I must say it was a great route Chris, we saw some really cool stuff. The north coast was really really nice.
Anyway, back to the event....
Cheles and I met Spook at a McDonalds just outside Newport, then tanked on to Cardiff West services. I had wanted to visit St Govan's Chapel, just outside Pembroke, I don't really know the story, but it was a pretty cool place.
We tanked on, filling up with fuel at Tesco in Pembroke Dock and then having a bit of lunch in the company of alien and DJ. Alien and DJ left to reserve Buell spaces on the ferry whilst Cheles, Spook and I scoffed our faces.
When we arrived at the ferry, we bumped into the Welsh contingent, Buddy, his dad, Genic and Russ.
On docking, the Vincent of DJ was off like a shot, with alien in tow. Spook and I followed and then caught them after about an hour of spirited riding. Spook and I cruised into Tramore where CJ and Jane were on standby to greet us. Cheles, Spook and I ate at the steak house in town.
Next morning, up at the crack of dawn (8am) for breakfast, where we found Goldy and Mrs Goldy plus Vecchio Lupo and Rambo.
We set off together to Waterford Harley, somehow I ended up at the front, but luckily I had swallowed the route. Whilst there we had coffee and donuts and chatted with ericry who had turned out to hang out. CJ took our odometer readings, we had a photo taken then we were sent off on our merry way, destination Ballintoy. DJ and alien broke away early on whilst CJ and Jane took a different turning to the rest of us. After filling up with fuel, with me leading, I convinced everyone to do a U turn where it was prohibited.
The idea was to stick together, but unfortunately, Vecchio Lupo had misjudged his fuel stops and ran out of fuel on the M1. After telling him that we would wait at the next exit, like good companions, we waited on the hard shoulder whilst he wheeled his bike to the nearest petrol station. Whilst waiting on the hard shoulder...
...it dawned on us that it was a little dangerous, so we pressed on and waited at the next junction, on the hard shoulder again. As we chatted, the Garda wagon turned up and a young ginger policeman told us to move on otherwise we would be in trouble... Not even our excuse that we were fixing buddy's mirror with insulation tape worked...
We didn't find a place to stop on the roundabout at the bottom, so we continued to the nearest petrol station and filled up, before pressing on.
As we headed into Larne, we were met by our escort up the A2 to Ballintoy, none other than crabbitbear. He did a good job of showing us the way all the way to the hostal where we all talked crap and generally bonded... We were shocked, not only to see that Vecchio Lupo had beaten us there, guided by his mil-spec satnav, but also Chris and Jane. On inspection of Chris' Uly, it was obvious that he had managed to punish us that evening as a result of his Road Legal (
) Remus...
When we all ran out of crap to talk, crabbitbear got bored and left for home, so we headed for the local pub to knock a few back, hence enabling us to talk more crap, and eat some scram. Cheles and I went to check out the local rope bridge cos we were crapped out.
We returned to the pub later to hear the first few songs from the local musician, but that was enough for us.
Next morning, we were up with the crack of dawn again, in actual fact earlier. Cheles and I went to check out the Giant's Causeway. Being a National Trust site, it wasn't open at 6am, so we had to bypass the closed gates etc.
We got back to the hostel for 8am, however Chris and Jane had been evesdropping, they knew our plans and were ready to head off at 7.30.
The plan was to head off together, everybody's was ready to leave, with engines running, except me. Quickly we got started and I followed Goldy, Mr Lupo and Spook out of the hostel. After a few miles, it dawned on me that the others, mainly the Welsh Crew, were not following. We came to a stop in Bushmills and waited... and waited... and waited... Goldy and Mr Lupo went back halfway, but there was no sign of them. We were hungry and guessed they were eating in some place, so we pressed on, round a portion of the NW200 course, where Spook beat me over the line, looking for somewhere to eat breakfast. After taking a scenic tour of Londonderry to admire the murals, we eventually found a pub on the way out of town where we had Irish Breakfasts (and beans on toast).
On we went through some scenic but bumpy roads to Oughterard, passing Chris and Jane taking artistic photos.
