Ride outs
The Vee
That June Sunday morning we were to meet with Finbarr and Jim for a bike spin. Juan & myself got prepared and went for an Irish breakfast in a place we discovered in town. At 11’am we were at the filling station with Finbarr, waiting for Jim who was waiting for his bike key, which was in the washing machine… 😀
Finally we left through Midleton, then up to Lismore where we had a first stop for a Coke/tarts/tea/coffee. Then we stopped down the village on the bridge with nice views over the castle.
It’s a very nice place, beautiful castle, the gardens are opened to the public. After a short pics break we headed to the left after the bridge, direction “The Vee”.
The road to get there is beautiful, not too large but the tarmac is good. Unfortunately we ended up behind a fuel truck with no room to overtake for a while. The road was nice anyway, under the trees along a river for the first part. Then you get to the “mountain” part with nice views of the mountains on each side.
We stopped at a first car park. From there there is a walk down to a nice lake and another walk up the mountain (not with bike gear…).
Then we went on to another car park with views to the lake. It was a rather cloudy day but even with not much light Ireland is so beautiful with her 40 shades of Green.
Then we went on for another stop before a big hairpin, already on our way down. As it was quite overcast the view didn’t go far, but it was very nice anyway.
We went down the mountains and started to head back, but Finbarr’s GPS wouldn’t stop taking us through back roads lol … and at one point it was too bad for me, with mud and small stones and I wouldn’t go further. Finbarr & Jim wanted to go to a pub nearby to watch the second half of Ireland-France as Ireland was leading 1-0, so we turned back through the main road and finally found a pub to watch the rest of the match.
Then we headed back home through Youghal & Midleton.
Such a nice spin on nice roads.
So nice that the following Sunday, back from Skerries road race, we had a late waking up, went for breakfast and headed back to Lismore & The Vee through the same roads. We didn’t stop as much to take pics but had a very nice spin. The weather was beautiful, bathed in beautiful sunshine and warm. The view at the lake was still a little bit cloudy on the mountain part,
but then at the hairpin we stopped for a good while as the view was very clear all around.
Also a group of bikes coming up informed us very nicely that there was a speed trap down the road in the village… which probably avoided a fine to us and the 2 other bikes who came behind us…
On our way home we stopped in Ardfinnan for an ice cream and refreshment in the lovely gardens.
And then we followed with another stop in the Harbour of Dungarvan
where there is a castle
and also a memorial to all Waterford Men fallen in the Continent during WWI
So sad to see so many lives lost 🙁 .
It was a beautiful spin, with nice roads and not much traffic…
For sure we will head back from time to time!
Thanks to our nice guide showing us beautiful roads and places around!
V’s
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