Well, actually it was August the 16th or thereabouts but I have only just got off my arse to write this .
First off, many thanks for the kind offers and help off Tenzig99 and Jockser. All the routes looked great but I was on too tight a schedule to plan anything/meet up and just had to wait and see what time I had to be able to ride. Maybe next time eh guys.
Aplogies for the waffle :
Anyrode, a friend from Oz was visiting Europe during August and September, with one of his friends, Graham.
His first port of call was Dublin where they were having a few days R&R before heading to Northern France for the serious stuff; War memorials, Normandy, Ypres etc. Some of us his Brit friends off another bike forum had tentatively "promised" to go over to see the old coont in Dublin as it'd be a pity to miss the opportunity of verbally abusing him face to face after travelling from the other side of the world.
In the end, due to circumstances beyond peeps control and life in general it transpired that I was the only Member to be available to go visit them.
This too was a "difficult" exercise for me, due to another Dublin visit at the same time........of my missus, her female friend, my daughter and her mate .
They had booked a "girls" long weekend ages ago, which just happened to drop on the Oz visit
So....I kept this a "secret" from arr lass, she, thinking I was possibly fookin off to South Wales for a break that weekend...AFTER I'd taken them to Manchester Airport. Oh the fekkin holes we dig!
So, Friday arrives and I drop my wifes party off at the Airport, the intention being to nail it back home, get on the GS , which was ready, packed and waiting and then nail it back to Holyhead for the Ferry to Dublin, getting me there early evening, just right for a session with the Oz "gels"
The phrase "turned to shit in my hands" comes to mind now. On the way back from the airport and with time of the essence, I got stuck behind a string of painfully slow moving traffic from the top of the Snake down to Sheffield, :banghead) . I was then overtaken by a coont in a Nova...on double white lines. I gave him the flash and Tosser sign which he reciprocated. This went on another 3 times, him overtaking at the most dangerous of times. Anyone coming the other way would have been wiped out. I, knowing the road very well, managed several safe overtakes and finally took the scrote alongside Ladybower Reservoir, whilst exchanging Tosser/knobhead signs.
Got to the traffic lights at Ladybower and on RED. He pulled alongside to turn right and looked at me shrugging his shoulders.There then followed an altercation wherby to cut a long story short, he ran me over, knocking me up and over his bonnet onto the road. He ended up with a very leaky mouthful of red teeth. This all took time to sort and resulted in me missing the afternoon ferry from Holyhead by "miles".
Had to wait a couple of hours for the evening ferry which also happened to be fully fekkin booked and pray for a cancellation. Got one and so I was on my way at 7.30 Friday evening which meant I would miss the evening pissup but hey ho.
To make matters worse the ferry crossing was one of the worst I've been on. Felt shite all the way across.
I finally got to Dublin at 12.30 and into the holtel at 1.30
Phew, what was a stressful day.
So, down for breakfast at 8 and sure enough my little fook from Oz is there waiting to stand me a full Oirish
Nice to see him again, and his mate Graham,who joined us for toast.
So, it was a bus into Dublin where we took in the sights on a lovely sunny morning,
before hiding in dark welcoming pubs for the rest of the day.
I had a plan to surprise my missus but that too turned to shite when I realised that I didn't have a signal for my mobile.
Spookily enough though, as we walked around a corner, I spotted my missus and her group amongst all the other tourists, heading to the entrance to Trinity College Library.
With the Oz primed, we scuttled across and mingled through the crowd until we got close to them.
In his best Austrailian voice and not 2 feet away, he started talking loud and mentioning my name. The penny never dropped and you could tell that all they wanted to do was get away from this annoying little Oz coont.
When he look at my missus and asked if she'd heard of my name, she finally recognised his voice and it sunk in. I then put in an appearance, where I got a thump in the ribs for my trouble !
Leaving them to join the queue for a look at the Book of Kells, we moved on to more cerebral stuff......like visiting Madigans where the Guinness is 5 fekkin Euros a pint :shock) ....but still well worth it.
Fookin gorgeous is the Black Stuff in Dublin.sup)
The rest of the day was spent quietly drinking and talking bollox whilst wandering around Dublins fare city, interspersed by a mid afternoon break where we retired back to the hotel for a rest from drinking. There, we partook of several pork pies and Black Dag I had taken with me, from the Pork Pie Mecca that is Turners, the Butchers at Jump near Barnsley and all liberally washed down with coca cola and a bottle of Southern Comfort !! A quick power nap before it was back into town for more of the same.
What a fantastic place is Dublin. The pubs are bouncing with live music and not one sign of trouble. Everybody was just buzzing and having a good time. What craic
All good things come to pass though and it was finally time to make our way back to the hotel and bed. Even Graham, who I think Sir Les Patterson modelled himself on, had resorted to soft drinks with a cocktail umbrella please.
Those two had an early flight and were leaving the hotel for 8.00 a.m.
So, it was up bright and early to say our goodbyes after a too short a meet up.
.... and when they buggered off I was left on my own , Billy No-Mates, but with a good route into the Wicklows in my Garmin , kindly donated by a GS'er from Dublin namely Jockser.
