Drinking and Driving in Ireland... Not at the same time

Galway to Dingle

I'm not sure if I stayed in the college part of town or if the entire town is a little rowdy at night. Last night I went to bed early then wound up getting back up at midnight to have a beer and a remarkably spicy kebab around the corner. The entire town was still raging with college kids, loud music, yelling, bottles breaking and even a scuffle in the Kebab house. Reminded me of nights of getting thrown out of bars in Chico in my younger years. I felt right at home, although I must admit I did feel a little out of place drinking alone and a little too old to look like a college kid. Didn't want to be the creepy lone wolf hanging out at the college bar trying to perv out on the young girls. So I finished my kebab and headed back to the room to pass out again. Great town, I wish I had more time there and a drinking buddy.. Had a light breakfast and hit the road. Some parting shots..




To the Cliffs of Moher.





No walking on fire near seagulls?






Hobbits?







Get Sum




Killmer to Tarbert ferry. Love taking ferries, reminds me of taking the Sausalito ferry in SF when I was a kid with my dad. They always have the best snacks on board.








Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures from the last part of the day as I was too busy getting rained on, hailed on, pissed on and blown all over the road. As said previously, I was wearing enough armor to look like a spaceman so the weather didn't bother me too much aside from cold hands. Apparently my gloves weren't Gore-tex, no big deal.




The road to Dingle was pretty impressive, I'll post more pictures of Dingle on day 6 as the weather was a little more cooperative.







I'm not sure entirely why this seems to happen more often now that I work as a nurse, but it seems every where I go I wind up getting involved in medical emergencies.. Even got involved with a person that fainted on the flight from Sacramento to Chicago on the way out. I arrive in Dingle and do my usual, find the main pub(Murphy's), go in order a beer and ask about a room. I drop my stuff off in the room and go back downstairs to have dinner and more beer. The bar was full of people, most dressed in black. Asked the bartender, apparently there was a funeral today which would explain the mood of the group. Out of nowhere there's commotion and people yelling behind me with people huddled on the ground. Turns out one of the ladies from the funeral had a seizure and hit the floor. I worked my way over to the group to try to help and over heard a woman with an American accent who apparently wasn't with the group but was asking all the right questions about the woman. Turns out she was a nurse as well so I started moving people and tables to make way for the ambulance to bring a stretcher in. We send the lady off and I wind up sitting down and talking with the American to find out where she's from. Small world, not only does she work in the bay area near where I work but she used to work at the same hospital I work at. We even know a couple of the same people, what are the odds...








A friend of mine from the town I grew up in referred me to Murphy's and told me to keep an eye our for a Placer County Sheriffs badge he remembered seeing. Found it Enough excitement, time for bed. Big day tomorrow, I've been looking forward to the Ring of Kerry for a couple years



Next up: Dingle Peninsula, Ring of Kerry, Ballycotton and a shitload of pictures

hey man, i was up at whiterock beach (couple of miles outside portrush) on friday thought i would throw up a few pics i took, iirc you didnt make it there when you were in bushmills? i took these on my phone so not amazing pics but anyway... it was kind of an overcast day and windy but very warm, a lot of surfers were out! its the beach that dunluce castle looks down on if you remember where that is. you can maybe see the castle in the distance in some of my pics

looks like some foreign tourists had been to the beach that day!







you can just about see the castle in the distance in above pic^^

That's gorgeous! Yeah I definitely missed more then a few things.. All the more excuse to come back out and have another try at it. This next time I have my dad on board for the trip and hopefully more. Still a year out but I can't wait!
-T

You're making me miss the trip I took in '03. Started in Belfast worked my way to Dublin then across to Shannon and around Kenmare then up to Cong. Galway was insanely packed and aside from traffic fun for the races. Maybe I should see how those old shots clean up in Lightroom...

One odd thing I thought I'd noticed. While the Guinness did taste better over there, in Dublin the only place it was better was their "factory" tour. For some reason what the pubs were serving didn't to me measure up to the rest of Ireland.

Nice job on the report & thanks for taking the time. I regret to say that although my Mother was born in Dublin & I spent a year in France when in my late 20's...I never set foot on Ireland. Dumb as hell.

