Rockydog woofs the Isles, British Isles

[rockydog]

The British Isles have 6,000 islands, according to Wiki, and I'm on the one named Ireland. Been here for a few weeks or more, the first 2 hanging out at Martins (WheatWacker) having a grand ol' time. Learning the perils of the old habit of right hand road driving quickly, meeting his friends, not understanding a word of lengthy convos about tires and farming stuff. Martin did pick up some tires for me

It's a lot easier to mount those suckers with 2 people, he eventually put them on his 'vintage' work tractor and had it at a tractor and steam engine show

I basically lollygagged around, day rides, messing with my new to me bike, more on that later, and enjoying the local culture, like this Point to Point race a mile from his house

Helped renew the Celtic Tiger


Admired the scenery, these beauties were doing crowd/traffic control





Hearing some traditional music in the pubs

Currently holed up in a hostel near Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula after the sun turned to this, hey, it's Ireland


But rain or shine, just another beautiful day

[rockydog]

On the northern coast of the Dingle peninsula in Fahamore having a glass of suds. Another misty, rainy glorious day. Went over Conner pass in a minor league shower and saw the edge of the road, great ride, almost turned around to repeat.

While in Kinsale last week I headed south to the lighthouse on the point it shares with the Old Head golf links, a veddy posh 18 holes I discovered when I was denied access at the gate house, right behind this



Dress code. And I thought I looked sharp, so back down the road to the Speckled Door pub where I told 2 guys sitting at the picnic table by the door not to steal the bike. They said be quick and bring a beer. One gent confirmed the dress code and said I work at the gate tomorrow after 4 and if you come back you can drive my car up. Another Guiness for the lad.

Next day helmet and jacket in the gate house I started to take pics





Returned to the car for the light house shots I really wanted and I had locked his keys in the car. And I found out that if my handicap was over 25 I couldn't play there. Handicap? Another glorious day in Ireland

[Eyore]

Good stuff ,always enjoy a visitors eye view of the country. Say hello when you come to Co Clare, I am right where the ferry docks in Killimer.

[rockydog]

Thank you, Eyore, heading over on the ferry this morning

Yesterday morning bopped up to Annascaul Lake, stopped to open the sheep gate and this great big braying came from a donkey in the field to the right. "Hey dude, gimme a biscuit."



They each got one



Over the Conor pass to Brandon Point, where the sea just merges with the mist



Talked with owner of this bike, winter project that turned out beautifully. 83,000 km

[Eyore]

Well Steve arrived this morning to be greeted by a huge pile of crab claws that needed shelling,got passed a hammer and we happily spent a few hours chatting and cracking them. The prize for all the hard work was a crab lunch, yum.
Anyway lovely to meet you Steve, and safe riding, enjoy Ireland.

[wheatwhacker]

Great stuff Steve.
Looks like you are seeing a lot more of the country than I ever saw.
The lady at the bar misses your witty banter. She says hello and wanted to tell you about her weekend making hay with her dad.
"I'll bet he'd be impressed, if he heard I was driving a tractor"

Safe travels.

[rockydog]

Thank you, Martin for making this whole Irish moto nonsense happen for me. Late last year it was time for me to hit the road again so I bought a round trip ticket to Dublin. Researched the wack world of shipping a bike, and nixed that, partially cause I live in Oklahoma and that adds expense. Contacted Martin on this site, he called me and we talked about what I was looking for and budget. Next day on Donedeal( like Craigslist) he found a cheap 96 Transalp, I have a 89 so it's a natural pick. He called the owner and I agreed to cover the cost of picking up the bike(way north), next day he drove up, sent me pics via iPhone, called me with details on condition, etc. He told me it needed sprockets, chain, and tires. I bought the bike and ordered tires online in England, had em delivered, dug out my spare sprockets and low mileage chain, used my Alp as a template to jiffy-pop some racks to hold off my soft bags. Designed the racks to fit in a pannier. Grabbed some spares, tools, camping gear, etc and voila! I just had crablegs with Eyore.
More on you later, Kim, cool meeting you and your husband.

Martin, Johann and me sending Johann off on his Transalp to Belarus. I picked him up in Belgooly, he put some leads for a gps and heated gear, we all went to the Spaniard pub that night. Here he is headed out for the ferry.



Hey Martin, what is it about those pubs?

[Powershouse]

[R-W]

Yep... me too!

[rockydog]

Got off a morning ferry to Killimer, gorgeous breezy day.



A quick down the road to Kim's house where this crazed woman comes running out waving a hammer and knife wearing clear disposable gloves. I'm thinking Tony and the Sopranos have gone Irish, but noooo, it's crab legs, fresh crab legs. We pound, pick, clean and pretty well get the bike world sorted



then a whiplash trip to the fantastic grocery store(think Whole Foods plus) in her Fiat 'get some' Panda



We had crab salad, sautéed legs with fresh garlic and a crunchy whole wheat bread, very delicious. But let's get to the Gusto......The house was built to match the original blacksmith shop on site.



Kim has since converted it to her bike room. We're going inside but before we do, ya'll take a deep breath.








I love this bike, she rode it to Isle of Mann where she got a pic of her and Joey, the new champ, smiling big time.



Thanks again, Kim, had a great time with

[Eyore]

Great fun meeting you Steve, hope you didn't get too wet todayThat was some rain.

[R-W]

Great ride report and pics you guys. Fond memories of that area for me.

Cheers!

[rockydog]

Left Kims headed to a road she had smudged on my IPad maps, the coast road, of course, Dunlicky Road, like when you're finished cleaning your plate. Runs south out of Kilkee to 487 and to the lighthouse.





I had received an email from an artist/musician friend of mine relating how much he enjoyed exploring the cemeteries and engravings on the old stones when he was here. So the first cemetery I stopped at on the way to the lighthouse had a stunning structure in the middle.







Also in the email was a song he recorded, the Beatles 'I'll be back'. Across the cemetery was a white coffee cup sitting on a mausoleum, I thought it was paper and fetched it to find a trash bin down the road. It's a ceramic go cup, my bud's Irish keepsake. Thanks, Ray.



Down to the lighthouse. I really want one



And up the other coast road, I ran out of steam at Doonbeg and found the Strand family campsite, just me and Duncan, the 9 yr old resident stud muffin. Roof to wash, cook, park the bike and listen to radio Duncan when I cooked breakfast.



Oh yeah, Kim, I had some serious help with the tent. Up next

[dmcd]

Not sure if affects your plans, but the G8 leaders will be in Fermanagh on 17-18 June. Traffic may be affected due to security measures.

Enjoy your trip, I'm near the town of Ballymena, Co Antrim.


Ferry's to the Isle of Man run during the summer, consider Dublin or Belfast - Isle of Man - Liverpool or Heysham.


DMcD

[rockydog]

Pulled into the campground, funky and empty, perfect. And this little bruiser gave me a lesson in tenacity





Continued north on the coast into the rain, not a lot of pics cause it was pounding down. I panzered thru Galway, the wind was howling off the sea. Great stuff. Caught my breath on Bearna, up 336, n59, and onto 334 north.

334 was magical. Flooding, puddles with whitecaps, and these humpy hills started appearing on the right, then the left drifting around in the mist. And no traffic. No buses, no cars, no bikes, and I float off into what if land....
There are sleeping monsters all around me, curled up in the rain. They've just had a huge meal of tour buses and cars and are taking a siesta. I hope they won't need an old Honda Motobike to pick bus bumpers out of their fangs. I roll into Letterfrack, what a name, grab a bowl of hot soup, find a totally empty except for me hostel. Great day in the Ireland?