Jul 11 2023

Connemara and beyond

Each night we try to plan the following day’s destination route and activities based on the current weather forecast. Each morning we get up and make adjustments. Leaving the Burren we plan to head to Westport but do we go via Connemara or just take the main shorter route north from Galway? Miss all that amazing scenery, of course not. We will not let a little rain deter us, well not yet anyway.

We bypass Galway, which we have heard is a very beautiful town, but there is not enough time for everywhere, we will just have to make do with Matt Malloy’s pub in Westport recommended by Patsy. After riding around Galway lunch is taken at Joyces Craft shop/Post Office/Petrol Station/Bar, which sits next to Glendollagh Loch, which seems to cover just about everything in one building. We find the bar seemingly closed however with enough of us tourists congregating at the bar door, it magically opens and we are in shortly followed by the locals who must know the opening times. After lunch we head north past Lough Inagh.

Glorious vistas, even in the rain
Anne’s excellent riding photography

The scenery in each region we have spent time in as we travel up the west coast of Ireland has been so different and Connemara is as varied again. At Leenaun we are faced with another choice, the direct route to Westport or the longer smaller road via Doo Lough. As usual the longer route wins out and we are treated to a spectacular ride. Anne talks to a couple at the north end of Doo Lough who come each year to the region and this is their favourite spot. We understand why and the pictures cannot capture the beauty, you will just have to visit yourselves.

Most beautiful view : Doo Lough
Assleagh Waterfall on the Erriff river, near Leenaun
Riding along the seashore near Gar’s Glen

Thanks for all the suggestions of staying out late, sampling the local “Uisce beatha” which translates into “water of life” and nightlife into the night. Anne has been practicing a little of the forma but if we attempt the latter then the next day would be a write-off and affecting our tight timetable for Ireland. We do visit Matt Malloy’s which turns out to have a long musical history and reminds us in some ways of the Station Inn in Nashville.

We love great music venues, The Station Inn and Matt Molloy’s
The town square in Westport
Colourful Westport buildings

As we travel the thin line that is our route, what are we missing on either side? During a stop to avoid a rain showers ahead, we detour via Mullaghmore. A clifftop ride we would not have experienced without the detour. However if we did this all the time we would still be on our first RTW trip!

Riding into another storm on “Storm”

Giants Causeway is the last major place we want to visit during our time here. We cross into Northern Ireland after another drenching. The storms do seem to have a habit of finding us, but perhaps it’s a trade off for the blue sky riding we have had over the years. The crossing into Northern Ireland is uneventful, just a road-sign with the word “Northern” crossed out. Nobody has asked to see passports since we departed France.

We get the hotel to both turn on the room heating and get an extra heater. The hotel staff were bemused until we explained we were Australians then the hotel staff understood. The temperatures have rarely reached 20 degrees Celsius during our time here. We spend the evening trying to get a semblance of dry back into our clothing.

Dunluce Castle; a “Fixer-upper”

Getting to the Giants Causeway has us dodging the rain again, but the weather cleared to give us, and the seemingly hundreds of others a clear view of the Giants Causeway. The mostly six sided basalt columns, close up, appear to have been stacked that way. I understand the shapes were caused as the lava cooled and contracted the shapes were created. Cooling rates created a different number of sides. I prefer the story that it was created by giants, much more plausible when you see the columns close up. The other side of the causeway can be found at Fingal’s cave on the Island of Staffa in Scotland which we visited in 2019. A circular walk back to the top gave us great views down onto the Giants Causeway, well work the extra distance walked and the 100 or so steps we had to climb.

Surely this is Giant made?
Precision crafted stone
Quite impressive close up
The “Organ” at Giants Castle
The walking track to the top at Giants Causeway
After a great walk at Giants Castle

Given the time we spent at the Giants Causeway we only have time for one more visit this day. The rope bridge and motorcycle museum will have to wait for another time. Although neither of us has seen Game of Thrones, we decide that seeing the “Dark Hedges” will be something different. A row 150 of Beech trees planted in the 18th Century, of which 90 remain, provide a somewhat mysterious looking vista.

The “Dark Hedges” in daylight

Tomorrow we will head to Belfast for the last night of our time in Ireland. It is a public holiday, Orangemen’s Day.

– Anthony

Jul 8 2023

Lisdoonvarna, County Clare

Over our late breakfast in Killarney, we check the weather radar again. It has not improved since last night or this morning and is looking very grim. Gale force winds and lashing rain are forecast. Not the best combination to stay shiny side up. We definitely will have to skip the ring of Kerry and head north.

