I have been planning on this Ring of Ireland ride now for about 2 years. As always I have a purpose for most of the things I do when it come to long trip on bike. This one is two fold, 1. Ride the Island of Ireland. 2. Research the background of my fathers parent who immigrated from Ireland in the mid to late 1800's. So now I have a reason and a purpose, now to get into action. The plan. Fly from Alabama to Dublin, Ireland then take a train to Cork, then a bus to Belgooly. Get off the bus at The Huntsman Pub and call Martin to come and pick me up. Once I have the bike, I'll start my ride called the Ring of Ireland. Just a little information which might make sense of the first part of the story. I contacted Martin Hurley of County Cork who has a business called MotoFeirme.com. Moto Feirme He helps tourist buy a bike in Ireland, tag it, register it and find insurance for it, and can store it when your not using it. I bought a 1998 Honda Deauville 650 from a US rider who had just finished his trip with the help of Martin. September 8, 2014 - First day in Ireland This is how I ended up in Belgooly at the Huntsman Pub. And where I was to meet up with Martin and take delivery of the Deauville. Huntsman Pub Huntsman Pub, training chair for future Dart Champions. It's a family thing. First Irish Meal at The Hunstman and of course washed down with a little Jameson Whiskey. End of a very good starting day. More on day two, getting the Mighty Deauville 650 and learning to ride on the other side of the road. Sorry for being slow to start this report. I'm doing it on an iPad, and just as soon as I need a fishing weight on the end of my pole this is where this crappy thing will be attached. I learned to type with both hands and all fingers 45 years ago. Now I have had to revert back to pick and peck to type.
Well I'm definitely not rushing this ride report. I've only been here 13 days, a little late on the start of this report. Blame this iPad, I hate it.
Well enjoy it. I live in Connemara and cannot believe how lucky I am to be able to ride on this wonderful island. Sure I am subbed so will see the updates
please post more. i am looking at using martin's services and doing a trip partially in ireland. give the i pad time, technology knows when you are not use to it. enjoy.... kb
No lack of photos to post up. I just need to start doing so in an orderly fashion. If this iPad will just tolerate an old PC user then maybe I can get it done. Stay tuned it coming. Check Martin Facebook he has a couple bike back on the market. My bike is a 650 Honda, and after 1500 miles on it now since I took delivery on it, I can say that for Ireland it's a perfect size. I have an F650 and a R1150 GSA at home. The 1150 would be to big for Ireland, I can't tell you how many times I would have dropped the 1150 when I had to stop to let buses and trucks have the right away on small/norrow road get by. The drop off on the side of the road is pretty good in some places there is no shoulder on the small roads, right foot would be on the asphalt left foot would be looking for a place to place itself. Smaller is better in Ireland, the 650 is plenty fast for the road I've been driving. My BMW F650 would've been perfect for here just couldn't find one ($$$$$) when I was buying. One other thing is that there are plenty of bikes for sale here just not a lot of them that are set up with side bags and a top case, makes it hard to pack if you don't have them. I can say that without Martin's help it would have been quite difficult to find a bike by traveling around and looking at them. He's the man here in Ireland. You will save a lot of money by buying one of the bikes that he has in his storage barn that have returned from the same type of trip I'm taking and your planning.
September 9, 2014 - first full day of riding. I left Martin's place headed for Kinsale. Drove down to and around this beautiful city and headed south. Kinsale, Ireland A few shots leaving Kinsale.
Sorry for the double post, lost WiFi connection during first upload and the did it again, by mistake. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
As I rolled out of Kinsale I headed up toward Glengarriff so that I could ride Healy Pass across Caha Mountains on the Kerry Peninsula. Had great weather and visibility. Made it to Killarney for the end of the day. Stayed at St. Anthony B&B for 35.00. South side of Healy Pass Watch out for these death traps, they seem to have a death wish or some unknown love affinity to motorcycles. The Killarney B&B, very nice and clean. More food at Breakfest than anyone could eat. The next morning I had planned on riding the Ring of Kerry on the Ivergah Peninsula, but after having passed 10 or 15 buses I realized I was behind about 30 or 40 more so I gave up, turnaround and headed for the Dingel Peninsula instead. It turned out to be a great decision. I will try to make the Ring of Kerry on my return trip to Kinsale.
Dingle Peninsula & Abbeyfeale Today's ride was around the Dinglel Peninsula which is absolutely beautiful, and then up through Tralee to Abbeyfield to do a little family genealogy work. I'll let the photos do the talking. OK, now for a shameless plug of a great group of guys that work here in Abbeyfeale. I had a little ignition swicht problems right in front of this store. Not only did they loan me some tools to fix it, but they offered me hot coffee and home made pie to ease the pain. Thanks again guy, your sign says it all. A naked Deauville, what a pain in the arse to pull the plastic to fix a 30 second problem. All in all another great day in Ireland. More to come.
Cead mile failte Enjoy the trip there is plenty more to see west of the Shannon,Dont be shy to ask for assistance if need be.
