2ridetheworld.com : diary

20-05-2003 : Ireland

It was our intention to leave by no later than 9am - guess what - we were late! More difficult goodbyes. In a way you don't really know what to say…….yes you will miss your parents ……..but you also want to go……but you don't………but….I know that I found it harder than I'd thought to say goodbye and there were more tears but this was it we were finally starting our long-planned trip.The trip through to Wales, Fishguard, was hard work. The bikes were heavy but the wind was atrocious! The cross winds were some of the strongest we'd experienced, the force of which physically pushed both of us into the other lane on the motorway (no-one was in it luckily!) We arrived at Fishguard in plenty of time and with a "carry on lads " (!) from the stern looking man at the ferry terminal box, we rode onto the ferry. Bearing in mind that just prior to the "carry on LADS" comment, this very serious young man had just asked us both our Nationality. Lisa being the closest to the booth replied "British. Were off to Ireland for the start of a big tour". Lisa's not got the gruffest or deepest of voices so, we concluded, that the ferry guy had figured she was one half of the famous gay, eunuch over-landing motorcycle team. This thought kept us amused for quite a while. Personally I think it still has some mileage.Now we're normally not too bad with seasickness but this was a force 6 and we both began to feel a bit peculiar so we went outside and promptly fell asleep on the helipad! Rosslare appeared in the gloom - it was raining! Simon immediately fell in love with Ireland -after riding for 15 minutes, Simon's voice came through on the Autocom, "bloody hell, I never realized Ireland was this posh", "what do mean" I asked? Simon was tickled silly that down both sides of the majority of roads was a perfectly groomed metre wide piece of lawn, which ran the length of the road. Now this isn't your normal dodgy looking brown weed, but emerald green, weed less, golf course 18th hole grass. The fact that you're made to feel like visiting dignitaries as people moved into the side of the road in order to let us pass was a topic of conversation later on over dinner.We headed up to Dublin and ended up for our first night at a campsite outside a small village called Red Cross. The tent went up fairly fast but we were disorganised - we're hoping that it will not take too long to 'get into the swing' of things! After asking for the directions to the nearest pub we were directed to 'Johns place', we were told that it wasn't so much a pub as john's hobby. "Just down on the right hand side next to the half demolished building is where you'll find it, mind there's no sign", we were politely informed in a rounded Irish accent. "Mind it's a bit rough and you do well not to upset john as he's a temper on him". From then on it was decided to go and try it out based on sheer curiosity alone, how could we not! John was on good form and we enjoyed a couple of beers. The pub was just two rooms- bare plaster on the walls with not a picture in sight. The floor was plain concrete with a cast iron wood-burning stove thrown in for good measure. If you wanted the loo it was outside but you had to get past the 5 growling yard dogs first. Fun Eh! All joking apart we thought it was great; you couldn't get a more truly authentic, less commercial Irish pub. We made our way back to the tent and slept well.

21-05-2003

We woke to the sound of heavy rain bouncing off the tent, with a few bleary eyed glances exchanged we figured staying in our sleeping bags was by far the best approach. Some time later the rain hadn't subsided, so after a quick wash we began the weary task of packing up unfamiliar camping gear in the pouring rain. Within 5 mins we were both soaked. Although we were wearing our biking kit and so were dry from the rain, we were damp inside from perspiration, as the day was getting muggier. It took us about an hour to pack up and throw the kit onto the bikes. Once on the bikes, all felt right with the World as we rode through some glorious Irish countryside, even the rain had now stopped beating. After one wrong turn, which took us down to a beautiful quayside area and a quick dash back up the same road, we found the N11, which winds its way up to Dublin along the coast. Smooth as silk dual carriageway intermingled with a few detours off into towns, which hug the coast. Arklow, Wicklow, Newcastle, Greystone were all passed on our way up. Finally we caught sight of our first Dublin City Centre sign and followed it in.Just by chance we parked up in the centre of Dublin right outside Trailfinders and a 'traditional' Irish coffee bar and after a much-needed cup of coffee and bowl of real Irish tomato and potato soup we headed for the Tourist Information shop. We had one main purpose, apart from seeing some of Dublin city, which was to purchase an adaptor unit that would convert a serial lead to a USB for the mini laptop and would allow the laptop to connect to the GPS and mobile phone. No one had one and after traipsing about Dublin to most computer shops and getting soaked both inside and out (it was still very muggy but with torrential rain) we gave up and decided to leave Dublin before rush hour started. What a detour!! It took us about an hour to get out of Dublin! We were told the best way was to follow the signs to the airport but these seemed to disappear - what we found out when we had to turn around was that it was signposted quite clearly going into Dublin from the North but not going out to the North! Ah well, eventually we were out and decided to head for a place called Rush. One of the guys from a computer shop told us there was a campsite right on the beach. We had assumed we had missed it, as we seemed to be travelling for ages -but no - and suddenly there we were right on the beach with 'hurricane-like' winds trying to put up our tent. Actually considering that we hadn't had much practice we managed to get it up (so to speak!) in 15mins and with all the stuff inside as well. The views were great and after a good carb meal we had a restful night listening to the rhythmic crashing of the waves onto the beach.

