Is Derry Worth Visiting? Our Honest First Impressions – Vanlife in Northern Ireland

In today’s episode, we explore the vibrant and historic city of Derry (Londonderry) before heading inland to the peaceful surroundings of Castle Archdale Country Park – our next stop on this incredible Northern Ireland road trip in our IH campervan, Teddy.

We’ve reached the end of the Causeway Coastal Route, but definitely not the end of the adventure! Join us as we walk Derry’s iconic Peace Bridge, explore the City Walls, see the fascinating murals including the ‘Derry Girls’, visit the Guildhall, and discover powerful stories at Free Derry Corner and the Museum of Free Derry. This city surprised us in so many ways – its history, its beauty, and its people. @museumoffreederry7995 @DiscoverNI @Channel4Comedy

You’ll find the car park we used at ///glare.task.degree

After a windy, rainy but wonderful day, we head south to our next base; Castle Archdale Campsite, where we take you on a full site walkaround, check the facilities, talk pitches, and share our first impressions of this peaceful corner of Northern Ireland.

* Castle Archdale, Rossmore, Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, BT94 1PP
///backpacks.enjoyable.unfair

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Credits – Guildhall and Free Derry mural – Wikimedia

Hello!
Welcome back. The next leg of our Northern Ireland tour, as you can probably see in the 
background, takes us to Derry. Welcome to Grape Soda Travels. If you’re new 
to the channel, I’m Neil. This is Naomi. And in this series, we’re touring Northern Ireland 
in our IH campervan, Teddy. In this video, we’re at the end of the Causeway Coastal 
Route, but it’s definitely not the end of our adventure. We start today in the vibrant 
and fascinating city of Derry before heading inland where we’ll give you a tour of 
our next campsite at Castle Archdale. There’s the city and the fabulous Peace Bridge. I like a good bridge. And that is a good bridge, not least 
because of what it stands for. Beautiful. It’s quite a flat city. Looks like it’s got 
a couple of big cathedrals or large churches. So, we’re in Londonderry or Stroke Derry. 
It’s known by its locals by both names. has been picked up the nickname of “Stroke 
City”. London Derry Stroke Derry. Whilst respecting all communities, we’re going to be 
calling it Derry from here on. Hope that’s okay. Oh my gosh
It really is. Hang on to your hats as we cross the river. Turned out nice again.
This is so windy. Oh my gosh. So, we’re approximately here. We parked just 
over here. Guildhall. Don’t know if it’s going to be open today ’cause today is a Sunday. 
So, I’m not sure how much is open. But here we have the complete walls to have a little 
walk around. So that’ll be excellent stuff. I had no idea Derry was a big centre 
of industry for the shirt industry. No. But apparently at its peak in the mid 20th 
century supported up to 20,000 workers Crikey
across 40 factories making shirts. You say this was the guildhall?
Yeah. That’s beautiful, isn’t it? That glows. He got I forgot he got the Peace Prize. 
Wow. And it’s just here. How wonderful. Oh my! Ah! Look at this room. Wooo This is a phenomenal hall. Look at the windows.
Don’t know where to look. Wow. [bells chime] What a beautiful building. I see, Ship Quay Street. So that’s that way. [bell clangs twice] Going to do a lap of the wall.
Mhm. I don’t think it’s too big. It’s not like Chester.
No. But it is very complete, isn’t it? Yes. What happened to that flat 
city you were talking about? I lied. Some of these are quite steep. Church
First Derry Presbyterian Grand old building
and Heritage Centre And you’re suddenly very 
oldie worldie, aren’t you? Yes. Very quickly, you just step away 
from town and somewhere peaceful. This is St. Columba’s Church and the 
original St. Columba’s Abbey was here, built by St. Columba, and then he left 
from here and went down the river, the Foyle , and guess where he went? He went 
to Iona. We’ve been there. It was lovely. You can see quite a few murals from here. Then suddenly it just turns into, well apart 
from the cannon obviously, just a normal town. I’m liking Derry.
Yes, me too. I know we’ve literally done 
one building and had a walk around the walls, but I am enjoying 
Derry. This is an interesting place. Not busy.
No, not at all. We started watching it, didn’t 
we, when we knew we were coming. Yes. We’re slightly addicted now. It’s the tower of the guildhall 
just poking its head over the top. Completed a circuit.
Yeah. Back down to ground level. You can quite easily walk past some of these 
murals, can’t you? And not even notice. Yes, but they’re worth finding. This is 
going back to we we learned about the the women working in the shirt factories. And 
this mural is here to commemorate them. It’s warm. It’s nice. Oh, it looks good. Tadah! Do you want to walk me through the table? I’m having a sausage bap. We’re 
sharing a fruit scone. Neil has gone for a mocha. I’ve got an Americano.
And my coronation baguette is here. Yes, it’s coming. They’ll 
