Does the Ardgillan Castle car park have height restrictors?

MJohnston

Planning on a day out up there with the family soon, and we've considered bringing our campervan up so we can spend the day and not have to worry about heading home (to Dun Laoghaire) for food and stuff.

Just wondering whether the entrances to the car park have any height restrictors? On Google Streetview the answer seems to be no, but that imagery is from 2009 so maybe things have changed in the meantime.

catrionanic

I'm not sure from memory, but the car park isn't large and it is a super popular attraction so I doubt you'd get the space to park a campervan there regardless.

buttercups88

MJohnston wrote: »

Planning on a day out up there with the family soon, and we've considered bringing our campervan up so we can spend the day and not have to worry about heading home (to Dun Laoghaire) for food and stuff.

Just wondering whether the entrances to the car park have any height restrictors? On Google Streetview the answer seems to be no, but that imagery is from 2009 so maybe things have changed in the meantime.

I visited there a few years ago (5ish) with a school and bus was able to get in no problem,.it may have changed since but pretty sure most of the big fingal parks allow for buses

MJohnston

catrionanic wrote: »

I'm not sure from memory, but the car park isn't large and it is a super popular attraction so I doubt you'd get the space to park a campervan there regardless.

Ah we'd be going up fairly early and probably on a weekday, so I'm not too worried about that.

Inquitus

I don't think there's any height restrictions, been a while though.

markjbloggs

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5809908,-6.1604648,3a,40.8y,42.49h,87.52t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sx6AkOPi-eAUM6VbqknhsKg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dx6AkOPi-eAUM6VbqknhsKg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D156.8176%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Unfortunately, this streetview is not dated, but there does not seem to be any restrictions on this.

EDIT - need to activate the streetview manually in this map.

MJohnston

markjbloggs wrote: »

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5809908,-6.1604648,3a,40.8y,42.49h,87.52t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sx6AkOPi-eAUM6VbqknhsKg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dx6AkOPi-eAUM6VbqknhsKg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D156.8176%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Unfortunately, this streetview is not dated, but there does not seem to be any restrictions on this.

EDIT - need to activate the streetview manually in this map.

Yeah I mentioned the streetview in my original post, but it's from 2009 so I'm not confident in it still being accurate!

JustAThought

MJohnston wrote: »

Yeah I mentioned the streetview in my original post, but it's from 2009 so I'm not confident in it still being accurate!

Not sure about the height restriction but they brought in flip up barriers at one of their carpark entrances a couple of years ago - well after you go through the old stone gates. So you might get through initially but then find yourself restricted up yhe path/drive later. I stopped going there - they DO have a carpark thief problem - window smashing was an ongoing issue in the ‘top’ carpark.

Mind you if you were there very early and didn’t get in you could drive on to skerries and spend the day there - park on the seafront and walk down to the BMX/Skateboard park if that was your thing. No old fashioned playground thou & more of an old persons walk destination.

Car & picnic would easier.

I always found Ardgillan a remote and dreary walk thou - great but small childrens playground but JAMMED. Malahide has a better IMO playground and if you go in the back road entrance you should get your camper van in. If you try and stay the night thou they will lock you in. Verboten!!!

plodder

A camper-van is a great idea for an extended day trip like that.

I don't think there are height restrictors in any of the main Fingal parks. But, since I'm never looking out for them I couldn't be 100% certain. I'd call the park phone number to check. If you're going to be spending a while, I'd recommend walking right down to the bottom and crossing the "lady's stairs" onto the beach - though it's not accessible at high tide afaik. Ardgillan is lovely especially if you haven't been before. The views are really good.

Wishbone Ash

There are no height restrictions in Ardgillan.

(If you wish to spend the night nearby, a lot of motor homes park on the free spaces along south strand in Skerries. There are public toilets there and the rear entrance to Gerry's supermarket across the street. In good weather, you may have to wait until evening time to get a spot. Make sure you are on a free parking space as some of the others there are 'pay and display' during the day. The parking warden is efficient).

cbreeze

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

There are no height restrictions in Ardgillan.

(If you wish to spend the night nearby, a lot of motor homes park on the free spaces along south strand in Skerries. There are public toilets there and the rear entrance to Gerry's supermarket across the street. In good weather, you may have to wait until evening time to get a spot. Make sure you are on a free parking space as some of the others there are 'pay and display' during the day. The parking warden is efficient).

There were 30 camper vans parked on the South Strand Road last weekend! Free parking after 6 p.m. M-S and free all day Sunday.
There are height restrictions at Red Island, but I have seen an occasional camper van parked on the pier. There is a gate there as the plan was to have the pier swipe access only for vehicles associated with the fishing fleet, but it has never been activated.

Wishbone Ash

cbreeze wrote: »

There were 30 camper vans parked on the South Strand Road last weekend! Free parking after 6 p.m. M-S and free all day Sunday.....

A number of spaces there are free all day every day. They are the ones that are usually occupied. (When occupied, it's difficult to know that they are free of charge as it's written on the space and therefore obscured by the vehicle.

(On a separate note, after listening to Liveline today, it occurred to me that the OP has an unfortunate username! :eek:)

Dizzyblonde

OP - see the Liveline thread here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058178334&page=370

:pac:

MJohnston

I’ve gone through about five pages of nonsense, what am I looking for?

Dizzyblonde

Apparently it was about a caravan and camper van scam run by a guy named Mark Johnson :pac:

MJohnston

One T and first name away then

We are both running caravan scams though

Dizzyblonde

:pac:

Now we know why you wanted to park up at Ardgillan

shesty

cbreeze wrote: »

There were 30 camper vans parked on the South Strand Road last weekend! Free parking after 6 p.m. M-S and free all day Sunday.
There are height restrictions at Red Island, but I have seen an occasional camper van parked on the pier. There is a gate there as the plan was to have the pier swipe access only for vehicles associated with the fishing fleet, but it has never been activated.

Skerries was unreal last weekend.Expect this weekend could be worse.It was mildly annoying.Is all of the southside emptying over here?!!
I don't think there are height barriers in Ardgillan, I am there every other week usually.There are park rangers fairly active there, I am not sure on what their take on camper vans is - I presume they are allowed?No barbeques allowed in Fingal parks anymore, as the crowds were getting too big.

Wishbone Ash

shesty wrote: »

...Is all of the southside emptying over here?....

I suspect many were from much further afield than the southside going by the registrations.

(I know that isn't a hard and fast rule but generally indicative of County of origin especially with newer vehicles).

shesty

Ah I am half joking Wishbone.But a lot of the regs were Dublin ones, so I was surprised.Caravan parks in Rush are all still locked, so I presume that's why some pushed on to Skerries.There are some parked at Loughshinny too, which has a much reduced carpark as there is building going on there, there isn't really space for them.

cbreeze

I heard that they have been banned from Howth. Many would be long stay vehicles. There was one which was let out as an AirBnB and the Yacht Club found the guests sneaking in to use the showers, as the owner of the camper would find out the door code!

shesty

They are banned from Howth because the approach taken was that they can't fit in a parking space.So say in Skerries when the park along the kerb they often park with 2 wheels on the kerb, so they aren't sticking out (and possibly to be level..).Howth, they decided this meant they can't fit in a space so they can't use them.If they can park without impinging on a kerb, then that was ok.