Up early today for our ride back home, we met a guy and his wife from New Zealand in the hotel car park. He was a biker too, rides a KTM was interested in where we had been on our travels. He lives in the South Island and passed on his contact details in case we ever travel to NZ on an adventure out there, insisted we look him up and stay over. What a great guy, and that's one for the bucket list?
We made the ferry in good time for a breakfast in the cafe on board. The ride home from Fishguard via Lampeter on luxurious Welsh roads was fairly uneventful even though a sudden rise in temperature to 30 degrees was immediately noticeable after we disembarked.
ZZzzzzz .... ugh.. more gravel... zzzz
I quite enjoyed the ride up the A 475 stopping occasionally for a brief rest. Unfortunately though, on the way I adjusted the route to bring us across Lynne Brianne for Mark to see who had a real desire to visit as he'd never been there and we thought it would add some more interest to our ride home on this sunny day but the Garmin had other ideas and took us gravel hunting up back-lanes much to Mikes concern as he had to ride up to Wigan this afternoon. In the end we abandoned that idea and I put us back on the main road, where Mark carried on to the reservoir on his own. Myself and Mike met Mark again for lunch in Builth Wells before saying fair-well to Mike there, leaving me and Mark to ride home and part ways at the OK Diner in Leominster.
No more chicken strips
Superb trip, thanks guys. Many thanks to Mark for booking the first two hotels at a discounted rate and for his route amendment suggestions, and for Mike finding a great hotel on the last night. A great team effort where we soon learned to ride together very well with no real GPS mapping problems (keeping the rider without GPS in the middle helped on this), also the additional attention to waypoint routing/syncing when planning between Basecamp and On-line maps for our different GPS systems, and using the 'buddy system' as a fail-safe on this one really paid off.
The routes, weather, company and nights of fun made Ireland and the Wild Atlantic Way one of the best. In the end I covered 1010 Miles home to home, my tyre stayed inflated, Mike lost his Chicken Strips and Mark kept the creases out of his jacket!
To start our ride back East we had unfinished business. We had cut the ride short yesterday and hadn't visited Brandon so I added a couple of way points to take us North from Dingle and after another hearty breakfast we were soon underway, leaving around 9 am.
View from the Harbour Lodge Guest House
The route took us via the fast and twisty Connor Pass. Superb vista from up here, we stopped for a short while before taking off down the other side. me leading with Mark getting some speed up on the way down. we met Mike at the bottom of the pass before the turning for Brandon.
We went out as far as Brandon Harbour riding along the north side of the Dingle peninsula. The day started cool and sunny, just the job to cruise and take in this very pretty coastline.
Brandon Harbour was deserted, not a soul about other than us three. I have to say this is a very special place, and I just have to come back here again. I can see me pitching a tent in a field somewhere and spending a quiet summer down here. I just have to get across here again someday, it was a sad moment to leave.
We followed the coastline back along the N86 through Cloghane, Derrymore and on through Tralee.
In the shade - Carrick on Suir
The ride back East to Wexford had a few moments. I had plotted a different route east than when we came west, and it seemed to us less bumpy on the minor roads this time - or that may have been us more used to it? We travelled on more of the main roads too which helped.
After 50 miles I pulled over for a break at a small two pump garage and shop. While sipping water, Mark suggested we had a problem and pointed to my rear tyre. Looking down I could see a screw sticking out the side wall of the tyre, just off the tread pattern. It had skewered the edge of the tyre. I realised it was not suitable to plug with my fix kit, so we took a vote on what to do, should I remove it or leave it? We agreed that if left in it would do more damage to the tyre and since it seemed I wasn't losing pressure (still up at 2.7 bar) I might get away with it if removed. I spat on and around the screw and no bubbles and with a crosshead driver from my kit I carefully unscrewed it. All good so far. I switched the bike dash to show TPS, and kept my eye on the pressure for the rest of the trip. All good it seems. Phew, a bit of Irish luck I guess.
On another occasion, the Garmin showed a right turn on a bend with two turns and I couldn't distinguish the two, and make a choice on which one to take. I pulled over briefly and decided on the best condition of the two lanes. A few miles down the road we passed a farm and out the corner of my eye noticed something rushing toward me - a dog came running toward the bike, quite scary, but somehow Mike and Mark behind avoided getting a bite too. It seemed I had in fact taken the wrong turn and should have taken the really gravelly, rutted lane instead. We turned around and corrected ourselves, to find the lane turned into a really nice smooth road a few miles on.
Later in the day we stopped for lunch (a very nice Tuna and Cheese toastie) in Mitchelstown on the N73 just before the intended stop at Cahir. After lunch the run picked up pace along the N24 and N25 towards New Ross. At this point approaching road works we overtaken by some guy on a naked sports bike, who we met at the temporary lights. I decided to try and see if he would 'twitch' as the four of us were lined up like the start of a race at the front of the queue. I revved my bike, dropped the clutch a little to see if he would take the bait... and then promptly stalled it, much to everyone's amusement 😡, 😊. Doh'.
We headed toward Old Ross, along some more lanes before arriving in the very nice Wexford, with it's big tidy houses on the outskirts.
Tonight Mike had booked us into the very ideal Maldron Hotel. Well done Mike, great facilities and perfect for the quick run down to Rosslare harbour for our 8 am sail tomorrow.
Good nights stay for our last one in Eire. Last drop of Guinness after a swim in the pool. Mark even got on the treadmill, much to our gesturing from the Jacuzzi below!
Not the Jacuzzi
Quite amusing moment we ordered a platter of Chicken Wings, Sausages etc as a starter to share. The waitress chuckled when ordered our mains .. we did manage to eat most of the starter though!
