Road Races
Kells Road Race 2016
The week-end of 18-19th June it was Kells road race on Crossakiel circuit. It is one of those races that are on Saturday and Sunday, so it’s quite practical as we don’t have to take days off.
We left Cork on Saturday morning, not early enough to get there before road closure, so we first went to the B&B to leave our stuffs before heading to the circuit. We arrived through another road as last year, actually to the place where we had been watching from last year for race day. The field from which we had watched last year was not open to the public this year though.
We parked the car and looked for a place to stay going through the fields. As the road was already closed and there was very little time between each practice session, we just stayed at the same spot. We could probably go somewhere else through the fields as some people were coming and then disappearing 😉 but we just stayed there. We took some pictures, not too spectacular though as we were not in the best spot.
William Dunlop
Veronika Hancocyova
Tony Willis & Sean Leonard
Micko Sweeney
Melissa Kennedy
James Kelly
Freddie Stewart
Derek Sheils
Derek Mc Gee
Brian Mc Cormack
Brian Coomey
Kells circuit is famous for its jumps, but it will be for some other occasion.
The truth is that the afternoon went by quite quickly because many people went by us, and had a chat with us before being able to cross the road… That way Juan learnt about how to do riding days at Mondello, and many other things 😉 . The Irish people are very sociable people, this is very pleasant and nice.
All practice sessions went by without any incident, and were followed by the Classic Races, and then more practice sessions, until it was late and started to rain.
For the last 2 practice sessions, as we thought it was over (no megaphone where we were), we went back to the bend before the car park. In the last session there was a red flag, Veronika Hancocyova who had a fall, but she was ok.
When all sessions were over and road opened again, we went to the paddock with the car. We went for a walk around the paddock and went to say hello to Yvonne Montgomery. She is a woman who races with a Kawasaki 400 and in Supersport with a GSXR600. I didn’t know her personally but we are on the same forum of photography Irish Race Photography from Baylon Mc Caughey.
It started to rain so she invited us under her “roof” and we chatted a good while with her and Richard, who used to be a Yamaha mechanics and also raced, and who is now spannering for her. She told us that she took her riding licence a few years ago and the next year she started to race. On her first race (circuit) she highsided and broke a few ribs, and in spite of it, she was only counting the days until the next race.
She thinks that short circuit racing is boring, she prefers road racing; she likes to take as braking reference a tree, a house, a fence… and she likes a lot Kells jumps.
After a nice chat, we said goodbye and went on with our walk around the paddock. It was quite full. We finally found Andy Farrell, but he was busy so we just said hello and went on. After another while, we left for the b&b to get some rest.
On Sunday we had our breakfast between Paul Jordan’s team and a French rider who was racing for the first time in Ireland. He usually races in the IRRC on the continent and he was surprised of the differences in organisation.
Then we went to the circuit, to the Jumps part where we took our spot between the hedges. The day had started with rain and it didn’t seem to get better. They closed the road but it was still raining. The marshals were going around the circuit to check the conditions. After a good while waiting, it started to rain more heavily, and we took shelter from the wind behind a camper van. A woman came out of the van to inform us that the races were cancelled.
The truth is that it was raining a lot, and it didn’t seem to get better. There was a lot of wind also, and there was a lot of standing water around the track. It was not quite pleasant to walk around, not saying to race with those bikes…
We went back to the paddock, had a chat with the French team who was disappointed (they had come specially for this race), and then went to say goodbye to Andy Farrell’s team. Then we took the road back home…
The week-end was shorter than planned, but we had a great time on the Saturday, enjoying the practice and the people.
It’s a pity for the club who put so much effort into organising the event, and saw it washed out because of bad weather.
Hope they will bounce back and will come back with great racing soon.
Trips
Holidays 2016 – Donegal
Our Holidays 2016 started here: Antrim Coast & Glens.
And we also went to the NorthWest 200.
For our second week our destination was Donegal, where we took some rest and enjoyed a few ride-outs with the bikes.
We had booked a selfcatering for the whole week in Falcarragh, co. Donegal. It’s a small village but with everything necessary (shops, cafes, pubs, restaurantes…). The house was outside of the village but close enough and within walking distance (by day).
We had most days of very nice weather, and a few with rain. The rainy days were spent resting and reading in the living room with beautiful views…
We went for 3 spins on the bikes during the week:
Falcarragh – N56 – R257 – Bloody Foreland Parking – Brinlack – R257 – R258 – N56 – R251 with views over Errigal Mountain– R256 in “Muckish Mountains” – Falcarragh.
