What a great week I've had...marred only slightly by the loss of the quest but nonetheless, a fantastic time
I started a few days early and headed down th Shurton in Somerset with my girls for a few days R&R....Dani and her two couldn't makae it 'cos she's done her back in but it was great.
This is my parent's life-long fantasy house, the thing they've always worked towards, an idyllic retirement home in a sleepy village.
Not a bad result really
Dad's got a nice 4.2 E-type in the garage (didn't get a pic though) and there's Henry the dog as well......
Only nine months old and a lovely critter
With the absence of computers and high tech toys, proper family fun ensued.....
I had the pixies to get the bike out of its new garage
But it was soon time to set off (after franticly running around to find a replacement set of rear pads after half of my rear one fell out as Micheldever tyres stuck a new TKC on the day before) and I met IanF and Nadeem en-route to Fishguard.
Naturally, the GPS had to come out on the boat to make sure we weren't being kidnapped and being taken to Zimbabwe....
18MPH on a boat that size was impressive
But this one was even more so.....
We found a great B&B in Waterford after an hour's ride from Rosslare......and we discovered that in fact a phone that has a pair of superbright LED's on the back of it was in fact a bloody useful thing after a few pints of the black stuff at a pub 10 mins walk from the B&B.
It's dark in Ireland
We set off nice and early the next day but the weather turned shyte......not one bit of the assorted Goretex suits, expensive gloves or waterproof boots held up for the 8 hours of softy Irish rain, but it was a good ride nonetheless, across the Beara peninsula and the ring of Kerry.
The torrents even slowed for long enough for me to whip out my camera for one of the descents.....
We arrived in Killkenny or killmarney or kill some twat or other and found a B&B where we got right royally ripped off......105 euros for a bed for the night was a bit OTT but wtf......
Down to the pub for a wee drinky, more than slightly damp even after changing clothes in the B&B.....
But after a few...
Things started looking up...
And the grub wasn't half bad either
I'd been looking forwards to a big bowl of these for days, and they truly didn't dissapoint......
I can almost smell them just looking at this piccy
Back to the B&B and Nadeem came over all sultry and provocative.....
So what the heck.......this GS'ing lark is all about getting to know people after all isn't it
The next day the weather was way better and we enjoyed a nice ride up to Lehinch via Moll's gap....Everyon'e posted a pic from pretty much the same place so far but I bet we were the only ones who went offroading up there
(cue Nadeem with the off-roading piccies )
The way up...
The top
The way down.....
And one that is destined to be my desktop walpaper for a few weeks
It's one of those places where there's a good view no matter which way you turn.
This was just after our off roading session
Line'em up
Nadeem and IanF showing that the night before had brought them much closer together............awwwwww!!!!
It's fairly well known that I enjoy a bit of the old fording, but Nadeem seemed keen to take it just that bit too far.......
Back on the road and we headed up for Lehinch
Although the blight of the semi-permanent mobile homes has spread to the place, the campsite did at least have some nice views
And the people more than made up for any shortcomings in the location....Man MAde of beer proudly pregnant and Richie's whopping erection diominating the GSer's corner....
Ever the suave charmer, Richie showed off his hard core porn phone clips nat the bar
Pete (Pragmatix) denied it was him in the film but we all knew different
Tiff tried in vain to wash out the aftertaste
Whilst Richie tried to do an impromptue audition for a part in the next skin-flick....
Which amused Maggie
Matron chose her colours carefully
And the next morning there were some vain attempts to disguise the guilty parties
Finally we made it off site in the drizzle but it wasn't long before we found a pub to dry out in.....
And Tuned relaxed, still with his eyebrows intact at this stage, prior to heading to the bar for a night......
Bread, curry and guiness.......what more do you need??
A good night all round.......
Erm...........
It's now officially a tradition that Steptoe's got to get up and dance at every GS meet
Lead around by the lovely Angie, he strutted his stuff on the floor.....
Sartorial elegance not required.....
Much drink was consumed and much bollocks talked
Until after a gem of an auction at the Raffle, we retired to the part-time-pikeymobile to see how much more alcohgol could be consumed...
The next morning people went there seperate ways, (as did Tuned and his eyebrows the previous night ) and with the weather looking good, I set off with Mr And Mrs Cookie for a few days up north.....
