Last day on the BMW in Ireland

The last day of a motorcycle trip contains so many conflicting emotions. We're sad to see the end of our fantastic 5 days on a BMW motorcycle rented through Celtic Rider who put together a brilliant itinerary that took us on the Wild Atlantic Way around southwestern Ireland. We're also looking forward to 2 more days in Dublin before we hike for 4 days on the Dingle Peninsula, a bit further west from our motorcycle trip.

We started our trip 5 days ago on a rainy day, and we ended the trip with equally cloudy skies but with less rain. In fact, it was more of an annoying drizzle and not really rain; it's interesting how my view of 'rain' changes the longer I spend in Ireland.

We wound our way west from Killarney through farm country, seeing more tractors on the roads than we have during the previous days of our trip.

The last 120 miles of our ride today was on M8 and M7, motorways that are generally 2 lanes traveling in each direction, with limited access similar to the interstate system in the US. Before we reached the motorway, we enjoyed the winding, bending, sweeping curves of the local roads, including a few sections where the trees and bushes grow high over the roadway, forming a living tunnel above us.

We pulled into Celtic Rider and were welcomed by Paul, telling him stories about our trip and reliving the highlights. The end of the trip went by so fast - unpacking the bike, packing the suitcase, saying good-bye to Paul and Liam from Celtic Rider. This was our second self-guided trip in Ireland with them, and we're sure it won't be our last. There are still miles of mountains and coastline to explore!

Ireland Day of the 1000 Bends

We planned our trip for months, and today we started the first day of our 5-day Ireland motorcycle tour with Celtic Rider. Mike and I toured with Paul and Liam 5 years ago, and it was lovely to see them again and visit the shop, right next-door to Paul's 492-year old home.

After a safety orientation and packing up the bikes, 5 of us followed Paul for a shake-down ride:  Wayne, Colleen, Maureen - a rider from Canada - and us. Everyone kept reminding themselves to "look right and stay left", and after about an hour felt more comfortable going through roundabouts 'the wrong way' and navigating narrow Irish lanes.

Even though I wore my raingear, I never needed it because even though the skies were dark and we felt a few random raindrops, it never really rained. We rode through 4 counties in the province of Leinster:   Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow and Kilkenny, passing bored-looking cows, sheep and goats enjoying the abundant grass, a couple of horses looking over a stone fence, and beautifully-kept houses surrounded by trim fields. Paul calls this first day of the trip the "Day of the 1000 bends" because there is rarely a straight stretch of road as we wound our way around the countryside.

We pulled over to the side of the road across the river from Baltinglass Abbey so Paul could make sure each rider was comfortable with their bike.

The Abbey was founded in 1148 by Cistercian monks and was one of the richest abbeys in the 1600's until Henry VIII ran into marital trouble, left the Catholic church, and founded the Church of England.

Paul explained that local children learn to canoe in the River Slaney, and in fact that all Irish children learn to swim because they live on an island covered in numerous lakes, rivers and streams.

We continued winding our way around the countryside, stopping for a late lunch at The Forge restaurant in Tullow, County Carlow.

The restaurant is housed in a 120-year old granite building that once was the home of a forge. We sat outside enjoying the day and the fabulous food - carrot and root vegetable soup, delicious brown Irish bread and butter, and ham, cheese and tomato toasties. Paul kept us laughing with stories about his motorcycle adventures and local history.

Paul stayed with us for a few more miles, then pointed us toward Kilkenny and turned off toward home. We rode on winding narrow roads through more bright green fields and small towns with stone houses, and finally into Kilkenny, our stop for the evening.

We're staying at the River Court Hotel on the bank of the Nore River, across the river from Kilkenny Castle. After checking into our rooms we walked across the stone bridge over the river to the castle, with 1 hour before closing time to take a tour of the castle.

Originally the Anglo-Norman stone castle was built during the early 1200's, and over the centuries it was remodeled by the Butler family who purchased the castle in 1391. The family owned the castle until 1967 when they sold it to the town of Kilkenny for a token payment.

