The Ireland-UK Trip: Day 2 - Foyne, Loophead, Cliffs of Moher and Kinvara

Today was the longest day in terms of the itinerary planned by Chris Davidson of Retroventures, about 253 km of riding, most of it on narrow country roads where one couldn't go as fast as permitted when not in a town: 100 kph or 60 mph.

Still, we covered a lot and were very thankful for the Sat-Nav or GPS device provided by Retroventures with routes already programmed into the unit.  We would have been very lost several times without it.

First stop was the rather nice Air Boat Museum in Foyne which wasn't very far from Adare, right on the Shannon river.  It's located where the Pan-American Air boat service operated out of for trans-Atlantic flights, back in the day.

I've always loved seeing flying boats and this museum was right up my alley.  Well worth the entrance fee and time to visit.

 Best part of the museum was the actual flying boat you could

go into and see how roomy air travel used to be.

The flight home is really going to feel cramped I'm afraid.

 Martha ascending the stairs into the cockpit/crew area

above the passenger areas.

 Beds!  Max cost of a flight back then: $675, sigh

(and yes, I know that was probably a lot of money back then)

Drawing showing a cutaway of the Yankee Clipper

I would have loved to fly in something like that.

Mary Kate and I in front of the museum with a bronze

model of an air boat on display.

Next was to ride to the ferry at Tarbert to cross the Shannon river over to Killimer.  We got there with perhaps 15 minutes to spare and were third in line at the queue.  We watched the ferry come in and disgorge its load of cars and trucks:

 Mary Kate got placed on the far left lane, all the way at the "front" of 

the ferry, which of course meant we were the first ones off.

Once we were off the ferry and had waited for all the cars to pass on ahead of us, we got into the "country roads" phase of the riding.  Narrow country lanes, supposedly two-way wide but just barely I thought, many times.  I really couldn't even come close to the stated speed limit of 100 kph (not sure the rig can actually do it either) and the best I managed was 80 kph or about 50 mph.

Quite the feeling, watching oncoming traffic coming at you from what you from experience feel is the "wrong" side of the road and passing by you, at speed, seemingly less than a foot or so from your right leg.  Of course, there's a rock wall or a vegetation-covered wall by the roadside to your left so no going there to gain some distance from oncoming traffic!

Still, it all worked out.

We stopped briefly at Carrigaholt to check out an old tower/castle near the pier.  

Next stop was the Loophead Lighthouse, quite the remote location with some really nice cliff views available via some medium-sized hikes.

Taken just before reaching the Loophead Lighthouse

Cliffs near Loophead Lighthouse

This was as close as I felt we could get Mary Kate to the

edge of the property.

The next stretch was a long bit of riding, still on narrow country roads.  Some of the roads were quite enjoyable as it was just us riding along most of the time, winding our way through fields and ocean views.  Some of the roads were filled with cars moving at speed in both directions, with Martha and I just trying to keep Mary Kate in the lane.

We finally got to the Cliffs of Moher at 6:00 PM and proceeded to do some hiking to see the famed cliffs.  It wasn't too crowded at all but it was quite warm.

Cliffs of Moher

 We thought the above structure was an ancient watchtower from Norman

times, but it turned out to be O'Brien's Tower.  Built in 1853 I recall,

to draw tourists to the Cliffs of Moher and provide an elevated 

observation point.  A bit disappoint, that, but it makes a nice touch

on top of one of the cliffs at Moher.

Yours truly at the Cliffs of Moher

For some reason, Martha didn't want to pose closer to the edge of the cliffs!

Finally convinced her to pose nearer to the edge.

We were finished with touring the cliffs of Moher by 7:45 PM and we rode the remaining 45 minutes to the town of Kinvarra where we had B&B reservations at the Kinvarra Guest House.  We got there fine, got checked in, dumped all our stuff in the room and hurried to the local pub: Pierhead Restaurant.

Someone checking out Mary Kate in the B&B's parking lot

We got there only to be told that the kitchen had just closed (it was past 9:00 PM).  But the man greeting folks at the door I guess took pity on us and got us a table and menus.  We quickly got our orders in and enjoyed the food and ambience immensely.  Oh, and of course we had a beer each to quench our "terrible thirst" from all the hiking done today.

Views of boats near the Pierhead Restaurant. 

Not much of a sunset in terms of colors, I grant you, but the boats

in the water made for some nice silhouettes.

After dinner, it was a short walk back to the Kinvarra B&B and the crafting of this blog post.  Good day of riding today!  I hope you like the pictures.

The Ireland-UK Trip: Day 1 - Adare, Ireland

Martha and I flew over in a Boeing 757-200, from Newark Airport to Shannon Airport in Ireland this morning.  I must say, through a combination of stomach issues and the plane's configuration, it wasn't as comfortable a flight as the longer flight to Rome, Italy was last year.

Still, we made it and the process of clearing customs through Shannon Airport more than made up for the discomfort of the flight.  It was so easy, so uncrowded, lovely.

The gentleman whom we are renting a Royal Enfield 500 Motorcycle with Cozy Sidecar attached, Chris Davidson of Retroventures, was just walking up as we walked out of the airport terminal.  We placed our luggage into his truck and off we went for a short ride to Adare, Ireland.

Adare claims the title of Ireland's prettiest town, and I must say they sure try to do live up to the claim.  A very quaint town, clean and friendly and apparently a slight traffic nightmare as crowds of visitors descend upon the town during the holidays and weekends!

