Ireland – Done!

And so we reached our last day of visits on this amazing 21 day journey around Ireland. The day was tinged with sadness, not only because we were leaving this beautiful country but also because we would have just one more station to visit to complete this whole challenge.

We had a short drive from our accommodation to our fist visit of the day and that was to the ancient town of Wexford at the mouth of the River Slaney.

Wexford Lifeboat Station

We arrived early, parked in town and went for a stroll taking in some of the history and sights of the waterfront, a large natural estuary flowing into the Irish Sea.

The station was closed and the gates locked however, we managed to get an evidence photo from the bridge next to the station. We waited for a while to see if anyone would arrive but not today. This was absolutely fine as we have always said we never take for granted or assume that volunteers will be available to meet us at stations.

The station is relatively new having been established in 1998 by the Wexford Harbour Inshore Rescue. The RNLI took over management of the station in 2002 and the station building was added in 2007.

We were unable to see the lifeboat but they do have a D-Class called Alfred William Newman (D-782) on station since 2015. This is now old for a D-Class and so the North Kildare RNLI Fundraising Branch started a campaign in 2024 to raise money for a new inshore lifeboat. This they achieved by the end of 2025 and now a new D-Class, D-916 Cill Dara has been allocated and is currently in manufacture.

Our final visit of the day and of the trip to Ireland was to Rosslare.

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Rosslare Lifeboat Station

We have written before about the stations that are not directly public facing and require special permissions to access. Rosslare is one of those as it is located right in the heart of Rosslare Europort.

We had made direct contact with the station well in advance of our trip and were now in direct contact with Lifeboat Operations Manager Jamie. We had arranged to meet Jamie at a fuel station just outside the port perimeter and he was to escort us to the station.

It was a very strange experience driving through a secure port, bypassing security and customs and dodging freight traffic. Eventually we ended up at the Lifeboat Station lying right at the end of one of the main ferry jetties. We had got a glimpse of the lifeboat and the station as we disembarked the ferry three weeks before on our arrival.

We were welcomed into the station by Jamie and he introduced us to Mechanics Keith and Anthony, Launch Authority Tony, Lifeboat Press Officer Larry and Chair of Fundraising Tommy. We sat in the crew room and had a lovely cup of tea and biscuits whilst enjoying a great discussion about the station, its access restrictions and our challenge.

At busy times in the port, it is difficult for the crew to respond to taskings in a timely manner but they have an excellent relationship with the port. The station has an interesting history.

Established in 1896 in the new port of Rosslare Harbour the station closed in 1921 when a motor lifeboat was located at Rosslare Point close to Wexford. However in the winter of 1924/5 violent storms washed away most of the buildings and the station was abandoned. Back in Rosslare Port the station was reopened in 1927 and remained there ever since.

The current station building was constructed in 1985 and enlarged in 1995. Other notable buildings associated with the station are a terrace of houses built for the full time crew and a cottage acquired for the full time coxswain and his family in 1938. On the cliff top sits a lookout post used when the lifeboat is on service, similar to the function of the National Coastwatch Institution.

Their lifeboat is a Severn Class called Donald and Barbara Broadhead (17-43) on station since 2004. She is moored on a pontoon adjacent to the station. The berth is well protected by a rock barrier following its reconstruction in 2004 after an incident involving a large ferry colliding with the lifeboat and its berth.

We had some photos taken with the crew and as this station is not public facing it doesn’t have the traditional station name sign. Instead we had our photo taken in front of the crew contact board. Whilst we were chatting the guys noticed a large ship arriving and recommended that we leave the port before it docks so as not to get stuck in the busy unloading process. So we grabbed a couple of photos of the Severn Class and followed Jamie back out of the port bypassing security and customs once again.

An extremely interesting and unusual visit and we are so grateful to Jamie and his team for the arrangements and the time to meet with us. This visit was number 237 on our challenge and left just one remaining.

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Our original return ferry booking was to take us from Rosslare back to Fishguard and an onward drive of around 5 hours from there. Unfortunately all ferries were cancelled due to operational reasons out of Rosslare until the following week and so we had to drive back up to Dublin.

In addition to the extra 2 hour plus drive to Dublin, it also added an extra couple of hours from Holyhead back home, not ideal. After our final overnight stay just outside Dublin Airport we boarded our ferry and enjoyed a very calm crossing. One advantage of arriving in Holyhead was that we could pop in to Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station shop to purchase a pin badge as it was closed when we first visited.

46 Lifeboat Stations in 21 days driving over 3000 miles. It was such an memorable trip. We met incredible people, we ate great food – albeit it too much, and we experienced the most stunning scenery and sights. It is a trip that will remain in our memories for many years.