The “national roads” are quite in good condition and very pleasant with the bikes, with some nice twisties and everything to enjoy a motorbike spin. The secondary roads can be quite bumpy for our sport bikes, but if you take your time, you can enjoy them anyway with any kind of bike. The landscapes are amazing, with turf fields all around, mountains and seaviews. If I had to compare with somewhere else I’d say it is much like the Connemara but with more houses around (but it’s still very rural!).
Bloody Foreland Parking
This year Ireland was commemorating 100 years of the Easter Rising, and the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which led to the Irish Independence in 1922 and the separation in 2 of the island of Ireland.
In Memory of the victims of the Great Famine
Turf field
The second ride-out was to go down to see the famous Slieve League cliffs.
They are not as famous as the Cliffs of Moher in co. Clare, but they are not less nice either, and for sure they are less touristic.
We took the N56 down, the road is mint, except for some roadworks that were on to retarmac at one point, which would cause traffic jam. So I guess next year it will be perfect! We took that road down to Killybegs and then the R263 to Carrigan Head. There is a carpark where you can park and proceed walking, as there is a fence for cows and sheeps, BUT you can open the fence and proceed with the bike (or car) up to the end of the road, on the cliffs themselves where there is some room to park. Just make sure you close the fence after you.
If you decide to go up walking, it is very nice also, but not quite practical with the motorbike gear on, so it is better to go to the end with the bikes (unlike ourselves, although I had read that we could take the bikes to the end on the very useful website www.roadtrooper.com we didn’t follow the advice, and we would have arrived to the cliffs a little bit less tired… ). At the end of the road, there is a truck with some refreshments and icecreams. We had brought our sandwiches, so we just bought some cans and later treated ourselves with a nice icecream in the sun with beautiful views…
The cliffs are beautiful, the sun was shining and we also had some amazing views over the rest of the coastline and several surrounding islands. I had a short walk up the cliffs. The walk proceeds further up but I went back soon as I was already tired with the first part of the walk and also because the temperature varied 10 degrees every time a cloud would get passed the sun…
So we went back to the bikes after enjoying the cliffs, and took the R263 again and then on the left in Carrick, to Glencolumbkill, and then the R230 that brings you back to the N56 just before Ardara. That part of the itinerary was not ideal for our bikes as it was quite bumpy. Though the landscapes around were amazing, particularly when going over the Valley that can be seen from Glengesh Pass.
The third ride-out was to go to Horn Head, which is a short way from Falcarragh, the weather that day started quite cloudy and we didn’t feel like going for a long spin…
The last part is quite bumpy, but the landscapes are beautiful, with green and brown fields and mountains that drown into the ocean.
We had some time to enjoy the view, come back and stop in Dunfahagany for lunch, and after lunch it started to rain..
The last “spin” was actually a walk down to Falcarragh beach. Unfortunately I didn’t take the camera, the sun was shining and this beach is just amazing, with beautiful views to Tory Island from a white sand beach and sand dunes covered with grass. We will have to come back…
After one week enjoying co. Donegal, on 22nd of May it was time to go back home. Just when we were ready to go, it started to rain… So we waited for a while until it rained less, and went. All the way down we had a mix of showers and sun, and also some hail… and for sure more than one rainbows…
In the last filling station close to Portlaoise, my bike stalled. It looked like the battery had enough. A nice lad helped us pushing to start it again…
After some more rain, we finally got home around 8pm, quite tired with the tension of riding in the rain. Juan put my bike in the garage and we heard some “clong” and some bike part fell on the ground… It was the counterweight of the right handlebar :O
But at least we had arrived!!!
V’s
Road Races
Holidays 2016 – NorthWest 200
Our Holidays 2016 started HERE.
On Tuesday it was the first Practice day of the NorthWest 200.
We woke up early, had breakfast and went to the circuit following the GPS, which took us through the Dark Hedges- not a soul there at that time of the day.
We arrived to the circuit and parked on the car park of the Golf next to the paddock. We went to the paddock where we had a look at the bikes of all the different teams. There were also a few racers who were getting prepared: Hutchy, Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, William Dunlop, Maria Costello, etc… After a first round we tried to find Antonio Maeso, who was back to a road race since his accident 2 years ago at the TT, where he almost lost his knee.
For who doesn’t know who is Antonio Maeso, he is one of the very few Spanish riders who raced in the Isle of Man since the FEM doesn’t give anymore licenses to race there since Santi Herrero fatal accident there in 1970. Antonio races under English license. You can follow him on his website: http://www.maeso.eu/
Antonio Maeso – Thursday practice
After asking around and another round we finally saw him going through the technical verifications with the bike, and we followed him to his stand to say hello and wish him good luck.