Food and Beer, what else ?
Early start tomorrow, 6.15 meet at bikes to start our journey home 😔
A groggy start to the morning sorted out with a full breakfast at the Heights Hotel trying to recover from the night before in Killarney. After a post-mortem on the nights events, a laugh over breakfast trying to remember what happened we managed to check out and get our wheels rolling just past 10 am, but first, in the car park I noticed a Lamp warning light on the bike dash, and Mark confirmed my headlight bulb had blown. Must have been these bumpy roads. I didn't fancy riding without a headlight, so we stopped at the petrol station down the road to fuel up and I quickly fitted a new bulb.
All lit up again, and more visible to other road users, we headed off in the direction of the Ring of Kerry via the Gap Of Dunloe. Today we will ride the ring in a clockwise direction, I had read the coach route is anti-clockwise and didn't fancy getting stuck behind one of those, so we cut through the Gap first. Quite a bit of pedestrian traffic leading up to it and horses with carriages everywhere running scenic rides up to the lake. The weather yet again was superb. Just the right temperature for Motorcycling - not too hot, but great without my liners in.
Gap of Dunloe
A quick stop at the lake for photos we pressed on through Moll's Gap, (named after Moll Kissane who ran a pub there during the road construction in the 1820's) this time in the opposite direction to how we came through this section yesterday on the way to Killarney.
The route became quite nice and twisty as we weaved through a bit of moorland and wilderness and we passed by a Waterfall, where I remembered I had the GoPro in my pannier. I quickly stopped while the others continued on ahead and mounted the camera on the bike to start filming
I had plotted the first part of the route slightly off the official ring on the R 568 this seemed a faster run and higher up. I wasn't disappointed and avoided any tourist traffic, Mark got in front and Mike and I followed him. Good fun we managed to have a nice fast ride through the wonderful valley all the way down to Sneem.
Near Augher Lake
Amazing scenery everywhere you looked. I couldn't resist stopping the bike several times and taking it all in. I now see what all the fuss is about now with the ROK.
While riding it was difficult to know where to stop and get the camera out there were so many viewpoints. With Mike and Mark behind I didn't want to stop too often, but I knew they would be wanting to stop too so I put the camera in my tank bag, and we agreed to leap-frog each other getting photo's when we each felt like stopping with the others carrying on if they didn't.
Mark's Versys
Eventually we came down into Sneem village and took a break to take on water next to this statue of this famous wrestler Steve Crusher Casey Interesting character coming from a family of bare knuckle boxers.
Steve Crusher Casey (Wrestler) Sneem
As we came around to about 8'o clock on the Ring of Kerry, Mike was in front we managed to miss a turning to ride the Skellig Ring - a road that loops by Valentia Island in the distance, as well as way off in the distance Skellig Michael made famous recently for being the hideout of the ageing Luke Skywalker in the latest Star Wars movies. Mike didn't have a GPS or tank bag with map, so was none the wiser so I tried to catch up with him and after I pulled him over, assumed he got the message but with a bit of confusion as I waved a Harley rider on who was behind us when I turned around meant myself and Mark waited at the turning for five minutes before heading along the chosen Skellig Ring without Mike. Mike eventually called me on my phone / headset and we agreed a meet and lunch not far away in the harbour town of Portmagee. A minor mistake and the only navigational one so far on the trip, thankfully he didn't miss too much of the route.
Skellig Michael
When arriving in the town I noticed Mike sat at a table outside the very nice Smugglers Cafe. Well done Mike, I really enjoyed lunch here sat in the sun with great service too.
Portmagee on the Skellig Ring
We managed to catch most of the second half of the World Cup England v Panama too, streamed radio commentary using Mark's phone. With a 6-1 result to England and a nice Ciabatta under our belts we were soon underway to ride the rest of the Ring.
After a short ride we crossed the Valentia River at Cahersiveen for a brief stop at Ballycarbery Castle. Unfortunately, visitors aren't allowed, but nothing much there anyway and with time pressing on we carried on riding.
Ballycarbery Castle
Look in to my eyes. Mike (the Gravel Meister) and Me.
After we crossed over to the Dingle Peninsula at Castlemaine we decided to cut the ride short and save the Connor Pass for tomorrow. we took the shorter 15 mile route straight to our stay at the Dingle Harbour Lodge arriving around 5.30 pm - the earliest so far. An unusual place to stay, the most expensive of our trip with less facilities and no bar! We put the expense down to popularity with American tourists, but Dingle is such a nice location I couldn't resist. I really wanted to visit again ever since a family holiday when I was 12 years old. I can't say I remembered much of it, but the location of the lodge was near the town and pubs.
GoPro Video riding around part of the Ring Of Kerry
With a quick rest and change, we soon strolled up town to Dick Mack's pub for a few pints of the black stuff and to review the days events stood outside in the brewery yard. The place was full of Americans and Dingle does seem a bit touristy these days it seems. Afterwards, we went to find a restaurant but couldn't make our mind up at first, eventually settling for theLord Bakers restaurant a bit further up the hill. I opted for the Kerry Lamb, and Mike and Mark went with a Steak each. Good value I thought, and the owner (not sure if his name really was Lord Baker) gave us excellent service. Well recommended.
Dick Mack's
Rounding the night off, we visited a few pubs, each having there own traditional Irish Music players. We even thought we saw Robbie Coltrane's sister in one of them - I did think she was a bit of a 'Cracker' (sorry Frank Carson, couldn't resist) !
Brian May lookie likey to be sure
Superb days riding ,with great company, probably the best so far. The roads were smoother on this one, and the scenery breathtaking! Tomorrow we ride over the Connor Pass and back East to Wexford.
