Last week, I had a ride to the Emerald Isle's West Coast, my first real trip to Ireland proper
The purpose of the trip was to see my girlfriend Helen, who was staying at her family's home in Sligo, for her summer holidays and to ride some Irish roads
Forecast was good for the week, so that was a bonus
I decided to take the Cairnryan to Belfast route, in preference to the the Dublin route, because the ride to the Scottish port was a similar distance but the ride was more scenic with only 20 miles of the M6 and some great scenery over the A66 Pennine route and through Dumfries/Galloway and the Solway Firth - journey time in Ireland is similar
Tuesday morning at Southside Services on the M6 - clean bike and blue skies
Great weather followed me all the way to Loch Ryan and the view from the ferry was stunning
First view of Belfast for me, with the iconic Harland and Wolff cranes away in the distance....................
Belfast (as an Englishman) has always been synonomous with 'the troubles' for me - but with all that in the past now, I would like to have a good look around next time
Aidan very kindly had plotted me some routes and I took his recommendation to go via Lisburn/Portadown/Armagh - bedecked with Union flags and flags of St George, which was an unusual sight for me and then over the border to Monaghan/Cavan
I found the 'border country' a bit confusing because the road signage and speed limits would swap constantly between metric and imperial as the border 'criss-crossed' the roads
Cavan was beautiful and is known as the 'land of the lakes', heavy showers met me there and I got my first taste of bad Irish driving, when an old boy in a Focus came out of his house without looking and I had to brake sharply to avoid the certain collision - phew
Further into Ireland I entered Carrick on Shannon which was very picturesque and worth a second look sometime
I arrived at my destination, where the GPS led me correctly first time, although the local roads in Sligo were definitely of the 'Boreen' variety
Wednesday ...was a day off the bike and we went into Sligo town and Strandhill beach
We found a great pub, Hargadon Bros - very old fashioned and sampled the black stuff
Helen enjoyed it and recommended we go there
Lovely old bar
Cracking Pint
Nearby Strandhill Beach is stunning and popular with surfers
Next day we woke to brilliant sunshine, so decided to have a run out on the bike to Westport in Mayo and up the stunning Mayo coastline up past Achill towards Bangor
Westport, great old town, well worth visiting
The Mayo coast road from Westport to Bangor was awesome, I can recommend the new visitor centre @ Ballycroy for a tea stop with stunning cakes
Views weren't bad either
Friday we had a day off the bike and had a spot of fishing with Helen's brothers in a nearby Loch and caught a few trout, plus stacked some turf for winter fuel
Helen's parents have their own bog for turf collection so it seems turf is a major part of Irish life and culture for cheap fuel for heating and cooking
On the last day, we had a ride over to Strand Hill again, what a beautiful area and very much like north Cornwall - Shell's Beach cafe is worth stopping at ....the food is some of the best around and owned by a South African surf couple
Sunday was homeward bound from Belfast docks
So what did I think, Ireland is a beautiful place and inhabited by lovely people and for sure I will go back soon
I fancy visiting the South West of Ireland next time
So why the title 'big lawns', I found it very amusing that the Irish people have a penchant for building newish houses, especially large bungalows with massive lawns and fences around their properties in a way to convey their social standing and perceived status/wealth, however the big lawns contain no flowers or shrubs, just grass
A quite unusual trait....
The purpose of the trip was to see my girlfriend Helen, who was staying at her family's home in Sligo, for her summer holidays and to ride some Irish roads
Forecast was good for the week, so that was a bonus
I decided to take the Cairnryan to Belfast route, in preference to the the Dublin route, because the ride to the Scottish port was a similar distance but the ride was more scenic with only 20 miles of the M6 and some great scenery over the A66 Pennine route and through Dumfries/Galloway and the Solway Firth - journey time in Ireland is similar
Tuesday morning at Southside Services on the M6 - clean bike and blue skies
Great weather followed me all the way to Loch Ryan and the view from the ferry was stunning
First view of Belfast for me, with the iconic Harland and Wolff cranes away in the distance....................
Belfast (as an Englishman) has always been synonomous with 'the troubles' for me - but with all that in the past now, I would like to have a good look around next time
Aidan very kindly had plotted me some routes and I took his recommendation to go via Lisburn/Portadown/Armagh - bedecked with Union flags and flags of St George, which was an unusual sight for me and then over the border to Monaghan/Cavan
I found the 'border country' a bit confusing because the road signage and speed limits would swap constantly between metric and imperial as the border 'criss-crossed' the roads
Cavan was beautiful and is known as the 'land of the lakes', heavy showers met me there and I got my first taste of bad Irish driving, when an old boy in a Focus came out of his house without looking and I had to brake sharply to avoid the certain collision - phew
Further into Ireland I entered Carrick on Shannon which was very picturesque and worth a second look sometime
I arrived at my destination, where the GPS led me correctly first time, although the local roads in Sligo were definitely of the 'Boreen' variety
Wednesday ...was a day off the bike and we went into Sligo town and Strandhill beach
We found a great pub, Hargadon Bros - very old fashioned and sampled the black stuff
Helen enjoyed it and recommended we go there
Lovely old bar
Cracking Pint
Nearby Strandhill Beach is stunning and popular with surfers
Next day we woke to brilliant sunshine, so decided to have a run out on the bike to Westport in Mayo and up the stunning Mayo coastline up past Achill towards Bangor
Westport, great old town, well worth visiting
The Mayo coast road from Westport to Bangor was awesome, I can recommend the new visitor centre @ Ballycroy for a tea stop with stunning cakes
Views weren't bad either
Friday we had a day off the bike and had a spot of fishing with Helen's brothers in a nearby Loch and caught a few trout, plus stacked some turf for winter fuel
Helen's parents have their own bog for turf collection so it seems turf is a major part of Irish life and culture for cheap fuel for heating and cooking
On the last day, we had a ride over to Strand Hill again, what a beautiful area and very much like north Cornwall - Shell's Beach cafe is worth stopping at ....the food is some of the best around and owned by a South African surf couple
Sunday was homeward bound from Belfast docks
So what did I think, Ireland is a beautiful place and inhabited by lovely people and for sure I will go back soon
I fancy visiting the South West of Ireland next time
So why the title 'big lawns', I found it very amusing that the Irish people have a penchant for building newish houses, especially large bungalows with massive lawns and fences around their properties in a way to convey their social standing and perceived status/wealth, however the big lawns contain no flowers or shrubs, just grass
A quite unusual trait....
I miss green grass 
, thank's for sharing your adventure 