After a while they closed the road and we went to the grandstand from the paddock, which is at the end of the finish straight, in front of 2 bends. Though from there we couldn’t see the starting grid.
The day was sunny with some cloud from time to time, and this seaside breeze a little fresh, enough to keep my jacket on and put my hat on (down on ground level it was much warmer).
Practice time started with the Newcomers first (if I remember well)- the ones who never participated before- in reduced groups behind a leader, usually a confirmed racer. Then followed with Supersport, Superbike, Supertwin and finally Superstock.
Malachi Mitchell-Thomas
Michael Rutter
The Marshals
Michael Dunlop
The day went on without any incident until 2 minutes before the end of the last practice, which was ended with a red flag. The accident involved Ben Wilson, who resulted with a bad leg injury (when publishing this report, he is still with rehab).
We went back to the paddock and after a round to see if to have a bite there or outside, we decided to go back to the parking, take the bike and go to Coleraine for a bite, then buy some food and back.
On Thursday, the morning was for Practice and the afternoon for races. We left early to take seat before the road closure. As the ticket gave access to any grandstand around the circuit, we went to Metropole bend. From the grandstand we have a good view over Metropole corner, then a short fast straight and then farer away, “Church Corner”. We stayed there all day, taking pics during Practice, that ended around 2.15pm.
Hutchy
William Dunlop
Michael Dunlop
Ryan Farquhar
They opened the road then for about 3 hours. We took advantage to walk around the merchandising stands and buy some drink (which was less expensive than in the paddock, but we had brought our food anyway). When the race hour got closer, the grandstand started to fill quickly. Until it was completely full, not an empty seat.
They started with the Supersport race, which was quite intense, with many overtaking on the long straights of the circuit. We could follow the action on the big screen. Alastair Seeley won the race, beating Robert Dunlop record, with 16 NW200 races wins.
Then started the Supertwin race, which was stopped after 2 laps because of a fire in the garden of a house close to the circuit (a burnt barbecue…), and the firefighters had to act quickly.
Ryan Farquhar & Dani Cooper
Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, Adam McLean, James Cowtown, Danny Webb 
Around 7.45pm the riders were on the grid again for a 4 laps race (I have no pics of the second part as the sun was too low for my camera).
After 2 intense laps with many overtaking between Ryan Farquhar and Dani Cooper, there were red flags out and the ambulance went out. Ryan Farquhar had fallen and Dani Cooper couldn’t avoid him. Both ended up in the hospital, Ryan with many injuries, including broken pelvis and ribs and some bad internal injury, and Dani with a shoulder injury. (When publishing this report, Dani is fit again, but Ryan has been through very tough moments and with a long way to full recovery. But he is quite optimistic and confirmed that his team will be racing next year).
After a long while without information, and with too many people walking around the circuit while the road was still closed, we were finally able to get back to the bike and get out when road opened again. There was a beautiful sunset on the ocean, but spirits were too low for taking pictures…
Saturday was the big day, Race day. We woke up early and arrived to the circuit around 8.00am. The roads closed at 9.30am so we went for a walk around the paddock.
If you go to the NW200 with your bike, think about taking something to put under the sidestand of your bike, some car parks are not for bikes… the Golf parking is part of the Golf, so it’s grass all around, and it’s better to be ready…
The teams were very busy and there was a long queue for the bikes technical verifications.
Then we went to the Grandstand we had booked for the Saturday.
With the “Grandstand” pass you can access to any grandstand around the circuit on Tuesday and Thursday, without a reserved seat, first arrived, first served. Then on Saturday you have your seat booked on the grandstand you chose. We were on the so-called “Start-Finish” grandstand, where you can only see the Starting grid (and the podium if you are enough on the right side), as the “Finish” line is far behind big containers with all the Television, Race control and so, so we can’t see it bar on screen. (I think there is no actual grandstand in front of the Finish line).
We were on the second row from the bottom, which is quite down taking into account that on the front of the grandstand, there is the area reserved for disabled persons, with wheelchairs, and depending on where you are, you can’t see too well the starting grid. But we had a good sight on the podium.
If you chose this grandstand, it is better to take some row from the 4th row and up, and from the middle to the right (facing the podium). But not too much on the right hand side if you want to see well the starting grid… When you book the tickets it’s impossible to see what’s the view from the seat.
