This is a fairly large rest stop at junction 14. There are petrol pumps as well as electric…read morevehicles chargers. In addition to this there is a large food court with options ranging from a burger bar to gelato as well as a place that sells sandwiches and snacks. This place was extremely busy on a Sunday afternoon -- felt a bit like Disney world crowds! A bit in the expensive side.

Stopped for break here…read more Nice toilets with the super duper hand dryers. Shop is bright, clean and overpriced. They didn't have hand cream, which I could have done with. They dryers were too damn good ;)

My local petrol station down home in Borrisokane…read more Run by the Comerfords, nice people. The people working here do quick puncture repairs and a decent car wash. All at country prices. Woohoo indeed! :)

So we hit the road at 7am to be in Cork for a meeting at 10. I'm not a fan of eating breakfast very…read moreearly so I had only a couple of Rich Tea biscuits, grabbed as I rushed to try and not be late, to keep me going. Sometime around 8.30, a deep, grumble emanated from the cavernous pit that was my emoty stomach and thoughts turned to food. I was reassured by my colleague we'd be hitting this service station for a bite to eat before we carried on, refreshed. I was surprised by the size of it when we came down the exit road off the M*. It was quite a place. A line of lorries queued for the petrol pumps and quite a few cars were in the car park. But I was impressed when I walked in and saw the size of the shop and the variety of food to eat when I went in. I'd expected to be able to grab a stale scone when I thought about what I might get in a service station. Plenty of fresh scones, muffins and rolls greeted me. As did hot dogs. They were next to the deli and the hot food counter. FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! I reckoned a sandwich was my best bet so I walked up to the counter and the words "Can I have a brown bread sandwich with ham, mayo and cheese, please" rolled off my tongue like they have hundreds of times before. I knew what to order and I knew what it would taste like. Or did I? Right before my eyes, the server picked up a big piece of cooked ham and carved off thick chunks of meat. Thicker chunks than the Celtic Tiger could have wrapped its mouth around. "Is this real? I'll wake up and realise I've to head for Cork now, won't I?" But as the glorius of Handel's 'Messiah' chorus rang in my ears, she presented the sandwich to me and in no time, I had paid (less than €4) and was unwrapping my sandwich. It wasn't 'til then that I realised how big the sandwich was. I ended up having to save half for later. But it was beautiful. Maybe it was the hunger, maybe it was because it was so unexpected to get a filling of such quality but it tasted exquisite. Thank you, Topaz! There's also a McDonalds next to it but that's not my bag.

I generally have two requirements for Motorway stops 1: It's actually on the Motorway or close to…read moreit 2: You get a good range of food and its a nice spot to actually stop and eat. This one ticks both those boxes nicely. Could not be closer to the motorway and a great range of food. Staff were very friendly and helpful and the seating area upstairs with comfy couches means you could actually relax and enjoy your coffee. Perfect.

The fuel prices here are, compared to surrounding gas stations, low. Since those prices change on a…read moredaily basis, it doesn't say, what is special about this gas station. Yes, it's new, yes, it's clean and yes, it's a typical store / bistro. What makes it great is the friendly and helpful staff. The people here make you feel welcome and they are open minded.

Pretty decent and handily located garage in Crumlin, right across from the Ashleaf centre…read more It's small, but decently enough stocked, garages have come a long way from a couple of bottles of Castrol behind the counter and now practically have to be Tesco in their own right. Now selling coffee, smoothies, shoe shine, sushi chef on standy by, well ok I made the last two up but you get a lot for just a garage nowadays. Theres also an ATM and they also sell wine. The place is open 24/7 too.

This is generally one of the cheaper places around to get petrol, although how consistent that is…read moreI'm not sure. A smallish service station they also have a shop with a few grocery items and some random things like cards. It's a handy place to get something when you run out late at night. However the forecourt is quite small and so you might end up stuck in a queue while waiting to get to a free pump because of the tight space. And if it's a busy time you might be waiting to pull in or out of this station because of it's closeness to the crossroads.