With my ferry not leaving until 4.30 I had most of a lovely sunny dry day to take in the Wicklow Mountains.
By 8.30 I was away on the GS , south out of Dublin and up into the hills.
Bloody lovely place, scenery as expected and empty roads as far as the eye can see. I managed a gentle 100 mile route with many stops for pics.
Can't remember the places now but it's somewhere I must go again as I only scratched the surface.I do remember "Aurora Road" and thinking "fanbloodytastic". Oh, and Sally Gap and the Military Road, so here's a few pics.
I rolled into Dublin Port with an hour to spare. A great end to an eventful weekend...err, or was it?
I arrived in Holyhead at 7.00 Sunday evening and not really fancying a blatt along the coast onto the M56 at that time of night and without enjoying North Wales, I rode down to Caernarvon and then up to Llanberis arriving at a small campsite in Llanberis Pass for 8.15.
After chucking my tent up ( I took my camping gear just in case I had decided to stay another night in Ireland, mebbe in the Wicklows) I jumped on the bike and finished the evening off with a curry down in Llanberis.
After a deep sleep I was up and ready to go for 07.00. What a fantastic sunrise this morning.
Rode down to Llanberis, set my bike camera up using a new mount I hadn't tried on the Beemer before, then rode the pass without any interference from any traffic whatsoever. Got loads of footage all the way across North Wales
where I stopped at the Ponderosa for a full Welsh Breakfast. ( It's very
similar to a Full English except the woman who serves you says "there's luvvly see")
Got chatting to a bird outside. Lovely smiling lass, full of the joys of spring. She was riding an 883 Hardly MovingSon and her partner a Honda Similar thing!
The Hardly was I must admit, immaculate with not too much bling. Transpired that she'd treated herself to her first Hardly on her fortieth, but then got this "better" one when she'd got clearance from her breast cancer. "Good on ya" I inadequately said. She thanked me but then said she was a bit pissed off cos she'd got
two large shadows on her liver and that "wasn't good" "Still," she smiled.... "it's a cracking day for a ride, let's fekkin enjoy it....take care" ..and off they "potato potato'd" towards Snowdonia.
What a lass! Very humbling meeting someone like that. Also very spooky in a spooky sorta way. I mean, I travel to Ireland to meet a coont from the other side of the world and who has suffered a serious illness without , as far as I'm aware, losing his joie de vivre..and then the "last" person I meet on my trip is this lass, with a similar outlook. Mind you, she was a lot better looking than the Budgie though.
Respect to you all !!
( Fekkin costly 10 pints of Guinness though..Worked it out and it came to about £35 a pint all in !!!!!)[/quote]
First off, many thanks for the kind offers and help off Tenzig99 and Jockser. All the routes looked great but I was on too tight a schedule to plan anything/meet up and just had to wait and see what time I had to be able to ride. Maybe next time eh guys.
Aplogies for the waffle :
Anyrode, a friend from Oz was visiting Europe during August and September, with one of his friends, Graham.
His first port of call was Dublin where they were having a few days R&R before heading to Northern France for the serious stuff; War memorials, Normandy, Ypres etc. Some of us his Brit friends off another bike forum had tentatively "promised" to go over to see the old coont in Dublin as it'd be a pity to miss the opportunity of verbally abusing him face to face after travelling from the other side of the world.
In the end, due to circumstances beyond peeps control and life in general it transpired that I was the only Member to be available to go visit them.
This too was a "difficult" exercise for me, due to another Dublin visit at the same time........of my missus, her female friend, my daughter and her mate
.They had booked a "girls" long weekend ages ago, which just happened to drop on the Oz visit
So....I kept this a "secret" from arr lass, she, thinking I was possibly fookin off to South Wales for a break that weekend...AFTER I'd taken them to Manchester Airport. Oh the fekkin holes we dig!
So, Friday arrives and I drop my wifes party off at the Airport, the intention being to nail it back home, get on the GS , which was ready, packed and waiting and then nail it back to Holyhead for the Ferry to Dublin, getting me there early evening, just right for a session with the Oz "gels"
The phrase "turned to shit in my hands" comes to mind now. On the way back from the airport and with time of the essence, I got stuck behind a string of painfully slow moving traffic from the top of the Snake down to Sheffield, :banghead) . I was then overtaken by a coont in a Nova...on double white lines. I gave him the flash and Tosser sign which he reciprocated. This went on another 3 times, him overtaking at the most dangerous of times. Anyone coming the other way would have been wiped out. I, knowing the road very well, managed several safe overtakes and finally took the scrote alongside Ladybower Reservoir, whilst exchanging Tosser/knobhead signs.
Got to the traffic lights at Ladybower and on RED. He pulled alongside to turn right and looked at me shrugging his shoulders.There then followed an altercation wherby to cut a long story short, he ran me over, knocking me up and over his bonnet onto the road. He ended up with a very leaky mouthful of red teeth. This all took time to sort and resulted in me missing the afternoon ferry from Holyhead by "miles".
Had to wait a couple of hours for the evening ferry which also happened to be fully fekkin booked and pray for a cancellation. Got one and so I was on my way at 7.30 Friday evening which meant I would miss the evening pissup but hey ho.