The day was very sunny still, but there was a chilly breeze coming under the seats on the feet (where the sun didn’t get). But we did not complain, this was the first NW200 with sunshine in 10 years…
They finally closed the road and the races started. The truth is that watching the start is really impressive, all the grandstand is vibrating with the roaring of the engines, thrilling. The rest of the races is mainly seen on the screen and the small bit when they go through the double bent at the end of the finish line, this is a nice view when they are all grouped together, and it can be quite “funny” when some rider misses the bend and does some motocross…
Also it is interesting to see how the teams and the racers get prepared before the start.
Michael Dunlop
In any case, personally I would recommend to book another grandstand for the Saturday, where there is more action, and maybe watch the Thursday afternoon races from this one (though I guess they fill in quite early for Thursday, and it might be quite boring to follow all practice from that grandstand on Thursday morning).
Anyway the races were quite intense, particularly the Superstock one. There was some red flag and some delay out of the organisation hands, but the first 3 races (Supersport, Superstock and Superbike) were very interesting and nice to follow (on screen).
Superstock Podium- Hutchy, Hickman, Seeley
The fourth one, the Supertwin one, was stopped with a red flag. The first two racers had gone through the bends before us, and the 3rd one, the young fella Malachi Mitchell-Thomas did not follow. Then we saw Jeremy Mc Williams, who was in 4th, coming in and get directly into boxes after the red flag. Something might have happened with Malachi 🙁 . They informed that there was an incident and that the medical team was working there. It lasted quite a good while and it was worrying. We were together with the Spanish couple we had met at Joey’s Bar on Wednesday. After a good while they informed that the rider involved in the accident did not survive to his injuries 🙁 . They didn’t give the name at that moment but we knew too well who it was 🙁 .
Malachi was 20 years old, he came to racing through Supermoto, and had made his road racing debut in 2014. In 2015 he won the Manx Grand Prix Senior. In 2016 he had a very good season start on the Irish roads, with 2nd in Supertwin, winning in Supersport and Superbike and finishing 2nd of the Grand Final at the Mid-Antrim. Then in Tandragee he followed with a 2nd in Supertwin, 3rd in Supersport, 3rd in the Open/Superbike non championship and 3rd in the Superbike/Open championship. And in Cookstown, he won the Supertwin, finished 3rd in the first Superbike race and 2nd in the second Superbike race. At the beginning of the season he had signed a contract with Cookstown Burrows Engineering Racing Team, and his youth and happy smile in the paddock had already left a big impression on the fans all over Ireland.
This sport gives so many sensations, but sometimes it’s so cruel. He was 20 years old… We will have to think that he went while realising his dream and being happy. Rest in Peace Malachi.
They cancelled the 2 remaining races, and after a short wait for most people to leave, we also went back to the bike, with very low spirit.
Personally and without taking into account the circumstances of the race day ending, if you have to go to only one road race in Ireland, this is not the one I would recommend. At least not if you want to have a taste of the atmosphere of all other road races of the Island. It is much more like a short circuit race from a spectator point of view, you are quite further away from the action (though much closer than in most circuits!), and it’s not cheap either. Well, it’s not compulsory to take a grandstand seat, you can walk and seat around the circuit for free outside of the grandstands, but then you have to know and chose well where to spectate from, as the circuit is very long and it is complicated to move to another place once roads are closed.
The good thing is that you can see most of the most famous road racers and some BSB racers, who usually do the TT (Mc Guinness, Hutchy, Hickman, Dunlops, …), and most don’t do the “National” ones, and maybe have less pressure than in the Isle of Man, being more accessible.
At the end of the season maybe I will be able to give a broader opinion on which race I would recommend best in case of only going to one…
V’s
Trips
Holidays 2016: Antrim Coast and Glens
This year we had our holidays in May. The plan was to spend both weeks in Ireland, one in Northern Ireland, and the other in the North of Republic of Ireland, Donegal. We planned the dates to coincide with the NorthWest200.
We left on a Sunday morning after a day to rest a little and prepare everything. With the stuffs packed the day before (for the first time in many years), we had breakfast with no rush, and while I finished packing and put some order at home, Juan was mounting the luggage on the motorbikes.
Finally we left around 10am. Around 10.15, we stopped to fill in the tanks a few kilometres away. After filling, I want to turn on the bike. Nothing happens. I have the dziiiiiii noise when I turn on the key, but when I push the starter button it makes tactactac… and doesn’t start. We had something similar happening a few years ago in Cuenca (Spain), and by then it was my anti-theft chain under the seat that was producing a short circuit with some cable and blew the fuse.
We took out the chain, and after a while, the bike started again, and we finally left around 10.40, close to 11.00am, our usual time lol . We went on the motorway most of the way, with 3 or 4 stops to fill the tank and/or eat/drink. At every single stop the bike started without any problem. Just before 6.00pm and 520km later, we arrived to our destination, in Armoy, where we would spend our first week, in the same place where we stayed during our honeymoon travel.