The Office of Public Works undertook a massive renovation and rebuilding, and today we were able to walk around the inside of the castle decorated as it would have looked during Victorian times.

Kilkenny, or in Irish Cill Chainnigh, meaning "church of Cainnech" was founded in the early 6th century by St. Canice, and later became a thriving market town surrounded by tall stone walls. The winding narrow streets, colorful old stone houses, and parts of the original wall attract tourists, artists, and craftspeople. Since today is a Bank holiday, the streets were full of people on holiday. We walked across the street from the hotel to Matt the Miller's for dinner and a pint, enjoying the traditional Irish music and friendly waitstaff who traded jokes and information about life in Ireland vs the US.

We managed to avoid the rain all day until we parked the BMWs, and dashed in and out of the rain on our way home from the castle and again later on our way back from dinner. We're all looking forward to a full day on the motorcycle tomorrow, heading south to the seaside town of Kinsale.

We're loving our time in Ireland and thank Paul for a brilliant first day.

We're published in BMW Owners News magazine!

Pull out the January 2014 issue of BMW Owners News, or if you're a BMW club member check it out online at https://bmwmoa.org/BMWOwnersNews.aspx and look for our article about our motorcycle trip in Ireland. We often think about the narrow, twisting roads with grass growing down the middle, the friendly Irish people, and the green countryside. Thanks to the amazing people at Celtic Rider for setting up the trip. We're already talking about our next motorcycle tour in Ireland.

Riding full circle in Ireland

The last day of a trip on the motorcycle is always bittersweet. One sad part is leaving our new friends, Kelly and Rob. We've enjoyed riding with them, sharing new experiences, exclaiming over yet another gorgeous view, and recapping the day's adventures over dinner. They're continuing south for three more days on the motorcycle, while we're headed back to Dublin to start our 4-day hiking trip in the Wicklow Way.

Rob and Kelly on Achill Island

Our trip today took us from Westport on the western side of Ireland back to Dublin on the eastern shore of Ireland. We rode about 160 miles across the width of Ireland, and saw the countryside change from the mountains and sheep of the west coast, to rolling farmland and cows in the middle, to suburban and urban centers as we neared Dublin.

We notice our surroundings more acutely when we travel by motorcycle, taking in the different smells of the farms and homes burning coal for heat, the loud mixture of sounds as we rode through congested and narrow streets in larger market towns, the brush of the hedges and bushes on our left knees as we snuggle close to the edge of the road when we meet a truck or tractor coming the opposite direction on one of the twisting and narrow county lanes, the smiles and waves from both school children and adults leaning on fences as we ride by.

Along the way we drove through Roscommon, and stopped to see the castle, built in 1269 by the Normans.

Unlike other castles we've driven by this week, Roscommon Castle is open for free to the public. We wandered around the imposing stone ruins, imagining what it must have been like to live here during the 400 years it was an important stronghold.

Traveling further east we came to Athlone, a busy town of 21,000 filled with people walking the narrow sidewalks and dodging  streams of traffic on the old city streets. Athlone is located on the River Shannon, at 224 miles Ireland's longest river.

 I always imagined the River Shannon as a wide, winding, slow-moving river with lush green fields on either side. My imagination was correct, and I wished we had more time to take a river cruise and explore more of this area.

In our quest to stay off major highways, we zig-zagged our way into the urban sprawl around Dublin, staying on less-traveled side roads and finally entering into one business park after another. We reached Celtic Rider mid-afternoon just as the drizzling rain ended and the sun came out

Both Paul, the owner of Celtic Rider, and Noel, the friendly gentleman who transported us to and from Dublin, asked us our favorite parts of the trip. There are so many favorites, we couldn't pick just one. Each day brought to life places we'd read about and now were able to experience first-hand, new and unplanned discoveries, and encounters with the lovely Irish people.