Tomorrow’s wind forecast – over 100kms/hr winds

We have a friend in Miltown Malbay who is attending a week long music festival in her home town. There is no accommodation available there but we find one hotel with one last room in a village up the road. That will do. It is the Ritz at Lisdoonvarna. Someone with a sense of humour I think. Our route has been changing every day because of the weather so we were unable to organise anything with our friend in advance. She is busy tonight and tomorrow but can meet tomorrow evening. That means booking another night which turns out very interesting and answers some questions we have been asking ourselves ever since we arrived in Ireland: why are all the hotels booked out. With a sudden influx of 3,500 Ukrainian refugees in the county (there are over 84,000 Ukrainian refugees in Ireland as at early June 2023), hotels have turned into refugee accommodation. While good for hotels on the one hand as they have 100% occupancy, it means they and other businesses around are missing out of tourist money which is spent on food and drinks etc. Not too surprisingly, The Ritz is fully booked tomorrow and according to the usual websites I use, so is every other hotel in town and the area. The manager is very helpful, suggests 3 other places we could walk to and ask in Lisdoonvarna and says that if we find nothing to come back to her anyway and something will be sorted, not to worry. We did say we had a tent we could pitch beside the bikes at the back of the Ritz. That could be an option. The first hotel/bar is strangely deserted and we quickly disappear. The next one is fully booked too but we are told to wait while she double checks the booking system: she pulls out a massive white board from under the counter. She rings one number and leaves a message about a lovely couple looking for a room. She then calls another messages and gives the same story and embellishes it some more. It turns out this booking system has the names and numbers of a number of unofficial guest houses that can cater with hotel overflow. And we now have a huge room with private bathroom at this little old lady’s who used to have a guest house but now lets out rooms in her new home whenever the local hotels recommend someone. It’s nice to know we look trustworthy enough to be recommended to her. What a perfect arrangement.

Once again, we have a fine evening – our mornings so far in Ireland have always started wet and wild, and by late afternoon, the sun comes out. Time for a short walk around the village before dinner at the Ritz – it sounds good doesn’t it?! – which served up good simple tasty pub food. As we walked around Lisdoonvarna, the only language we heard on the street was Russian. Sitting outside one large hotel were three groups of women, of different generations, all talking in their native language. The small supermarket in the village was staffed with Ukrainians. People helping people….

I have circular route planned out for the next day – starting inland first as I do not fancy riding the Wild Atlantic Way in 110km/hr winds forecast that morning. First stop is the Burren Centre in Kilfenora, a very well presented museum that explains the UNESCO Geopark we are about to discover today. The Burren, an Irish word for “stony place”, is the largest expanse of limestone pavement in the world and measures 530 square kilometres! Within the Burren area, we visited Caherconnell Stone fort and Poulnabrone dolmen.

There are many flags welconing Ukrainian refugees in Ireland
Riding across the Burren, county Clare
The Burren near Pulnaborne
Wildflowers thrive in these glaciokarst features

Caherconnell stone fort is a remarkably well preserved medieval stone ring fort, 42 metres in diameter and with walls of up to 3 meters in thickness and 3 meters high. This 1000 year old fort was inhabited up to the late 16th century. The craftsmanship of the walls is awe inspiring. Things were built to last back then.

Caherconnell Stone Fort, county Clare
One of 3 different stone wall constructions – Caherconnell fort

Just up the road, is the Poulnabrone dolmen, an unusual neolithic dolmen portal tomb that was used as a burial site between 3,800 and 3,200 BC and is believed to have been used as a centre for ritual well into the Bronze age.

Poulnabrone tomb, Ireland

Ballyvaughan, a very picturesque little village, has a Saturday market on which we decide to stop at. What a treat to find a pancake stand who could make gluten free pancakes for Anthony.

Ladies having oysters and wine at Ballyvaughan Saturday market

We stop for a walk along Fanore Beach before getting to the spectacular Cliffs of Moher which rise 200 metres above the Atlantic Ocean: a truly breathtaking sight, especially as the skies cleared in the afternoon as per usual. The wind also died down this afternoon which made the ride along the Great Atlantic Way coast road very enjoyable.

Unlike some surfers, we did not brave the icy waters of Fanore Beach
The Cliffs of Moher, county Clare

Today is capped off with catching up with our friend at the Roadside Tavern for an evening of good company, good food and of course good music.

With our friend Patsy in Lisdoonvarna
Great music at the Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna
The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna

Patsy gives us some ideas of places to visit tomorrow as we head north towards Derry (as LondonDerry is known here) but it is the Matt Molloy’s pub music in Westport which settles our next destination.

– Anne

Jul 6 2023

First days in Ireland

Ramp down, another ferry route for Streak and Storm. In addition to their jet setting adventures, they have travelled on overnight ferries to or from countries as diverse as Iran, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Iceland and now Ireland, their 52nd country visited I believe. For us we are back here in Ireland for the first time since 1977, which was our first holiday together when we cycled around the Killarney region.

After a three week mantra of “Ride on the Right”, this needs to be replaced with a left leaning or riding phrase as we are back to riding on the left, any ideas? Was it not simpler when we just drove in the centre of the track and size mattered all those centuries ago. Well that is progress for you.