After unloading all our stuffs, we thought about going for dinner in Ballycastle, on the coast. I turned on the key, tried to start, but then again, NOTHING happened. Again the same problem! After checking for a while all cables and fuses, we decided to leave it to the next day and go for dinner… walking, as I didn’t have a bike and Juan’s is single seater since he changed the exhausts… So there we went…
After dinner and buying some basic stuffs in Armoy’s shop, we went back. On the way back I thought that when we turn on the bike, the lights are on, and lately we had a problem with a connector of the lights. So maybe this had something to do. So we would try to turn on with full beam lights. When back to the bike, while I was looking for a torch, I heard the bike started 🙂 . Well then, the problem is not solved but it looks like the bike starts from time to time. If not, we have a problem as we are 35km away from the NorthWest200 which we came to see, and public transport is “kind of” limited around… So let’s see what’s happening next. This is the end of a first day full of surprises, we have no clue why the bike stopped, why it started again close to home and on the way, and why not now. No logical explanation but at least we made it there, this might be “The Luck of the Irish”…
The next day we took our time to sleep as the bike should start, and planned to go for breakfast in Armoy. Juan tries to start the bike, but the battery sounds weak and the bike doesn’t start. Now we have 2 problems, the whatever problem and the battery that now is weak for asking more than usual…
Finally it started and we went to Armoy but the place where we wanted to have breakfast was closed. So we followed to Ballycastle, fingers crossed that the bike still starts. We had breakfast in the café of the hotel in the sea front.
We went back to the accommodation to take a bagpack and nets and went to Coleraine to pick up the NorthWest200 tickets. I forgot to take the indications to get to the ticket office, and for some reason I thought it was in Coleraine, on the road to Portrush (the circuit is a triangle connecting Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush), and it is quite long (not fit for walking it!). After a few loops around Coleraine, we stopped to ask to a lad with a Joey Dunlop tee-shirt, for sure he would know! We followed the indications, and we had to stop again for asking. But we were not far away as we were surrounded by protection bales, grandstands and signs on next chicanes and bends 😉 . Well at last we found the ticket office (which is in Portrush, not in Coleraine) and picked up the tickets. We also asked about the parking facilities and if they knew about any Suzuki dealer around, but were told to look on the internet… On the walk back to the bikes I almost bumped into a bearded man on a mini electric bike… it was Bruce Anstey lol .
We asked to 2 men about the dealer, and they told us to ask to a man with a van selling road racing stuffs. He was very kind to look into the program for the name and address of the Suzuki dealer who sponsors the NW, in Ballymoney, and told us that it was just in front of Joey’s Bar, so we couldn’t miss it!
I forgot to mention that there was a heatwave over Ireland, that had started the previous day, we were with short sleeves at 7.00pm, which is not usual in Ireland, less in May. And for some reason, this was the first time ever that we go on holidays without our summer gloves. And the winter gloves, mainly in the villages, were becoming quite unbearable.
We arrived to Ballymoney and went straight to Joey’s Bar and yes, just in front of the bar there was that huge Suzuki and Ducati dealer: Millsport Motorcycles. We got in and explained the problem, and they told us to leave the key and that a mechanics would have a look after lunch time.
So we took advantage to go for some refreshments at Joey’s Bar, while looking at Joey Dunlop’s RC30. After a coke and cleaning the visors (that’s the problem with the heat, all insects are flying to their death on the bikers visors), I was going for a second round when I saw by the window that a mechanics was taking down my bike back to the yard. So there we went and the mechanics told us that this was not an electrical problem, nor a battery problem. This was the starter motor that got stuck from time to time. He showed us how to unblock it if it happened again. They couldn’t change it as they didn’t have the spare part, but he told us that it could wait for us to be back home, as the bike would not let us down for that, we could follow with our trip without worries.
As they didn’t want any money for the diagnostic and the solution, we bought each a pair of summer gloves, as it was quite dangerous to ride like this anyway. I also had to take off the jacket lining. Then back to the bikes we stayed a while chatting with more people from the dealer who were happy to see a SV with 145.000km 😉 , they probably don’t see one everyday.
Then we went for a place to eat, which we didn’t find in Ballymoney so we went back to Ballycastle, where we had a fish&chips on a terrace on the seafront. Then we had some rest on the seaside, there were bikers and bikes everywhere. We did some basic shopping for the night and the following day (so basic that we forgot half of the stuff) and went back to the accommodation, happy for having the bike problem temporarily solved.