Holy crap!! I just remembered I still need to finish this RR. Just got back from riding to Colorado and back from California and hitting a good stretch of the UTBDR route on the way. I will get back on this shortly and I might do a picture dump for the trip west too..

killer you should give me a message on here if you are coming back we could meet up for a ride if you are in norhtern ireland again

Dingle

Woke up jazzed knowing today was the Ring of Kerry. But first some hot breakfast action...
Smoked salmon, eggs, and smoked salmon.. Errmeherd




After breakfast I was trying to figure out a way to debulk my backpack as it was gaining in size with souvenirs. My girlfriend at the time insisted that I take travel underwear with me so I could do laundry on the fly and in the sink. As usual she was right, the underwear were magical as underwear can be. Time to get rid of the cotton spiderman underwear and a couple cotton tshirts.

Bag debulked.


Before taking off I talked the bartender on the way out to make sure I wasn't going to miss some good roads as I took off out of town for the ring. She highly recommended hitting the Dingle peninsula before I head out. Sounds phallic, I'll check it out.









What an asshole.












In hind sight, the Dingle peninsula may have actually been the single most spectacular ride of the trip. It took me forever to cover a very short distance as I couldn't stay on the bike. Beautiful area, cold as balls.








My favorite teacher from elementary school was nice enough to give me some advice on which direction to take the ring to avoid being stuck behind the tour buses. On to the ring.





















Pulled into Cork in the evening and wasn't too impressed considering what I was looking for. It looked like a cool city with a decent nightlife but that wasn't intimate small town experience I was looking for so I kept driving. Wound up getting lost and arriving at a bar in Middleton to use some wifi and figure out where to hold up for the night. Turns out the original Jameson Distillery was right down the street, too bad they're already closed for the night. Looked at a map with the bartender and she pointed out a little fishing town called Ballycotton to the south that supposed to be good for views. I arrived in Ballycotton around 9:00pm and found a beautiful little BnB called the Schooner Tavern that still had the bar open.

Thank god for the fireplace.


As I arrived late in the evening, all the restaurants in town were closed so I was SOL in trying to find food. After hearing the last thing I ate was breakfast, Mike the owner of the place went and reopened the kitchen and threw together a sandwich and some soup that damn near made me emotional. Of all the places I stayed this trip, I could not have been any happier with my stay at the Schooner Tavern. Mike and Brid are a quality of people you rarely come across, they're both wonderful people and I feel lucky to have met them. Mike also spent some time with me at the bar on his laptop planning the rest of my trip to make sure I made the most of my last couple days. Again, great people, when I come back to Ireland with my dad next year I will go out of my way to stop here again.



Next: Ballycotton to Rathdrum

What is the correct way to traverse the Ring of Kerry so as to avoid tour buses?

Clockwise! If you go counter clockwise you're running with the buses and they're a bitch to get around on twisty 2 lane roads. Epic ride!

Amazing pictures!

I hope to get there, someday...

JG

I woke up this morning and didn't particularly want to leave town. As it was pitch black when I arrived in town the night before, I wasn't able to see my surroundings in the little village of Ballycotton. Had I a companion, this town would be the ultimate, quiet, romantic weekend getaway. The BnB was by far my favorite of the trip and Mike and Brid could not have been better hosts. I departed after another enormous Irish breakfast and set out on the route that Brid had helped me decide on last night. Going to try to make it to Rathdrum tonight with a few stops on the way...

Looks empty without the colorful locals..





Ballycotton with a little bit of daylight..












Bye Bye Ballycotton






I swear to god it's real..


This curious little gal followed me as I walked across the bridge to take a picture of the castle, wasn't sure if she thougth I had food or wanted to snuggle.



Up at theV





pitstop




Finally landed at Stirabout Lane in Rathdrum. Cool little spot..


Up next.... One more night in Ireland..

Fantastic RR. Great pics...I wanna go!!

Beautiful....sensory overload is putting it mildly. Thanks for taking us along. & Cheers

All I have is...

WOW!

Thanks for taking us along.