We met Chris' wife Elaine at their shop: Sprockets and Hubs, Motorcycle Shop and Gentleman Bazaar.  A small motorcycle shop to be sure but they more than make up for their size in their offerings.  They not only rent Royal Enfield motorcycles, they are the official dealer!

In addition, they've been renting vintage cars to folks who want something different to discover their way through Ireland's many beauties and attractions.  For example, at their open house which was held today to celebrate the official opening of the dealership:

Martha and I signed off on the paperwork and got instructions from Chris on the itinerary he'd planned for us for the next seven days of sidecar rig rental.

They're both beauties aren't they?

We're going to call the rig: Mary Kate from the movie

"The Quiet Man"

Our first run on the rig was to the shopping mall in the town of Dooradoyle near Limerick.  It was quite strange at first, driving on the left side of the road and maneuvering a rig with the sidecar on the left side!

Turned out, it was easier for me to adapt to driving on the left side of the road and dealing with their roundabouts than remembering that the sidecar was on the left side!  There were a couple of close calls but thankfully, no impacts.  Things were much better on the way back after we secure cellphone sims for our iphones.

Back in Adare, we left the sidecar rig parked at the dealership so people could admire it while we went and took a tour of Desmond Castle nearby.   There were only four people in the tour not counting the guide so it was quite nice.  This castle is known as one of the better preserved examples of Norman castles, over 1400 of which dot the Irish countryside apparently.

 The inner castle keep.  It's a very informative and relaxed tour that's 

put on by the Adare Visitor Center, highly recommended.

 Views of the castle ruins later on in the evening after we'd had 

dinner at Sean Collin's Pub.  Nice food.

No rig in the above pictures, we'd walked in from the Coatesland B&B after dining.  Its a small town so not too much walking so far.  After all, we had been sampling the local beer and driving under drastically new conditions was hard enough today without adding alcohol to the mix!

Florence, the lady who owns and runs the B&B has a very nice display

of daisies in the front lawn of the property.

So ends our first day in Ireland.  More photos of the rig and us to follow of course.  But for now, it's time rest up and see how much jet lag we have to deal with tomorrow.

A Denver Sunset

Tuesday this week, Scarlett and I rode out to see what kind of sunset a rather cloudy and unsettled day would bring to us here in Colorado.

Denver, with its distinctive skyline, against the backdrop of the Front Range mountains was seemingly spotlighted by the cloud formations and the setting sun.

 A bit of underexposure to bring out the golden color

The golden glow slowly narrowed, seemingly centered on Denver, until
it just faded away

One last gasp of color shone through the thick clouds before the sun set.

Playing around with effect filters, this one is stylize/watercolor from Pixlr

My next post will be from Ireland.  Stay tuned.

Trail Ridge Road, Memorial Day, 2016

I met up with a couple of fellow Ural riders on Monday, Memorial Day, to go check out Trail Ridge Road which had opened for the season on Saturday.

Jay B, with his Patrol and I on Scarlett rode up via US6 to CO119 to north of Black Hawk, CO where we were joined by Dan K on his URAL M70 Solo motorcycle.

We rode north on the Peak to Peak Highway, twisting and turning our way upwards to the gateway town of Estes Park.  The place was very crowded with tourists and locals alike.  Took us a while to get through town after fueling up.  I'd never seen the park this crowded but then again, it was Memorial Day weekend!

Cager crowds aside, the weather was pretty good in the morning with partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures.  It would not get below 45 degrees Fahrenheit even at the summits on Trail Ridge Road so it was good riding weather even when the stormy clouds moved in later in the afternoon.

Jay B.

photo courtesy Jay B.

Dan K.

photo courtesy Jay B.

 Near the "Rock Cut"

We went all the way to the Alpine Visitor Center where the bigger snow accumulations could be found along the highway.  Dan K. rode in my sidecar shooting video of Jay on his rig as we rode towards the Alpine Center; then Dan got into Jay's sidecar and shot video of me on my rig on the way back to the Rock Cut.

Dan figured out how to stabilize himself better for the return trip, so there was more video to be had.  I mixed in footage from my go-pro camera which was mounted on the sidecar's nose.  See link to video at the end of this post.

At one of the snow walls visible from the road.  There were really

no safe stop points along the really high snow walls.

photo courtesy Jay B

 This stop was by the overlook to the Lava Cliffs

photo courtesy Jay B

Once we got back to the Rock Cut, we found a couple admiring Dan K's M70 Solo motorcycle.  Turns out it was Adam of Granby, who owns a 2005 Ural Patrol.  I didn't get a picture of his rig, sorry.  He and his companion (who was on two wheels) while Adam had her dog as a monkey.

Discussing EFI on the new rigs.

photo courtesy Jay B

photo courtesy Jay B.

The weather was starting to move in so we headed on down after the above pictures at the Rock Cut.  It snowed briefly on us a couple of times but each time it was just flurries or very light hail.

We retraced our route back to Black Hawk, stopping for a pizza in Allenspark and a rest break.  Everyone got home safe, I got briefly rained on while transiting the C-470 slab after tanking up in Morrison.

Looks like replacing the stock muffler on Scarlett after installing the two-into-one header pipes from Raceway was the right solution.  I got better MPG readings from the last tankfulls.  From 29-40 MPG!

Of course, the 40 MPG was during the portion where we were coming off the mountains and into the Denver Metro area but still, way better than the low 20s!  Scarlett performed very well.