Tuesday was the first day of Practice of the NorthWest 200. For the NW 200 report, it’s HERE. Tuesday was Practice day, Thursday was Practice in the morning and Racing in the afternoon, and Saturday was Race day all day.
On Wednesday we had planned to go back to the Ballymoney dealer to change the back tyre of Juan’s bike. We didn’t change it before going on holidays as we knew that it would get squared on our way after 500km of straight line…
We couldn’t wake up early but we finally made it to Ballymoney “between showers”, without getting wet. While they were changing the tyre we had a look around the shop for the bikes, and I sat on the new so-called SV, which has so few left of mine. It looks half mine, the tank looks half of it (probably more comfortable?), and the frame is the Gladius’. The back seat is very small, probably even less comfortable than mine. All has been lost of the nice wasp silhouette of the original SV. The only positive thing in my opinion is that it has a lower and narrower seat, so I get better to the ground… But I defo keep mine! They also had one beautiful original SV for sale, in blue and white painting, beautiful. If I needed a second bike I would buy it straight away!
Then we went to Joey’s Bar for some refreshment, sitting outside in the sun. After a good while and for the second round, Juan came back with a Spanish couple from Tenerife, Laura & Víctor, who were coming to the NorthWest200 for the second year in a row and were also taking some time to visit Ireland. We stayed there chatting for quite a while and another round of 0.0’. Until we decided that it was time for a bite. You might not believe it but in the meantime in the sun, I got some suntan… or got a little bit sunburnt actually… After picking the bike we went to the parking in front of the museum, and tried a café next, but they only had sandwiches and similar. But the very nice barmaid told us to go to the main street, that there were plenty of places to eat properly. So we ended up the 4 of us in a pub, where we spent a good while.
Then we went back to the car park to say goodbye, and a group of French bikers arrived, and we started to chat also. They also came for the NorthWest200 for the second year in a row. They wanted to go to the museum but it was closed by then (I think it was already 6.00pm…), so finally they headed to Joey’s Bar and we said goodbye to Víctor and Laura.
Friday was also a sunny day. After a quiet breakfast we decided to take advantage of this glorious sunny day to go for a spin with the bikes. At the dealer, a client had advised us to take the coast road from Cushendal and anticlockwise. So I prepared an itinerary from Armoy to get to Cushendal through the nicest way. The truth is that there is a mount above Armoy that always grabbed my attention, and I was curious to know what was up there. So I checked the map and planned the itinerary through that mount.
And there we went: the fact is that the itinerary was also well indicated on the road, even though it was easy to find with the map. We soon found a narrow road in the middle of the mountain, surrounded with brown turf fields, and not much more. The road was good but we had to be careful with some loose gravel from time to time. Then the road went through a softwood, and then more turf fields. In Ireland they still use the turf as a fuel, it is taken out of the soil, cut in long and narrow prisms and let on the ground to dry.
We then stopped for enjoying beautiful view over the valley.
On the way down we found sheeps and lambs on the road, and then the coast on the horizon. The way down came quite abruptly to be honest, and we would find again this kind of roads of very sharp slopes… why make the road longer with bends… 😉
We arrived to Cushendal and to a carpark after the village, then went back to the village for a second breakfast (on that side they call the Irish Breakfast “Ulster Fry” but it’s much the same kind of nice full breakfast!) on the terrace of a hotel. Next to us was another biker who started to chat with us and ended up giving us many tips on roads to take that day and also in Donegal for the following week… Then we chatted with another biker who was on a trip with his son, and finally we headed for the road again.
We followed the advice and proceeded to Cushendun and then to Torr Head. The view from the road was amazing, the road is narrow but in very good condition (only some loose gravel from time to time), with sharp slopes upwards and downwards, and hardly any traffic. There are many places to stop to take pics without obstructing the scarce traffic, and in some others we had to abandon the idea of taking pics as it was impossible to park the bikes without them falling…
We tried our way to Torr Head, but as we arrived to the “village”, a driver coming that way informed us that the road was quite bumpy and bad for our bikes. So we parked the bikes and went for a short walk to check… We did well, there were a series of bends on a sharp slope, that looked quite worse than the Stelvio… So we took a few pics of the beautiful views and followed suit…
Then our “guide” had recommended to go to Balintoy Harbour, and so we did. It is very small but with a large car park and a bar with a terrace, ideal for the bikers rest with great views. We just took some pics and went away. There were bikers everywhere there too.
We went back to the main coastal road, which is very nice but with much more traffic, and a few bikers whom I don’t know how they are still alive with that kind of riding, overtaking on upward slopes without any visibility and other similar dangerous riding.