It was at this point that Mr Lupo reported a squeaking sound from his bike when moving. We looked at the brakes, which all seemed fine, then noticed the seals from his wheel bearing had departed and the cage was missing.
Being a tough guy, this was not enough to put Mr Lupo off completing the challenge.
The Welsh Crew turned up an hour or so later, buddy's bike had suffered a side-stand switch failure and some repairs using agricultural fencing had taken place.
Cheles, Spook and I stayed at the Boat Inn (not together
), this was of course a mistake, cos there was no hot water and there was music and party until 2.30am.
Earlier in the night, we had all met to have dinner at the pub to try the local dishes and well over-priced drinks. Whilst Spook and I ate Guinness and Beef stew, Jane was seen eating a potato dish and Chris an Irish Pizza. At this point I noticed that the Welsh Crew were MIA, so Cheles and I went to find the hostal, but returned to the pub with the mission incomplete.
After another Irish Breakfast (and beans on toast)...
...we all went to meet Goldy at his Golf Club retreat just out of town. Unfortunately, Spook, Mr Lupo and myself became separated from the group and we appeared to be the only people at the Golf Club. I went off to find Mr and Mrs Goldy at their log cabin, but when we returned, there was no sign of Spook and Mr Lupo. So we pressed on to see if they were waiting along the road to Galway. After stopping for fuel and waiting around, we were convinced they had gone on ahead, so Goldy and Pash pressed on. At the next village we found the Welsh Crew and Rambo's bikes parked up and after about 20 minutes of searching, we found them tucking into breakfast. We had eaten, so we took off, following a very bumpy road, throwing our passengers all over the shop... We climbed and climbed, negotiating some amazing switchbacks, wheelie-ing out of the bends. Some miles down the road, we noticed some headlamps in our mirrors and it turned out to be Spook and Mr Lupo... Together again...
We caught the Shannon Ferry just outside Kilrush...
...which was a super
experience...before heading back to Waterford over some of the most taxing roads I have ever ridden before joining the faster road at Cork. A quick lap of Waterford put us on the right road for Passage East, where we caught the second ferry of the day...
...before heading down to Hook Lighthouse..
We didn't stay too long cos it was cold, but just enough to take some sun-down pictures...
We headed back to the hostel in Tramore to be greeted by the Welsh Crew, Rambo and Chris and Jane...
...before heading out for a celebratory meal and drinks...
On the way back, Goldy, Spook, Mr Lupo and I went via the Passage East Ferry route, which would save us "45 minutes", however we were beaten by the Welsh Crew and Rambo to the ferry home. We also bumped into alien, which surprised us cos as we had not seen him and DJ all weekend, we assumed they had got lost in a bowl of Lucky Charms...
Once on the boat I was amazed at how many Irish folk were off to visit England, some looking very familiar...
All was going well, and we chuckled about how few incidents we had had, no punctures... etc...
On unloading our bikes, I noticed mine was a little tough to push, thinking I still had a chock under the rear wheel, I looked down to see that the rear tyre was flat. I checked the tyre and found a juicy nail, obviously inserted by a disenchanted leprechaun.
Cheles got a lift off the boat with Spook whilst I rode my bike past customs looking like someone off Junior Kickstart, standing on the pegs and trying to keep the bike in a straight line. We (Mr Lupo, Goldy, Spook and I) stopped by the Port Vehicle Maintenance Facility where Goldy supplied a puncture outfit and Spook took the lead in pulling out the nail and cleaning up the hole. Goldy then showed me how to put the shitty brown plugging strip into the tyre and I then wheeled the bike into the vehicle workshop and used their airline.
The repair was good, and it stood up to a durability proof test of 150 miles at 80mph two up!
We had given the Welsh Crew a head start of the time taken to fix the puncture, however we passed them about 20 miles down the road as they just stopped to fill up with foo-ell...
Mr Lupo followed me back to Bristol, where I changed his front wheel bearings (which I had in stock
)...
...before sending him off with his GPS programmed for Ace Cafe...
Great adventure I would say...
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- that just about covers it.....
just to say it was one off my firt runs with you guys and you all made us guys fill very wellcome and we all very much injoyed it thanks even old man jon loved it 
