Ireland
We sailed across the Irish Sea on
the fast ferry. The crossing was calm
but it was announced that the ferry would not run tomorrow because of forecast
gale winds. We were very glad we had not planned to ride for a few days and we
stayed with our hosts Brian and Mary in Dublin. The weather meant it was a good
time to visits museums and Dublin has a couple of excellent ones where we spent
hours learning more about Irish history, with particular interest in recent
history of the past one hundred years.
Mary and Brian were both
knowledgeable and passionate about their country so our stay with them was not
only a pleasure but interesting. Mary is
learning to play the Irish Bodhran , the accordion and the ukulele ,all three
at once, and invited us to a music gathering where she was participating, so we
had Guinness and music to make an enjoyable evening. Brian rode with us the day we left and took
us through Phoenix Park to avoid the traffic madness that is Dublin. It is a
very large park and supports about one hundred deer, but we did not see them.
The weather was still kind to us, it
was cold but did not rain. Temperature was eleven degrees, five above normal
for this time of the year. The roads
were very busy as we made our way west.
Bad weather was forecast for Friday so there was pressure to reach the
Cliffs of Moher by Thursday. The days
were short, we cannot leave before nine o’clock because it is not light enough
and it is dusk at four o’clock and dark by four thirty so we need to be off the
road by three thirty.
When we could we took minor roads to
avoid traffic and take in the countryside, but this was not always possible. The narrow country lanes were a pleasure to
ride on, there was very little traffic as we passed small farms with cows and
sheep, but no agriculture. Hedges lined the lanes and they gave us protection
from the wind. The countryside of
Ireland has changed, large houses built in the boom time are everywhere, sadly
some were abandoned when hard times came.
We stayed in Bed and Breakfast
places in Ireland and we had to be careful not to ask for a full English
breakfast, here it is an Irish breakfast, same food but different country. Things
are more expensive in Ireland, the further west we have come the dearer the
cost of living. Travelling through Kane, Birr, Portarlington and Portumna we
came to Loch Derg, at Mt Shannon. We
stopped for a while to admire this lovely part of the country and went to the
jetty where a ferry takes people across to Holy Island but it is too late in
the year and the ferry was not running.
We stayed in Ennis, our last night
on the road. This area is familiar to us
from previous trips and we enjoyed revisiting the town, all lit up for
Christmas. On our last day of riding we had mixed feelings. Happy that we were almost at the end of a
long trip and excited we had made it. Sad because we have had such a good time
and found it hard to believe we will not be riding any more. The good weather
was still with us as we got to Ennistymen, then Lahinch, Liscannor and finally
the Cliffs of Moher. We walked along the
cliffs in a stiff breeze, took some photos and then went to stay with Julie.
When we first set out on this trip
we planned to ride out of our front gate and end the trip riding into the yard
of Mike’s cousin Philip who lived in the house which has been occupied by the
family for centuries. Sadly
Philip passed away before we arrived here.
The end of the trip was a bit of an anti climax, as we had no one to
celebrate our achievement with. Julie
was Philip’s partner and it was great to be able to stay with her.
Mike caught up with distant
relatives and we spent a couple of nights in Mc Hughs pub Liscannor until one
o’clock in the morning talking about who was related to who and laughing about
things which happened years ago.
The weather did change on Friday, we
had gale force winds and rain. We were so fortunate to arrive when we did. We
rode all the way through England, Wales and Ireland without being rained on in
winter, unbelievable.
This is the last entry of the blog. Thank you to everyone who has followed our
progress across the world, your support has encouraged us along the way. We will catch up with you all when we get
home