The idea was to go to Portrush, and take some pics around the circuit and then go to the paddock. We didn’t think that EVERYBODY else had exactly the same idea… All around the circuit and the starting grid straight were packed with bikes and cars in both ways. We were lucky and found to park both bikes just in front of the podium.
We left the bikes there and went for a walk around the paddock. Many racers were there: Dean Harrison, Michael Rutter, Davy Morgan, Alastair Seeley, Lee Johnson, Michael Dunlop and then Hutchy signing autographs. I also took advantage to buy Liam Beckett’s book, “Full Throttle”, about him Robert Dunlop. A book I highly recommend.
After a first round we stopped for a refreshment next to our neighbours from the accommodation, who were a very nice couple and who happened to be friends with Tyco BMW team owner. But after another while chatting with an old man who couldn’t stop criticising every single racer, we left for another round. It was then after 7.00pm and we went back to rest.
Sunday was farewell time, we said goodbye to the nice couple, who offered us a CD from the music band where he used to sing/play.
While I was still packing, Juan was trying to put the luggage on the bikes while he was chatting with everybody who was stopping to talk about the races 😉 . Finally, as usual, we left at 11.00am, overpacked, mainly Juan. We just saw that my topbox rack was sometimes touching the bike back tail, probably for a combination of overweight and bumpy roads, so we took things out of the topbox and put them mainly in Juan’s luggage… so he was now so overpacked that he could hardly incline in the bends and I had to wait for him after each roundabout lol .
We went westward, to the Northern-West part of the Republic of Ireland. We had booked a self-catering in Falcarragh, co. Donegal. We followed the GPS so didn’t get lost. We came across a rally of Classic trucks, very nice, during a few kilometres.
We stopped by a chance in a very nice teashop after the village of Kilmacrenan, where they served full breakfast until late. They were beautifully maintained thatched cottages, and we could enjoy a full breakfast under Donegal sun.
There was a fresh breeze but it was very nice in the sun.
As it was still early we took our time for breakfast as we had said we’d arrive at 5.00pm…
Finally, after a last road with nice twisties and beautiful views, we arrived to the selfcatering, much earlier but the nice couple was already there finishing the cleaning and painting and we chatted with them a good while.
The place was very nice, with incredible views to the sea and Tory Island, with a nice terrace to enjoy the sun in front of the bikes and with the sea at the back.
A perfect way to start our second week of holidays…
Road Races
Cookstown 100 -2016
For May Bank holiday week-end I was celebrating my birthday. And nothing better than going to a road race to celebrate it. 🙂
So we had taken our Friday off, and that week-end was Cookstown 100 road race, in Northern Ireland, so there we went.
We left on Friday morning, as early as possible, after searching all the house for our map of Ireland which came with us everywhere since 2013… without success. It just disappeared. Nothing, so as we still have the Tom Tom, it will do for the week-end.
After a few hours of car driving on straight, boring but quite practical roads, we arrived in Moy where we had booked a b&b (having decided to go 1 month before, it’s the nearest we found). We had our sandwiches and left our luggage and went to Cookstown.
For once I hadn’t checked where the circuit was, and it resulted that it is not in Cookstown, but in Orritor, a few miles away. But we were lucky as we saw a panel indicating “Orritor circuit road closed for racing”, so I put Orritor in our TomTom and followed it.
When we arrived the road was already closed, and there was no car park at that entrance (car park is usually a field graciously let by some farmer around during the racing week-end), so we turned back and parked along the road with the other cars, and walked back to the circuit.
When we arrived with the car they were running Classics practice, and by the time we walked back they had started with 600/Supersport practice. We arrived through the end of the start/finish straight line, and the riders arrived at an incredible speed there, thrilling.
We could walk up to the paddock through a protected path on the outside of the circuit. We arrived there after the end of 600 practice. The paddock was divided in 2, a small part on the outside of the circuit, where you could find the village’s shop (where we bought the program), and most important: the pub 😉 . The other part of the paddock was on the inside of the circuit.
Between 2 practices, we crossed the circuit to the grandstand in front of the pub, and from there we watched the rest of practice time and the first 2 races that were ran late afternoon.
I took pictures from the fence, down the grandstand, as from the grandstand the action was too far away for my lens.
Derek Mc Gee
Paul Jordan
William Dunlop
Dan Kneen
Michal Dokoupil
Derek Sheils
Andy Farrell
Malachi Mitchell-Thomas D.E.P. 🙁
When they were going to start the second race, it was already getting late, and the temperature was lower. But after the 2 warm-up laps, they had to delay the race UNTIL A CLOUD WOULD GET IN FRONT OF THE SUN, as the sun was too low and it was making it dangerous on a back part of the circuit. Unbelievable! 😉 The race finally started but was red flagged on the first lap after a rider high sided on the corner in front of the pub. He was unhurt but the race was finally cancelled and postponed to the next day.