To make matters worse the ferry crossing was one of the worst I've been on. Felt shite all the way across.
I finally got to Dublin at 12.30 and into the holtel at 1.30
Phew, what was a stressful day.
So, down for breakfast at 8 and sure enough my little fook from Oz is there waiting to stand me a full Oirish
Nice to see him again, and his mate Graham,who joined us for toast.
So, it was a bus into Dublin where we took in the sights on a lovely sunny morning,
before hiding in dark welcoming pubs for the rest of the day.
I had a plan to surprise my missus but that too turned to shite when I realised that I didn't have a signal for my mobile.
Spookily enough though, as we walked around a corner, I spotted my missus and her group amongst all the other tourists, heading to the entrance to Trinity College Library.
With the Oz primed, we scuttled across and mingled through the crowd until we got close to them.
In his best Austrailian voice and not 2 feet away, he started talking loud and mentioning my name. The penny never dropped and you could tell that all they wanted to do was get away from this annoying little Oz coont.
When he look at my missus and asked if she'd heard of my name, she finally recognised his voice and it sunk in. I then put in an appearance, where I got a thump in the ribs for my trouble !
Leaving them to join the queue for a look at the Book of Kells, we moved on to more cerebral stuff......like visiting Madigans where the Guinness is 5 fekkin Euros a pint :shock) ....but still well worth it.
Fookin gorgeous is the Black Stuff in Dublin.
sup) The rest of the day was spent quietly drinking and talking bollox whilst wandering around Dublins fare city, interspersed by a mid afternoon break where we retired back to the hotel for a rest from drinking. There, we partook of several pork pies and Black Dag I had taken with me, from the Pork Pie Mecca that is Turners, the Butchers at Jump near Barnsley and all liberally washed down with coca cola and a bottle of Southern Comfort !! A quick power nap before it was back into town for more of the same.
What a fantastic place is Dublin. The pubs are bouncing with live music and not one sign of trouble. Everybody was just buzzing and having a good time. What craic
All good things come to pass though and it was finally time to make our way back to the hotel and bed. Even Graham, who I think Sir Les Patterson modelled himself on, had resorted to soft drinks with a cocktail umbrella please.
Those two had an early flight and were leaving the hotel for 8.00 a.m.
So, it was up bright and early to say our goodbyes after a too short a meet up.
.... and when they buggered off I was left on my own , Billy No-Mates, but with a good route into the Wicklows in my Garmin , kindly donated by a GS'er from Dublin namely Jockser.
With my ferry not leaving until 4.30 I had most of a lovely sunny dry day to take in the Wicklow Mountains.
By 8.30 I was away on the GS , south out of Dublin and up into the hills.
Bloody lovely place, scenery as expected and empty roads as far as the eye can see. I managed a gentle 100 mile route with many stops for pics.
Can't remember the places now but it's somewhere I must go again as I only scratched the surface.I do remember "Aurora Road" and thinking "fanbloodytastic". Oh, and Sally Gap and the Military Road, so here's a few pics.
I rolled into Dublin Port with an hour to spare. A great end to an eventful weekend...err, or was it?
I arrived in Holyhead at 7.00 Sunday evening and not really fancying a blatt along the coast onto the M56 at that time of night and without enjoying North Wales, I rode down to Caernarvon and then up to Llanberis arriving at a small campsite in Llanberis Pass for 8.15.
After chucking my tent up ( I took my camping gear just in case I had decided to stay another night in Ireland, mebbe in the Wicklows) I jumped on the bike and finished the evening off with a curry down in Llanberis.
After a deep sleep I was up and ready to go for 07.00. What a fantastic sunrise this morning.
Rode down to Llanberis, set my bike camera up using a new mount I hadn't tried on the Beemer before, then rode the pass without any interference from any traffic whatsoever. Got loads of footage all the way across North Wales
where I stopped at the Ponderosa for a full Welsh Breakfast. ( It's very
similar to a Full English except the woman who serves you says "there's luvvly see")
Got chatting to a bird outside. Lovely smiling lass, full of the joys of spring. She was riding an 883 Hardly MovingSon and her partner a Honda Similar thing!
The Hardly was I must admit, immaculate with not too much bling. Transpired that she'd treated herself to her first Hardly on her fortieth, but then got this "better" one when she'd got clearance from her breast cancer. "Good on ya" I inadequately said. She thanked me but then said she was a bit pissed off cos she'd got
two large shadows on her liver and that "wasn't good" "Still," she smiled.... "it's a cracking day for a ride, let's fekkin enjoy it....take care" ..and off they "potato potato'd" towards Snowdonia.
What a lass! Very humbling meeting someone like that. Also very spooky in a spooky sorta way. I mean, I travel to Ireland to meet a coont from the other side of the world and who has suffered a serious illness without , as far as I'm aware, losing his joie de vivre..and then the "last" person I meet on my trip is this lass, with a similar outlook. Mind you, she was a lot better looking than the Budgie though.
Respect to you all !!
( Fekkin costly 10 pints of Guinness though..Worked it out and it came to about £35 a pint all in !!!!!)[/quote]