Back to riding on the left.

We have still not been able test our re-waterproofing of our KLIM clothing. That will have to wait until tomorrow as today in Ireland the weather is fine. However the Irish weather service are predicting about 5 days of rain to follow after what for Ireland has been a dry start to the summer. Oh well the green has to come from somewhere I guess.

I only learned of the term “Wild Atlantic Way”, a 2,600 km. / 1,600 ml. long west coast route in Ireland, a few days ago. I gather it is very popular with motorcyclists, but for us slowspeeds it would probably take us weeks and weeks to complete. We only have about eight days. Again Anne has had to make choices from a smorgasbord of routes and points of interest to give us a taste of what the west of Ireland has to offer.

We plan as far as possible to stay off the main highways and use secondary roads As we ride west from Cork taking the backroads, I am intrigued by a sign, “Ireland’s only Toy Soldier Factory” pointing to a smaller side lane, oh well why not. Off we go down narrow winding lanes for about 10km before arriving in Kilnamartyra. Here we find the Prince August Toy Soldier factory. I gather they are known and well regarded by traditional war gamers. Eileen shows us around and gives a demonstration of how easy it is to make models using rubber moulds and your parents’ best pots to heat the metal mixtures. Fascinating.

How to pour a model soldier
Aim, fire. Which Regiment is this?
Glourious country in County Cork
Is this a divided highway?

Talking with a fellow visitor to the factory, we hear about Saint Finbarr’s Oratory at Gouganebarra Lake. This is a short distance away and we are told we must see it. Saint Finbarr lived in Ireland in the sixth century and spent some of his time there. Off we go following the maps on the iphone, the roads get smaller and smaller – should there be as much grass in the middle of the road? Anne acquires some shrubbery along the way. Hedge trimming for free. It is a beautiful and peaceful place.

Saint Finbarr’s Oratory

Since we do not have time to ride all of the Wild Atlantic Way in southwest Ireland, Anne suggests going on a friend’s recommendation to visit the Beara peninsula, which is less well known and perhaps a little quieter for us. This will include crossing the Caha mountains via the Healy Pass.

The road over Healy Pass or Kerry Pass as it was known when constructed during the Great Famine in the mid 1840’s was part of a country wide road building program to provide employment for starving locals. Poorly run, some workers starved to death while constructing the roads. Men women and children all participated. When you read the statistics that around 1 million people are believed to have died due to starvation or famine related disease and a greater number emigrated around the world at the time, it is not surprising that some people today have strong views on the actions by British authorities at the time.

Looking south from Healy Pass

At the top of the Healy Pass we meet some intrepid cyclists and see one towing a child carrier the pass. That must take some muscles. It is worth the view though even if we used motor power to get here.

At the top of Healy Pass looking south.
Our picture perfect bedroom window

The next day the weather forecast was for heavy rain, the first real test of our hopefully re-waterproofed KLIM clothing. We had decided to just go as far as Kenmare about 45 minutes away to see how we would fare. Sadly, for me anyway, the re waterproofing was just a dream and in addition the soles of my boots were detaching, also letting in water. Seems that the COVID epidemic even got to our clothing is all I can assume or does equipment eventually reach the end of its life?

Testing the waterproof clothing: FAIL

Challenging riding conditions along twisty roads as we slowly cover the 40km to our next stop. We arrive in Kenmare soaking wet where the kindly B&B owner immediately offered to put our KLIM gear in the dryer, after we removed all the armour. The day was spent exploring the town, buying me waterproof over-pants and both of us savouring a tasty Shepard’s pie for lunch. Anne started her Irish whisky education with a Connemara 12 year old single malt whisky at the recommendation of the manager. A good choice – more to try.

While a relaxing day in Kenmare was enjoyable, we are still less than an hour’s ride from Cork where we started two days ago. We need to start moving northwards aiming for the Burren region northwest of Ennis. Given the strong winds forecast, we decide we will not ride the ring of Kerry along the coast but the section past the lakes, part of the same route we rode on bicycles back in 1977. Up over Moll’s Gap or Céim an Daimh giving us the vista of the MacGillycudd’s Reeks mountains and then down past Upper Lake then Muckross Lake onto Killarney.

Back in the Ring of Kerry after 46 years.

Looking for gluten free meals can be challenging at times. In Killarney with an hour only on the parking meter we seem to only find cafes with wheat products at the fore. We enter the dining room of the International Hotel with five minutes before the breakfast menu ends. Tea and coffee magically appear. Gluten free options including toast are detailed and ordered, separate butter is provided. Nothing is too much trouble for the JD and the team. Anne added a TripAdvisor entry as we ate. Another great memory.

Fed and watered we and our steeds ride on to Lisdoonvarna and the Burren.

– Anthony