Me and the wife rented BMW 800 GS s out of Dublin.last year...Paul Rawlins.Celtic Riders.. (has ads in the BMW ON) and we met him again at the National in Sedalia this year nicest people ever!.. for our trip to the Isle of Man races.....Had a wonderful time, but unfortunately just did not have the time to ride Ireland very much......just 3 days.....should have booked at least another week, but what a super experience..just like you say, the B&B... the breakfasts, the sites and the Irish are just out of this world..and yes, the Guinness Does taste better in Ireland...you have to go there for the experience....Oh and I also thoroughly recommend the IOM for the TT races.......

Thanks guys and you're quite welcome. Sorry it's taken me to long to finish this report, shoulda been done with this months ago. Been a little distracted with work, school and doing stuff like this :) http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=819387


Limey, Im jealous of the IOM races, it's definitely on the list. I can't wait to go back to Ireland again, easily my favorite vacation I've ever taken.

IDrider, Woods and stressfest, glad you guys are enjoying and thanks for reading along.
-T

I had a great night in Rathdrum last night, walked all over the town, had a few beers at every pub and managed to find funky spot called the Cartoon Inn to get snockered in. I'm kicking myself as I have a horrible habit of being so entertained with finding new places to drink that I forget to take pictures. Cool bar, great drinks and enough cartoon artwork on the walls to keep a drunk person busy laughing at pictures for most the night. Had I it to do over again I would have spent at least one more night in Rathdrum. If exploring the quirky town wasn't entertaining enough, it also backs up to a national forest with wicked twisties going through forest that feels like coastal Northern California.

As per usual, I loved the BnB I stayed at, thanks again Daphne and Pat for the beautiful accommodations. I arrived late and unannounced, they were nice enough to rent me their last room which happened to be a suite for the cost of the single. Great couple and their kid is a crack up. Irish breakfast and hit the road busting at the seams.





Back on the road.. a little bridge I took to get to a wool factory to load up on souvenirs.












Ruins of an old house where a saint used to live..













Coming Full Circle...
As stated before, serendipity seemed to shine on me throughout the trip making it a truly magical experience. Taking the time to listen to the little voice in the back of your head that tells you to take a random turn out of curiosity paid off more times then I could keep track of. From a few days ago, remember when I got lost and wound up on Joey Dunlop holy ground in Ballymoney? Here we go again.. After logging some miles out of Rathdrum and shooting past Dublin, I happened to see another gothic church on the side of the road that looked worth investigating.

I pulled off the road and started wandering around the grounds and wound up striking up a conversation with the grounds keeper. As the conversation naturally drifted towards motorcycles, my new friend Mike seemed genuinely shocked I had no idea of the motorcycle significance of where I was standing.. Turns out I was standing in the town of Skerries, home of the Skerries 100. A psychotic road race where they block off residential and country roads throughout Skerries to make a road race for the craziest of the crazy. The king of crazy being Joey Dunlop of course. Mike filled in on the history of the race, the history of Joey and even told me of the time he was lucky enough to run into Joey as he was arriving at the pub. Joey was just leaving the pub after winning yet another race, bike in the back of the truck and trophy in the passenger seat. Small world. And now I know who Joey Dunlop was..

Can you find Mike?






















Medical Emergency #2
Somewhere between Newcastle and Portaferry I came around the corner to a bunch of freaked out people in the middle of the road, a car plowed into a rock wall and a little old lady slumped over in a car. I pulled over and offered a hand which gladly accepted and climbed in the car with a little old gal who was out cold. Still not sure what happened and I doubt she knows either but she definitely got her bell rung. I did a quick head to toe, held c-spine as best as I could in the situation and wanted for the ambulance. The ambulance came, I handed off and hauled ass to catch the next ferry for Portaferry :)















My stay in Portaferry was pretty uneventful. Quiet. Solemn. Bummed. There's nothing in town to eat but fish and chips and I'm dreading flying out in the morning.

Tomorrow: Haul ass to Lisburn and catch a plane.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to do this. Absolutely stunning photography. Did you take a lot of notes or does Guiness not affect your memory the way it does mine? My resoloution this year is to SLOW DOWN and experience the ride like you did.