I didn't sleep very well last night, much to my surprise, but then I thin
k it a combination of factors, not least the fact that I am constantly on the go. But the bed was dead comfy and the room spacious, the shower hot and soothing and the views across the tops of the houses and into the valley were spectacular. My only regret is the lack of time that I have to spend in this lovely area.
k it a combination of factors, not least the fact that I am constantly on the go. But the bed was dead comfy and the room spacious, the shower hot and soothing and the views across the tops of the houses and into the valley were spectacular. My only regret is the lack of time that I have to spend in this lovely area.I had breakfast with an Italian couple, riding a BMW from home (in northern Italy) around Britain! Now that’s a journey. Yet they are doing the whole thing in something like 4 weeks and have really had less time to see things than I have. They have made one stop a day and sometimes the choices weren’t the best (their words not mine). But then what do you do? You are in a completely alien place and really have little idea what places are like apart from the propaganda, sorry leaflets you find. Still i gave them half an hour longer than I wanted to spend at the B&B, not because I felt that I had to, but because I wanted to. It was interesting to talk to people from a totally different perspective, doing – essentially – the same thing as me.
Harley Davidson, Antrim, is a fine place. The staff are friendly, open and cheerful. They know how to make you welcome and they ply you with coffee, and more impo
rtantly, they have wifi which they were very happy for me to make use of. So I did (not knowing whether I would have net access at the B&B). They signed off on the card for me, gave me a pin and directions to an O2 store, so I could replace the charger lead, which I left in Fort William... I know, real dumb, but a story for another time. Honest. I took my time in Antrim. It is a lovely little town, and it gave me time to dodge the rain as I got petrol and sent birthday cards. Happy Birthday mum! Happy Birthday Dit! Yet even in the 40mins or so I was there, it still managed to rain, and hard. It only rained once today. All the way from Antrim to Belfast and I didn’t care. I’d done one more dealership and seen a little more of this green and pleasant land, and as I left Belfast on the A1, the sun came out. I had the warmth of a mid-afternoon sun, from Belfast to Dublin and then away into the evening. It was nothing like the past 3 or 4 days. In fact, the opposite. It’s the weather that really does make all the difference. The road is long and open; you get a wonderful sense of seclusion – privacy, if you will – which just leaves you with your thoughts and dreams. But that is it... thoughts and dreams. I had wondered what it would be like to cross the border from north to south and I wasn’t disappointed. The Irish really do things a little more eccentrically than anyone else and that gave me a pause to smile.
Harley Davidson, Antrim, is a fine place. The staff are friendly, open and cheerful. They know how to make you welcome and they ply you with coffee, and more impo
rtantly, they have wifi which they were very happy for me to make use of. So I did (not knowing whether I would have net access at the B&B). They signed off on the card for me, gave me a pin and directions to an O2 store, so I could replace the charger lead, which I left in Fort William... I know, real dumb, but a story for another time. Honest. I took my time in Antrim. It is a lovely little town, and it gave me time to dodge the rain as I got petrol and sent birthday cards. Happy Birthday mum! Happy Birthday Dit! Yet even in the 40mins or so I was there, it still managed to rain, and hard. It only rained once today. All the way from Antrim to Belfast and I didn’t care. I’d done one more dealership and seen a little more of this green and pleasant land, and as I left Belfast on the A1, the sun came out. I had the warmth of a mid-afternoon sun, from Belfast to Dublin and then away into the evening. It was nothing like the past 3 or 4 days. In fact, the opposite. It’s the weather that really does make all the difference. The road is long and open; you get a wonderful sense of seclusion – privacy, if you will – which just leaves you with your thoughts and dreams. But that is it... thoughts and dreams. I had wondered what it would be like to cross the border from north to south and I wasn’t disappointed. The Irish really do things a little more eccentrically than anyone else and that gave me a pause to smile.
O.k. I was a little disappointed. You round a bend in the road and it gives you a road sign telling you A1: The South. That’s it. If you turn the roundabout and head off on the A1, you are entering Eire.
