Ireland Raid 18-19th August 2007

Well what another cracking weekend. The run to Ireland was a bit damp to start with. Saturday’s trip to Holyhead saw a damp and early start for some of us (the Mackenzie’s enjoyed their lie in) but it was a good crossing arriving at Dun Laoghaire where we meet up with Andy/Cheryl Sparkes and Dave/June Ball from BS Bikes. After a trip around Dun Laoghaire trying to find the way out we finally found the correct road. Sat Navs are OK only when the correct information is put on them. Rubbish in, rubbish out! The plan was to ride down to Waterford via Avoca (Ballykisangel fame) but the weather decided to do its usual trick and ‘throw it down’ - I know now why Ireland is so green. This with my sat nav telling me to do ‘U turns’ and the rain that heavy I couldn’t see the route card, we decide to do a straight run to Waterford. After stopping at a pleasant pub for lunch en route (can recommend the cabbage and bacon) the sun decided to show its face and the ride started to get better. After Arklow we made our way on B roads to the Ballyhack ferry and crossed the estuary south of Waterford to Passage East. What a beautiful crossing with stunning scenery, 3 euro well spent. Highly recommended, finally arriving at the Ramada Hotel.

After settling in it was down to the bar where we meet up with John/Debbie Jones and Steve/Mary Bradley who had travelled down from the Ulster GP. Rumour has it that they made good progress. The food together with a few beers turned out to be very pleasant indeed. It was definitely warm as the ‘Hot Platter’ set off the fire alarms...

Sunday saw a relaxed breakfast before making our way to the Waterford Crystal factory. Its good being on a bike, you can not pack much in the panniers so it restricts ‘spur of the moment’ purchases. John saw a great chandelier for his new garage but it was a bit to big to carry home.

We then had a great run on A and B roads before arriving at the Wicklow Gap where we took a small diversion from the route around a beautiful lake, then on over the Wicklow Mountains back to Dun Laoghaire before catching the 1800hrs ferry back home.

Final assessment of the trip? Yep, will do that again next year but might head for Galway, somebody said it’s nice there to.