Everywhere Virtually

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything but this is not because nothing has been happening. Quite the contrary The last four weeks have been jam packed with travel, adventure motorcycle projects, meeting some of the legends of adventure motorcycling and some of the legends to be, as well as planning and getting upgrades on the bike for upcoming events.

First off myself and my lady ‘M’ recently planned to visit Ireland for a few days and catch up with my family over there. The forecast was not looking good and our 08:30 Sunday morning ferry from Holyhead had been canceled. We were at a 40th birthday party and never one to be defeated I put it to M that the party had run it’s course and how about we get the 02:30am ferry instead ? M wasn’t bursting with enthusiasm  as she had a bad cough and flu and it mean’t that in one hour we would have to be fully loaded on the bike and moving.

The time came to go and it was cold. Ice cream headache cold! I can tolerate that but I knew M would suffer despite her 5 layers. She actually suffered a lot more because I had left the vents open on my jacket and she waved the white flag somewhere near Rhyl in the pitch blackness of the night. Fair play to the woman.

We reached Holyhead and there was something wondrous at seeing the three large ferries in port. They illuminated the dark like 10 Storey buildings. A man in a day-glo top waved me down and told me to wait while the trucks loaded.  His colleague thought it was a bit pointless that the only biker should be  left waiting.  He motioned me forward in a handle bar grabbing gesture. That was my cue. We rode up the ramp and the light from the ships hold was dazzling. If you remember Close Encounters of the Third kind when the  Aliens land and the ship opens up you are getting a good picture.

Unlike my ride onto the heaving deck of the Speedferries catamaran in the summer, this deck was as solid as a rock. We posed for the obligatory photo. . M gave me that look that all women do when men get their cameras out at inappropriate times… like 3am. All the same she smiled for the photo below.

The sweetener in enduring a 2 hour cold ride at night was the promise of hot food and a cabin . Sure it was only for 3 hours but what a difference a cabin makes. I’ve spent many a night on the deliberately uncomfortable furniture of ferries to know that it was worth the extra spondoolies.

The purpose of the trip to Ireland was to primarily see family. I know they worry about me being on a motorbike and they did their best to keep me off it there by providing alternative means on transport. I resisted but then I realised I had forgotten my disc lock so leaving the bike unattended for long periods was not a goer anyway.

Our trips had to be circular and if we did stop we had to be within eye shot of the bike. Speaking or circular I decided to head out to the coast and make use of the fact that you can ride and drive on the beaches in Ireland. I had thought of doing a BMW style GPS drawing but time was against us. All the same it was nice to take the bike off the road and get it into some wet sand. Even with the Battlewing road tires on it held up better than I would have expected.

After this point we were city bound and back to family duties. My sat nav hadn’t loaded the local maps on properly so I was going from memory. I have a good knowledge of Dublin but it’s been about 10 years since I’ve driven or cycled around there and stuff has changed. One way streets have cropped up. Other routes are blocked by the emergence of the new tram system.  All of these things conspired against me  when en-route to an aunt of mine.

To make matters worse the fuel gauge lied to me again and we ran out of fuel outside the American embassy. At that point I have to admit I was pretty pissed off.  Petrol stations in Dublin are on the decline as owners are selling them off to property developers. I asked passers by where the nearest petrol station was and all answers were suitably vague and uncertain. I decided to use the force and push the bike through the dark autumn evening. M wasn’t impressed with me and I was not impressed with BMW’s bogus on-board computer that I had paid extra to have installed on the bike. With a mixture of stubborn brute force and determination I found a petrol station a mile away… if marginally uphill. A passer by said “I feel your pain son”. That put the smile back on my face.

The night progressed, I met my aunt, we left to have dinner with another aunt and I dropped the bike out of a combination of just being tired and not focussed.

the next day was good and we had plenty of time to get supplies from the Irish supermarket of the goodies we like and then get to the south side of the city to catch the HSS ferry back home.

We left another developing storm in our wake that would once again cancel the next days ferries

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