Last updated on January 10, 2025
It’s the beginning of January and I’m sitting in our motorhome – in Ireland. After stormy but mild weather over the past few days, yesterday was an incredibly starry night and then there was a bit of night frost….
This morning there was some hoar frost on the grass and the car windows were slightly frozen.
But now it’s super sunny outside. I can see the sea from here, glistening in the sun. Too bad to sit inside, but I’ve been outside for a while this morning and despite all the sunshine, the north-easterly wind is too cold to enjoy fresh air all day.
Winter camping in Ireland? Is that a must?
But that’s not really a problem if the auxiliary heating works and the body battery is full enough to run it. A few hot water bottles for the night and a kettle for hot water are also very helpful!
The bigger problem is the availability of camping pitches. This was already a recurring theme in northern France and England in mid-December. Because not every campsite in the camping app is actually a campsite.
Occasionally, the owners of the farm are surprised, cancelling on strangers at their gate and not even knowing how they ended up in the app. As they don’t contact the app, the issue repeats itself – again and again…
‘You’ve got the wrong app’ – the critical reader might say. Well, we have several apps running and none of them are immune.
The other problem is that the information in the apps is not always correct, the campsites often don’t have an up-to-date online presence (website or Facebook), or you never know whether the information is up to date.
The only thing that helps is to call in advance (!) and ask. Often enough the owner has not specified ‘winter camping’ as a category, but is still open all year round and often enough he is officially open all year round, but then the gate is locked. Calling beforehand always helps! The Irish want to be called and so do the English.
Google, Microsoft, Amazon and many other giant software companies have their European headquarters in Dublin, but that doesn’t mean that the small business in Ireland has a viable online presence. Often they don’t.
Speaking of online – I’m not online at the moment. I’ve used up my mobile phone’s international roaming quota and this all-rounder smartphone can now only do clock and alarm clock. Oh yes, I could still take photos.
But nothing works online anymore – for an indefinite period of time. If you work online like I do, it’s bad – very bad in fact. I was promptly overcome by a small wave of panic.
But it’s still the holiday season anyway: Christmas is always an exceptional situation in Ireland – the whole country feels quiet and families get together to eat and drink. That’s all you can do. Almost not. Then there’s only one thing to do: switch off physically and mentally.
New Year’s Eve is also over, but that’s not very spectacular in Ireland anyway. Nobody is allowed or able to buy fireworks in Ireland, which saves the country the annual deaths and injuries caused by home-made or bought firecrackers, as unfortunately happens every year in Germany.
Dead people? Yes, it’s just been on the German news (my wife is still online). There may have been some professional fireworks in Dublin, I honestly don’t know.
Leave the fireworks to the professionals – sometimes Germany should take a leaf out of its European neighbours’ book (speed limits too – because EVERYWHERE in Europe the traffic is more even and less stressful than on German motorways).
So I’m offline and have a little more time than usual to think a little. An enforced contemplation of the late Christmas holidays, so to speak. Why not, it used to be possible (before smartphones). I still enjoyed reading in my free time. Real books, made of paper! But I don’t have any real books with me in the campervan – so I write. That actually still works offline – yeah!
Let’s get back to winter camping in Ireland – does that make sense? Well, we’ve spent many weeks in Ireland over the years. Until recently, we had our second home here with a motorbike rental business. After many years, we closed it at the end of the year and sold the house.
That was recently. And then we bought a motorhome in Germany and drove it to Ireland with a detour via Cornwall. Our (adult) daughter lives and works permanently in Ireland.
Does Ireland make sense in winter? Yes, we think so! If you’re not too sensitive, like to spend time outside like we do, bring a warm jacket, a hat and some warm shoes, then Ireland is beautiful even in winter!
There are few tourists here in winter and the island is firmly in Irish hands. You will hardly experience Ireland more authentically than in winter. And the beaches and coasts are just as beautiful in winter as they are in summer! The winter mountains also have their own charm in winter. At home, I also enjoy hiking in the Black Forest in winter, and here in the Wicklow Mountains.
What could be nicer than warming up in the nearest pub after a walk on the beach or a short cliff-top hike? The fire is flickering, the tea is hot and you’ve earned that warm, hearty meal today!
And winter camping? It’s also our first time, we just gave it a go without any experience and have been doing it for a few weeks now. However, a parking heater is a must. You’ll also need more gas than you might be used to in the warmer months.
You will need to bring an adapter for Irish propane gas cylinders. You can easily find one in German camping shops. The electricity connections on the campsite are the same (ECE plug), but household electricity uses the English plug – you should also have an adapter for this.
And the temperatures? They are usually above zero degrees Celsius in England and Ireland, thanks to the Gulf Stream on the coasts. Temperatures of up to 10 degrees Celsius are not uncommon, even in winter. And although there can be a little frost at night, like tonight, there is very rarely snow or prolonged frost on the coast.
Inland, on the mountains, a white cap of snow can cover the peaks and the same applies to the Scottish Highlands. If you’re mainly travelling along the coast, which is a good idea anyway with Ireland’s beautiful coastline, then you’re quite safe from prolonged frost – thanks to the Gulf Stream.
Winter tyres are not compulsory in Ireland and you can’t buy any here. There are also hardly any snow clearing vehicles here and almost no road salt. And if you want to buy antifreeze for your windscreen in winter, it’s just sold out. Nobody knows when new ones will arrive…
What do the Irish do when there is a bit of snow on the roads in the mountains? They stay at home, because the snow melts the same day, or the next – usually. Statistically, there is a snowfall every 50 years that lasts for a week or so. What do the Irish do then? They stay at home longer…as I said before.
So if you come to Ireland in your German vehicle with winter tyres, antifreeze in the windscreen washer system and an ice scraper in the glove compartment, you are sensationally well equipped for Ireland! Nobody here will understand…
By the way, the sun is still shining outside. It has long since melted the hoar frost and raised the temperature by a few degrees. How much? I don’t know at the moment, but it doesn’t matter.
Speaking of the sun: I now see a lot more sunrises and sunsets in winter because they take place at much friendlier times than in summer – also nice!
So what’s your verdict on winter camping in Ireland? It’s easy! Even for beginners like us. And it’s beautiful.
I’m going out again now, the sun is beckoning – and so is the beach! Oh yes, and I’ll probably solve my roaming problem somehow at some point – but not today :-).
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Cover picture: Motorhome on a cold winter morning in Ireland (Photo: Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg)
