,Isabel has to step in when I struggle to put a cover on my own duvet.