Noel, Paul and Mike at the end of our trip

Back in Dublin, we wandered the streets surrounded by throngs of people including 8000 costumed as zombies.  They're part of a quest to break the Guinness World Record for the most zombies in one location plus raise money for two Irish charities. Just one more surreal experience in a week full of the unexpected on our trip in Ireland.

The Irish motorycle adventure begins

wet two-lane road (really!) in County Kildare

The wonderful guys from Celtic Rider arranged taxi service between our hotel in Dublin and their shop outside the city. Mike took our BMW R1200 GS on an orientation ride while I packed up everything we need for five days on the bike. The two side cases and the tail case hold only the essentials, and it's amazing what I can learn to do without for five days.

It was raining when we left Celtic Rider for today's destination:  the Ardlenagh View B & B in Donegal in the northwestern part of Ireland. Along the six-hour ride, I made a list of all the terms I knew for rain:

• drizzle
• shower
• light rain
• downpour
• torrential rain
• mist
• monsoon

We experienced all of these except for the monsoon, which is a fairly typical day in Ireland. The wet weather didn't stop us from enjoying the lush green grass in the meadows, flowers, and hedgerows towering along the roadside so high we couldn't see over them.

Mike in front of the stone walls and hedgerows that line many Irish roads

Mike set the GPS to avoid highways, which meant we traveled on roads barely wide enough for two cars, even narrower roads that comfortably allow one car to drive down the middle, and roads with grass gowing in the middle of the road, similar to many Vermont driveways but much narrower. These paved roads look like a bicycle path at home, and imagine the fun we have riding down these twisty lanes lined with hedgerows, trees and stone walls that block Mike's view of oncoming traffic.  Meeting a speeding car heading the opposite direction on a blind corner is not for the faint of heart! Mike's orientation instructor said that when the British ran Ireland, they took centuries-old wagon roads and dumped macadam into the ruts without any additional improvements, which evidently includes paving over the grass. When asked why they don't simply widen the roads, he said that would be solving the problem, and the Irish aren't good at that. It turns out that these narrow, winding roads are our favorites.

We arrived at our B & B home for the next two nights ready to change out of our wet raingear and head to dinner. Rob and Kelly, a couple from Canada, are on the 8-day Celtic Rider tour, which means we share the same itinerary for our first four days. Tony, the owner of the B & B, drove us into Donegal for dinner and highly recommended we attend the Slice of Ireland dinner and show at the Central Hotel. What an evening! Traditional Irish ballads mixed with drinking songs,  five musicians playing the guitar, accordion, fiddle, Uillean pipe, Irish harp, and bodhran (Irish drum); a guest performance from the Milwaukee Irish Fest choir who happened to be in the audience, two incredible Irish dancers from Riverdance, the 6 and 8 year old sons of one of the musicians who started the show with a ballad, and a local comedy duo rounded out the show. Everyone, the musicians and dancers included, was having so much fun the show continued longer than usual.

It was an incredible introduction to our Irish motorcycle tour and we're looking forward to more adventure tomorrow.

Ireland: the next adventure

We were home for three full days after our trip to the BMW Rally in Sedalia, MO and yesterday boarded a plane in Boston for Dublin, Ireland. We had a blast riding 3146 miles from Vermont to Missouri and back, met new friends and experienced beautiful scenery. We're looking forward to more adventure in Ireland.

Arlington Hotel, our base in Dublin

Our plane landed at 5:10am Dublin time, which translated to just after midnight at home. Neither one of us could sleep on the plane, yet a brisk walk around the center city of Dublin gave us renewed energy - and a great-tasting Irish breakfast added a bit extra oomph. 

Our hotel is right on the River Liffey, which flows through the energetic center of Dublin. Baskets of bright-colored flowers brighten the area, and there are several bridges that cross the river making walking back and forth easy. The Ha'Penny Bridge, named because originally the toll to cross was a half-penny, is a short walk from our hotel.