22-05-2003

Next stop Belfast. Well we didn't actually stop in Belfast today- just went by it. However we have to come back tomorrow for our 'interview' at the American Consulate. We decided to go north of the city as we wanted to visit Giants Causeway - we both kept on calling it Cribbs Causeway by mistake as this is a large retail park just outside Bristol - word association doesn't always work they way you want it to! After a full days riding, once again in the pouring rain (at least we have managed to thoroughly test our riding kit ---and its great) we stopped in Glenariff Forest Park. This was not quite what we were expecting. Having been advertised as a Caravan Club site we thought for the prices it should be quite good - er….nope! Some of you may ask "why the caravan club?" Well as we needed to leave all our stuff and go into Belfast for the day we needed a secure site …but this wasn't going to be it! Not particularly happy we put up the tent and Simon then went in search of beer. After having organised everything- tent up, bikes unloaded - he came back and said we were moving!As you might imagine - I was not very happy with this decision! Simon however kept on saying "trust me"……"it'll be worth it" I hate to say it -but he was right! After a glorious 7 min trip down the mountain, passing numerous waterfalls, some of which tumbled right down onto the road, we came to the small quayside town of Watersfoot. Once again the campsite was right on the beach and the view was spectacular. We were the only tent there. Aahhhh, the wonders of FREE unlimited hot showers were just one of the facilities we enjoyed. We walked into the town of Watersfoot with one purpose in mind - Simon was to have a taste of his first ever Guinness!! Famous for its support of hurling, the pub had pictures of past and present 'hurlers' - is that the right term? Not to be confused with the National sport which takes place most Friday evenings outside the local night clubs around the country, having been proceeded by, a dozen or so beers, a dodgy curry at 'The Spice Cottage' and an evening of energetic boogying accompanied by copious amounts of exotic sounding mixers served in a variety of colours. Surprisingly, Simon was hooked after his first sip of Guinness - however, I warned him that this was nothing like we get at home.

23-05-2003

One bike, one very slippy wet road and a VERY fast dash into Belfast! We were late - as usual I hear you all say! The rain had been even heavier overnight and the whole mountains were dripping and gushing water was everywhere. The ride in was therefore most unpleasant and I took the advantage of hiding behind Simon in order to avoid the beating rain - one advantage of being a pillion! Time for miracles - at 11:00 we were still 20mins away from Belfast, which left us approx. 10mins to navigate an unknown city, find parking, find a chemist that could meet the exacting standards of American visa photos, get the photos taken and printed and find a post office for the required 'special' delivery envelope which must be handed to the consulate. Both of us had our doubts about this being achievable - the ever optimist Simon was sure it was OK - the ever pessimist I was not! Once again Simon was right - we made it and despite there being some problems with the staff understanding what we were doing and why - we then had a very easy-going interview and were able to provide all that was requested: proof that we were going to come back to the UK - this was mortgage info and a letter from the other Directors at Simons company Clearcall saying that he is required to come back as Managing Director; proof of how we are funding this trip - this was bank and building society statements; proof of what we were doing and why we wanted to enter not now but in the next two years but were unable to say exactly when - this was provided by letters of support from the charities that we are supporting. HEY- yes we are doing this for charitable purposes as well as for ourselves - so if anyone out there wishes to donate online direct to one of the charities visit our charity page!!!! We were unsure when we left as to whether we would be granted a visa as they didn't like the fact that we were not living and working in Ireland - but we had explained that the London embassy was too busy to give us an interview until mid June! They initially stated that we should have an interview in the country that we reside- this being the UK - however, isn't Northern Ireland part of the UK????? Needless to say we didn't mention this fact.

24-05-2003

Woke up this morning late and managed to crawl out of our bags around 10pm. This was our first day when we didn't have to be somewhere. Following a quick flick through our tourist information book we were off to the 'Giants Causeway'. For a change the day was bright and sunny, we were both in good spirits the bikes felt good and we followed the twisty road up and over the moors and out to the coast through Cushendun and up to Ballycastle. We stopped at a National Trust site called Carrick-a-Rede & Larrybane, which attracts tourists who want to climb across the fisherman's bridge to the rock outcrop. The outcrop is used by fisherman to cast huge fishing nets, where they catch Salmon in the early stages of the return back inland to breed. The bridge is wire and rope is about 30 ft long and about 150ft high. It swings a lot!!! Visit the Northern Ireland National Trust site for more info. http://www.ntni.org.uk We also saw some great nesting birds - the Razorbill, Kittiwake, Fulmar and Guillemot. With our high-wire act completed and with us back on terra-firma we made our way leisurely to Giants Causeway: this is a World Heritage site and most amazing it is to!! After much heated debate we both decided that the causeway was not natural and was definitely the work of octagonaly obsessed frantic leprechauns. This has of course yet to be proved. There are also rock features associated with the mythological giant that you are told to 'look out' for on the Finn MacCool Trail - one of these is The Camel (bloody hell, it really does look like a giant camel!) ……………...

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