Although Roundstone was a nice little fishing village, the campsite was shyte so we moved on
And found a lovely little site up on the north coast of Conemara as recomended by MadMountainMan that had two GHS sized dips perfect for camping in
Turning around from where the last pic was, this was the view.....
I know this is a big piccy, but it was taken five feet from the back of Cookie's tent and it's worth it......you don't get much better than this !!
EDIT.....I've moved this piuc to a reply as it was screwing with the layout too much...
A lovely location, and some great company...thanks Cookie and Angie
That night Cookie and I stayed up for a bit and after the unfeasibly late darkness closed in, watched satellites, shooting stars and the milky way above the camp site.
Nice to get away from the light polution and see it how it should be for a change.
This is one of the few flat roads that we rode the next day...rollercoasters have nothing on the ring of Conemara and Cookie got airborne two-up at one point.......he's an impressive rider with a pillion on board and even discovering his brake light was blown only lessoned that impression slightly.
With both of us being ginger bastards, we got a good dose of sunburn that day but managed to do a good shop for that night's food and found an SD card for my camera in Westpoint.
The only Fjord in Ireland.
Apparently.
A pint of guiness and a gallon of unleaded please barman
Then back to the camp for a BBQ....
Prizes for guessing the ingredients properly.....
Corn on the cob starter and bananas in white wine, honey and cinnamen for pud....hmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!
We were woken the next morning by the cacophony of the local traffic jam on the beach.....
And unfortunatly I had to make a move........leaving the campsite after lunch the clouds looked a bit threatening
But I made good time down across the country
I'd intended to book a ferry for the next moring but changed my mind and decided to go for the home run....just after I'd changed my ticket I bumped into Da Judge at the port
And so after a nice curry on the ship, we had a blast through South Wales down to the M4, then a high speed cruise right back to Kent....a very nice run, and both of us were feeling good after 18 hours in the saddle with the ferry crossing in the middle.
I've put all the rest of the pics in my smugmug HERE but that's about it....apart from to say thanks again to Pthag and Debbie for such a great event, and to all those I met again or for the first time that made it such a great week......
I started a few days early and headed down th Shurton in Somerset with my girls for a few days R&R....Dani and her two couldn't makae it 'cos she's done her back in but it was great.
This is my parent's life-long fantasy house, the thing they've always worked towards, an idyllic retirement home in a sleepy village.
Not a bad result really
Dad's got a nice 4.2 E-type in the garage (didn't get a pic though) and there's Henry the dog as well......
Only nine months old and a lovely critter
With the absence of computers and high tech toys, proper family fun ensued.....
I had the pixies to get the bike out of its new garage
But it was soon time to set off (after franticly running around to find a replacement set of rear pads after half of my rear one fell out as Micheldever tyres stuck a new TKC on the day before) and I met IanF and Nadeem en-route to Fishguard.
Naturally, the GPS had to come out on the boat to make sure we weren't being kidnapped and being taken to Zimbabwe....
18MPH on a boat that size was impressive
But this one was even more so.....
We found a great B&B in Waterford after an hour's ride from Rosslare......and we discovered that in fact a phone that has a pair of superbright LED's on the back of it was in fact a bloody useful thing after a few pints of the black stuff at a pub 10 mins walk from the B&B.
It's dark in Ireland
We set off nice and early the next day but the weather turned shyte......not one bit of the assorted Goretex suits, expensive gloves or waterproof boots held up for the 8 hours of softy Irish rain, but it was a good ride nonetheless, across the Beara peninsula and the ring of Kerry.
The torrents even slowed for long enough for me to whip out my camera for one of the descents.....
We arrived in Killkenny or killmarney or kill some twat or other and found a B&B where we got right royally ripped off......105 euros for a bed for the night was a bit OTT but wtf......
Down to the pub for a wee drinky, more than slightly damp even after changing clothes in the B&B.....
But after a few...
Things started looking up...
And the grub wasn't half bad either
I'd been looking forwards to a big bowl of these for days, and they truly didn't dissapoint......
I can almost smell them just looking at this piccy
Back to the B&B and Nadeem came over all sultry and provocative.....