Ha'penny pedestrian bridge

We took the advice of the guys from Celtic Rider and bought a 2-day ticket for the Dublin City Sightseeing bus tour that has 25 stops and allows unlimited hop-on, hop-off opportunities. We made only two stops today to sample the most famous Dublin beverages:  Guinness and Jameson. Both tours gave an interesting historical perspective on these iconic beverages, and both ended with opportunities for tasting.

water from the Wicklow Mountains used to make Guinness

enjoying Guinness in their 7th floor tasting room

triple distilling process gives Jameson's whiskey it's smooth taste

Every person we've met today has been exceptionally friendly and helpful. The bus driver from the airport to the hotel at 5:30am fave us tips on how to spend our time so early in the morning and dropped us off as close as possible to our hotel. Carmen, in charge of the hotel breakfast dining room, explained the breakfast options in detail, made sure we had everything we needed, and suggested favorite breakfast foods. The man selling tickets for the Red Line city bus tours had more enthusiasm and joy at 7:30am than I ever expect to see. Freddie, who poured our half-pint of Guinness after their factory tour took our picture and spent time talking about our trip. The waiter at dinner greeted us like old friends.

With no sleep in over 24 hours and plans for a busy day in Dublin tomorrow, we called it an early night.We pick up the motorcycle Tuesday morning, and are looking forward to getting out of busy Dublin and into the Irish countryside.

Hot day at the BMW rally

We spent the day walking around the BMW rally at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia. On day five of our trip, the weather remained hot and sunny. The BMW planning committee did an awesome job planning for the weather, with big industrial fans placed outside at key locations, fans with a water mist system along the sidewalk where the outside vendors were located, four airconditioned buildings for the mjaority of the vendors, free water bottles, and the closing ceremonies inside another large, airconditioned stadium.

Mike's goal today was to purchase custom-molded earplugs to cut down on the noise while riding, and we also wanted to look at mesh motorcycle pants. He worked with the helpful guys at Fit-Ear and immediately noticed the lack of wind or engine noise on our ride back to the hotel. If they feel comfortable tomorrow on our 8-9 hour ride to northwest Indiana, he's hooked.

On our search for mesh pants, we ran into the guys from Celtic Rider, who were excited when they realized we have a tour booked with them starting 'Tuesday next' as they put it. The weather in Ireland is going to be a lot different than the heat and humidity we've experienced in the Midwest, and we're looking forward to cooler temperatures, lots of twisty roads, and remembering to ride on the left.

Just as I left the Celtic Rider booth, I ran into David, who rode with us into Sedalia yesterday. He spent last night camping at the Rally and was having a wonderful time meeting people and buying equipment for his extended ride out West. We were hoping to see him again before we left, and look forward to reading his blog about his trip.

Mike. Lynn and David

As we waited for our lunch order at Lefty's Countryside Diner, located in the Fairgrounds, we chatted with the two women working there. Once again we found friendly people as well as satisfying food. They work 12 hour plus days during the Rally, and yet they were happy and interested in hearing about our trip.

We tried on mesh pants from two different companies, and settled on the Recon Mesh pants from Olympia Moto Sports. Hopefully they'll feel as cool tomorrow as they did tonight on the short ride back to the hotel. Plus they have extra pockets, which always come in handy. We shipped our black motorcycle pants home since we have limited luggage space on the bike, and hope they arrive before we leave for Ireland.

We took a break mid-day at the Dairy Queen across the street from the Fairgrounds. I grew up going to the local DQ, and it's fun to stop by when we're in the Midwest. Once again, BMW riders were welcomed.

We ended the day by watching the first act of the evening's entertainment, Sh-Boom, a Missouri-based band that plays music from the '50's, '60's, and '70's. The four-part harmony of the old favorites had everyone smiling, and when one of the band dressed as Elvis for two songs, it made the evening.

This was our first BMW Rally, but it won't be our last. Next time we'll arrive a day earlier, and hopefully the weather won't be as hot and we'll go for some group rides around the local area.