Hey Jeff. I was having lunch yesterday in the huntsman and the waitress was asking for you. Ironically, I go outside and see I missed a call from you. Now as I see the plastics scattered all over the road whilst you fix a small issue, I'm kind of glad I missed the call :) Great report. Thanks for the entertainment and the exposure. WW
I am going to jump this report forward to today September 23, 2014. I decided after watching the news that I would take off and go see the National Ploughing Championships in Stradbally. And making my plans this morning to leave the hotel from Athlone, it showed on Google Maps it would take one hour and 15 minutes to get there. WRONG! The TV announcer was not wrong when she said that this was the biggest show in Ireland, once I got about 15 miles from the hotel it became a one way wall-to-wall traffic jam, 10 miles an hour for the next three hours 35 minutes to get there. I think I saw every brand of car & bus sold here in Ireland this morning. Today would have be a bugerlers dream come true as I think everybody in Ireland had to be going my way, or at the championships. Empty houses for their enjoyment. Thanks to the Garda (Ireland's Police) they had every major road blocked off and routed us into and out of every back road of small towns in Ireland. It must have been a bonanza for the merchants that never see that many cars and needy people looking for the free bathroom. Now for a few pic's, you know what they say, no photos then it never happened. Is it only me or do the next two photos remind you of Kim Kardashian? Let's not forget that they have sheep on this island and the people who love them.
Saturday Sept 13th. I left Abbeyfeale for the ferry at Tarbert to make my way to the Cliffs of Moher. Great views, but somehow felt a bit of disappointment being one of thousands at the same place in history. Hundreds of buses and the same for cars made the attraction seem very commercialized. From there I called it a day and found a glass of Jameson Irish Wiskey with my name on it in Ballyvaughn, a seaside village with a lot of charm. Tarbert ferry port. The bike had its own private covered parking space, hard to see it behind the other cars. Cliffs of Moher Fishing boat circling his nets for the pull in. The make believe stone castle at the cliffs. Now for the good times in Ballyvaughn, while drinking my Jameson a party ofDubliners who had arrived the day earlier for a wedding came into the Pub to celebrate their last day there, Needless to say I was invited to join in on the drinks. It was a blast. They had people who flew in from Korea, Australia and the U.S. for the party/wedding or wedding/party. New day new destination - County Sligo - Sligo. My sister flew in from Louisiana to help me start the family geneology work of our Irish history. Welcome to Ireland. My sister and I have alway lived fairly close to each other and always visited with our kids on major holidays and special occasion. But this was the first time in the last 40 years that we were able to spend this much time together with out the rest of the family being around. We had a great get together for one week. It's amazing the thing we recalled and talked about. Writing this, now, make me wonder how strange families really are. And we lived through it, that's really what's amazing. The good Lord must like us, or me anyway because I'm still here after some of the bone headed thing I've managed to pull off. Shameless selfey's. Tomorrow it's off the the Sligo Heritage Foundation to see if we're really Irish and not something else. Our parents wouldn't lie to us, would they? Naha......... Of course they have passed on now and the joke really would be on us. Stay tuned, the answer to follow.
My Irish Luck pays off today! My sister and I have our appointment with Sligo Heritage Foundation today and are rewarded with the best of luck. They have our Paternal Grandmother information and documentation. So tomorrow were off to the Irish documents office for official copies. From there we head to Ballymote, County Sligo to see where she would have walked the countryside as a young girl and possibly step in her long ago foot steps, see the view she would have seen. We were not disappointed in the view. St. Particles Church, Ballymote,Ireland Carrigans Upper, Ballymote
After leaving Ballymote, Sligo we left for the upper part of the island within the Republic of Ireland. Our game plan was to travel by bike and rental car (my sister had a few choice words about riding on the back of a motorcycle) following the Atlantic Way scenic route. Sligo to Malin Head. The weather was very overcast, but no rain. I'll let the photos do the talking. Our stopover for the night at Teac Jack hotel in Glassagh Co. Donegal, Ireland. The hotel was average for what we stayed in during the trip. But the locals at the Pub downstairs were great. I had no problem laughing at their jokes, mainly because they were all speaking Irish or lets be honest Gaelic would be the proper name for it. This part of Ireland really does not have a need for English, they know that they are Irish. A Gaelic cemetery. Getting ready to drive through Mamore Gap onward to Malin Head, the most northern tip of Ireland. A Peat sod farm. They cut Peat from the bogs, let it dry and then use it as firewood.
The following photos show the very beautiful area in the North of The Republic of Ireland. This has to be the longest striaght road in Ireland. This little sheepy had his horns painted instead of his rump. I guess they save on paint that way. Malin Head I might add here that I have traveled the island from Dublin to Cork around the Southwestern corner and back up to the most Northern tip of the Republic of Ireland. Every guidebook or tourist written work on travel here on the Emerald Isle said that the Southern and Southwestern edge of Ireland was the most beautiful part. Folks, someone is lying to you. Granted, it has been an Indian Summer here in Ireland this year, but riding from Galway to Sligo then up to Donegal and Malin Head ranks right up there with the Southern part of Ireland. What ever you do, dont miss this part of Ireland.