So what the heck.......this GS'ing lark is all about getting to know people after all isn't it
The next day the weather was way better and we enjoyed a nice ride up to Lehinch via Moll's gap....Everyon'e posted a pic from pretty much the same place so far but I bet we were the only ones who went offroading up there
(cue Nadeem with the off-roading piccies )
The way up...
The top
The way down.....
And one that is destined to be my desktop walpaper for a few weeks
It's one of those places where there's a good view no matter which way you turn.
This was just after our off roading session
Line'em up
Nadeem and IanF showing that the night before had brought them much closer together............awwwwww!!!!
It's fairly well known that I enjoy a bit of the old fording, but Nadeem seemed keen to take it just that bit too far.......
Back on the road and we headed up for Lehinch
Although the blight of the semi-permanent mobile homes has spread to the place, the campsite did at least have some nice views
And the people more than made up for any shortcomings in the location....Man MAde of beer proudly pregnant and Richie's whopping erection diominating the GSer's corner....
Ever the suave charmer, Richie showed off his hard core porn phone clips nat the bar
Pete (Pragmatix) denied it was him in the film but we all knew different
Tiff tried in vain to wash out the aftertaste
Whilst Richie tried to do an impromptue audition for a part in the next skin-flick....
Which amused Maggie
Matron chose her colours carefully
And the next morning there were some vain attempts to disguise the guilty parties
Finally we made it off site in the drizzle but it wasn't long before we found a pub to dry out in.....
And Tuned relaxed, still with his eyebrows intact at this stage, prior to heading to the bar for a night......
Bread, curry and guiness.......what more do you need??
A good night all round.......
Erm...........
It's now officially a tradition that Steptoe's got to get up and dance at every GS meet
Lead around by the lovely Angie, he strutted his stuff on the floor.....
Sartorial elegance not required.....
Much drink was consumed and much bollocks talked
Until after a gem of an auction at the Raffle, we retired to the part-time-pikeymobile to see how much more alcohgol could be consumed...
The next morning people went there seperate ways, (as did Tuned and his eyebrows the previous night ) and with the weather looking good, I set off with Mr And Mrs Cookie for a few days up north.....
Although Roundstone was a nice little fishing village, the campsite was shyte so we moved on
And found a lovely little site up on the north coast of Conemara as recomended by MadMountainMan that had two GHS sized dips perfect for camping in
Turning around from where the last pic was, this was the view.....
I know this is a big piccy, but it was taken five feet from the back of Cookie's tent and it's worth it......you don't get much better than this !!
EDIT.....I've moved this piuc to a reply as it was screwing with the layout too much...
A lovely location, and some great company...thanks Cookie and Angie
That night Cookie and I stayed up for a bit and after the unfeasibly late darkness closed in, watched satellites, shooting stars and the milky way above the camp site.
Nice to get away from the light polution and see it how it should be for a change.
This is one of the few flat roads that we rode the next day...rollercoasters have nothing on the ring of Conemara and Cookie got airborne two-up at one point.......he's an impressive rider with a pillion on board and even discovering his brake light was blown only lessoned that impression slightly.
With both of us being ginger bastards, we got a good dose of sunburn that day but managed to do a good shop for that night's food and found an SD card for my camera in Westpoint.
The only Fjord in Ireland.
Apparently.
A pint of guiness and a gallon of unleaded please barman
Then back to the camp for a BBQ....
Prizes for guessing the ingredients properly.....
Corn on the cob starter and bananas in white wine, honey and cinnamen for pud....hmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!
We were woken the next morning by the cacophony of the local traffic jam on the beach.....
And unfortunatly I had to make a move........leaving the campsite after lunch the clouds looked a bit threatening
But I made good time down across the country
I'd intended to book a ferry for the next moring but changed my mind and decided to go for the home run....just after I'd changed my ticket I bumped into Da Judge at the port
And so after a nice curry on the ship, we had a blast through South Wales down to the M4, then a high speed cruise right back to Kent....a very nice run, and both of us were feeling good after 18 hours in the saddle with the ferry crossing in the middle.
I've put all the rest of the pics in my smugmug HERE but that's about it....apart from to say thanks again to Pthag and Debbie for such a great event, and to all those I met again or for the first time that made it such a great week......