bring it to us apparently. And here it is. Tuck in.
Thank you. I’m hungry. Yum. The Sandwich Company.
I enjoyed that. Yeah. 5th of January 1969, after a night of rioting and sustained police attacks on Bogside, 
which is where we are now, the words, “You are now entering free Derry,” were 
painted on the gable wall 33 Lecky Road. Gosh.
So, this is all that’s left of that road and that row 
of houses, but it’s still here. Gosh, fascinating. [Music] The Museum of Free Derry is the story of the 
people, the struggle for civil rights, the descent into conflict, and the awful events of Bloody 
Sunday. With both of us being children of the 1980s, at that time, the conflict was just images 
of the tragic events that we saw on television. It’s still unimaginable to think what it 
was like to be in this area at that time, but it was so interesting to learn more 
about the history and about the people And all the pigeons in Northern Ireland. This was pioneered by one of the local ministers, Presbyterian minister and involved 80 primary 
and post-primary schools in the area. Ahhh I think a peace flame seems 
an apt place to end the tour. Yes Considering where we just came from.
Hmm. Now, as the rain falls, it’s time for us to leave Derry. Very much enjoyed it.
It’s an interesting city. It is an interesting place. Yeah.
But, Yes. Back to the van. Yes. Back to Teddy now.
And off to find our next site. We made it
Back to Teddy before the worst of the rain. How am I looking? Bedraggled? Don’t tell me.
You look lovely. Reader. I married him.
So we parked all day here in this free car park. I’m loving free. In St. Columb’s Park. I’ll 
put the What3Words in the description. There’s a couple of options, aren’t there?
Yes But this is the one that we chose.
But you can you can park here. This area is Ebrington.
Ebrington. And it’s really easy to walk across 
the bridge into the city. So yes, but but Derry was it was the it was the 
interval of our of our Northern Ireland tour. Certainly halfway through.
The coast was Act One and now we’re heading on to Act Two. As we head 
a bit further south into the countryside. Yeah. So, it’s time to put 
our next site into the satnav. Hit the road.
Yeah. Very swish
Caravan site to the right. Down here?
Yep. Oh, yeah.
Here we go. Castle Archdale. We are here. I’ll go check in. Quack quack. So, welcome to Castle Archdale Country Park. This 
is the caravan park. It’s a mixture of statics, some glamping pods, and then quite a large number 
of touring pitches as well that that we’re on, aren’t there? And so far, it 
seems very nice. Yes, it does. We both checked out the shower 
blocks and they’re huge. The barrier is number plate recognition so you don’t have to forget any 
codes or worry about key cards. Here’s something that I think needs 
to be investigated at some point. Yes, I’m always up for a bit of pizza. Now, I think I read the laundry is 
only open when reception is open, which is why it’s very shut at the moment. But we’re here for three nights. So, maybe it’s a good opportunity to do a laundry, run
Yes, we’ll find out what’s happening there. Yeah. Toilets here. We’ll show you our pitch in a 
bit. But I quite like the fact that there’s a lot of space. They’re not They’re certainly not 
crammed in, are they? The pitches that we’re on. We don’t actually have neighbours, but 
if we did, they’d be a long way away. This where you keep your boat. This is Loch Erne
Loch Eric is around the corner. Not many other people about, are there?
So quiet. So quiet. Where is everyone? Look at this one. Nice, isn’t it? Everything’s 
beautifully kept. Very tidy. Can’t hear any roads.
No. Oh, I think we’re going to have a nice 
peaceful three nights here, babes. Yes. Oh, I’m looking forward to this. And if you want one for yourself… We believe the pizza place 
is closed for the season. Bad times. I quite fancy a pizza now.
Of course you do. You drive in very much through the country 
park. And then the caravan site is just down here on the right. And that takes us 
down to reception where we just were. Feels like there’s lots of places to walk.
Yeah. Through the woods
and cycle path through there as well. Do we think this is the marina? Mhm.
Ah, yes. Looks like you can hire pretty much any form of 
outdoor activity you can think of by the water. There he is.
Hi Teddy. This pitch we’ve got water and 
do we think 10 amp hook up? 10 amp hook up. So yes, this is our base for the next three 
nights. But if you want to see what we get up to, you have to come back next time.
You know what to do. So, why not drop us a subscribe, ding the little 
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ask questions, give us a thumbs up. All really 
helps and is very much appreciated. There’s lots of useful information in the 
description for you as well if that helps you. And if you haven’t done so already, there’s 
a playlist at the end and you can go and have a look at some of our other Northern Ireland 
videos. We’ve been to some really good places. We have, haven’t we?
But we’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.