I rode and rode, I wanted to make good time and I was. Not because I wanted to be able to do anything in particular, but for the main so that I could rest, relax and recover. Yet, 30 miles (or so) out of Dublin, I made the decision to keep going. If I could, if I made it to the Dublin dealership today, then I had just Waterford City to do tomorrow and that would be far less hassle. I wanted to be able to ride the last part of my Irish trip in comfort and not have to race anywhere. I will admit, I got lost. In my defence, when I put the dealership into the ‘maps app’, it gave me directions straight there. However, it’s now one way and you can’t get up the street. So you go around, but as you enter it from the other direction the road s blocked and you are diverted back where you started. I am not known for my patience, or ability to see the funny side of stupidity, but when I stopped and asked a Guarda how to get there he said... ‘you need to go back to the main-road and then turn left. Go 7 streets down on the right and then turn there to come back up... oh and see if it’s one way then make it 8.’ Wonderful! Oh and that wasn’t the end. I showed him the ‘maps app’ and he said, ‘Eh, that’s just there.’ ‘I know...’ I said, ‘but how do I get there, because that is also blocked.’ ‘See you do go down 8 on the right and then you take the 2nd left, if you then turn right and right again, then you can follow that one all the way back up and that will bring you to there.’ He pointed. Only in Ireland could something so simple be so complicated. So I did exactly as he said and what do you know. It’s no longer the ‘official’ dealership. No. Now they have gone independent and the ‘official’ dealership is about 17miles outside of Dublin on an industrial park. I could have screamed, shouted and even cried, but instead all I did was smile.
I thanked the guys there and said goodbye.
I rode and rode, I wanted to make good time and I was. Not because I wanted to be able to do anything in particular, but for the main so that I could rest, relax and recover. Yet, 30 miles (or so) out of Dublin, I made the decision to keep going. If I could, if I made it to the Dublin dealership today, then I had just Waterford City to do tomorrow and that would be far less hassle. I wanted to be able to ride the last part of my Irish trip in comfort and not have to race anywhere. I will admit, I got lost. In my defence, when I put the dealership into the ‘maps app’, it gave me directions straight there. However, it’s now one way and you can’t get up the street. So you go around, but as you enter it from the other direction the road s blocked and you are diverted back where you started. I am not known for my patience, or ability to see the funny side of stupidity, but when I stopped and asked a Guarda how to get there he said... ‘you need to go back to the main-road and then turn left. Go 7 streets down on the right and then turn there to come back up... oh and see if it’s one way then make it 8.’ Wonderful! Oh and that wasn’t the end. I showed him the ‘maps app’ and he said, ‘Eh, that’s just there.’ ‘I know...’ I said, ‘but how do I get there, because that is also blocked.’ ‘See you do go down 8 on the right and then you take the 2nd left, if you then turn right and right again, then you can follow that one all the way back up and that will bring you to there.’ He pointed. Only in Ireland could something so simple be so complicated. So I did exactly as he said and what do you know. It’s no longer the ‘official’ dealership. No. Now they have gone independent and the ‘official’ dealership is about 17miles outside of Dublin on an industrial park. I could have screamed, shouted and even cried, but instead all I did was smile.
I thanked the guys there and said goodbye.The dealership in Dublin is massive! That is the only way to describe it. There are bikes everywhere. It is so big that they have a used motorcycle section downstairs as well as at ground level and some of the paint jobs are spectacular. I was in my element. I met with the guys there. They had no idea who I was, or what I was doing, but they really didn’t care. They were impressed. As I left Belfast and joined the A1 my clock finally ticked over the 2,000 miles for the journey. I have achieved something in these last few weeks that some people never manage in a lifetime and I have enjoyed it. Shit... I’m even still smiling. As I have found time and again, the staff at the dealership was fantastic. They knew how long a day it had to have been, and once they knew where I was going for the B&B they offered to lead me there as one of them had to pick his wife up from Malahide anyway (O3 miles from where I was staying). So I rode, and he guided. It was simple to follow someone else, but I’m damn sure I’d have been lost had I tried it on my own. Still it br
ought to an end a perfect day. I showered, I changed and then I rode the coast road. I needed something to eat and this seemed the place. And there it was The Oasis bar and restaurant. So dinner for me tonight was spent looking out across a beautiful blue bay as the sun made its way across the horizon.
ought to an end a perfect day. I showered, I changed and then I rode the coast road. I needed something to eat and this seemed the place. And there it was The Oasis bar and restaurant. So dinner for me tonight was spent looking out across a beautiful blue bay as the sun made its way across the horizon. 
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