After the road opened, we went to the pub to have an early dinner. There were having dinner the whole Mar-Train team with their rider Dan Keen, and at another table, Maria Costello. That’s not every day you can say you had dinner with those people (around! 😉 ).
After dinner and with the village now quite quiet, we had a walk around the paddock, to see if we could find Andy Farrell’s team. Everybody was already in their vans and motorhomes, and we couldn’t figure out where they were, but they saw us and invited us for a chat. We had a nice and funny moment there, as the first time, a pleasure to talk to Andy and his team again. We left early as the car would still be parked on the roadside and would probably be on its own now. Though we first bought some nice Andy’s team tee-shirts. Most road racers have few means to run their season, and any kind of help is much welcome.
We went back to the car, and it was now on its own, and on top of a hill… which could be quite dangerous at dusk/night (of course we didn’t realise it when we parked it with all the other cars around).
After a good night sleep at the b&b, we woke up for Irish breakfast, with another biker from Wales, Max, who also came for the races, and we went to the circuit.
Now the circuit was indicated in Cookstown so we followed the signs and arrived through another road. The friendly people of the organisation indicated where to park (it was in a farm) and also 2 spots to watch the races.
Though we came back to the grandstand of the previous day, which was better to take pics. We were silly enough to leave our fold-away chairs in the car, and of course, on our way to the grandstand, it started raining a little, just enough to get the grandstand wet… we are still quite newcomers for road racing spectators basic outfit LOL. Though our grandstand neighbour, a nice man, lent us a big plastic bag to sit on 🙂 .
The day started with a short blessing, thanking God and asking for his protection to all people taking part. It was quite unusual for us, but it was very nice and natural. Then the racing day started.
For the first race the road was still a little bit damp. It was the 600 Invitation that doesn’t count for Championship. I spent my day between the grandstand watching the races, and down at the fence, taking pictures, when someone would leave some spare room during some of the races.
I realised that I am not able to take pics and follow the race at once. I enjoy a lot taking pics, but then I miss the race action. And also I enjoy so much watching the races… It’s so thrilling. So the ideal would be to take pics during practice and just enjoy the races. Though sometimes I just can’t help taking the camera out 😉 .
William Dunlop
Derek Sheils
Dan Kneen
The 125/Moto3 race was so good to watch, Paul Jordan was on fire. Incredible the pace at which he would go through that bend. And I almost had a heart attack during the Superbike race. The top riders would just fly through that bend, so close to the protection hedge and wheeling out of the bend, just thrilling. I tried to take some video, but it just doesn’t reflect the speed and the action. Still have to work my video skills also lol.
On the fifth lap I was asking how many laps are left because it was just too much action for me 😀 . Juan told me I was shouting, and our neighbour might have thought I was mad or something LOL.
I spent the Supertwins race taking pics at the fence, so I didn’t follow too much of the action, but I just love so much the heavenly sound of the twins 🙂 .
4 women riders were taking part in Cookstown 100 races: Melissa Kennedy in 125/Moto3, Yvonne Montgomery inSupport with a GSXR600 and in 400cc with a Kawa, Maria Costello in Supertwins and Veronika Hancocyova (from Czech Republic) with a Supertwin in Supertwin and Support.
Yvonne Montgomery
Veronika Hancocyova
Maria Costello
The day went on fast, with an accident in our bent, with the rider injured but no broken bones according to the following day updates. Wishing him a prompt and full recovery.
Before Classics race we started to come back to the car. We had to run a little between races, but that way we could try the other 2 grandstands. We watched the 400cc race from the last grandstand before the car park, it’s incredible how fast can go those small (and not too young) machines!
We spent two incredible days, with the best organisation! Many thanks to the Club, the riders for such a thrilling performance, and to the medical team for taking care of them. We will be back for sure!
A very happy birthday at the races!
Ride outs
Full Irish Breakfast
After a few months of forced break between holidays, moving home and repeated storms, that Sunday 14th of February, we decided to change the routine and nothing better than to go for a Real breakfast in a nice place we found in Kinsale, which is perfect because they serve Irish Breakfast all day long, so we can still go there for breakfast even if we get up late 😉 .
So we got up, not that late, and as it was not raining and they had forecasted a dry day, we decided to go with the bike. Only with mine, the roads are still in bad conditions after so much rain, and not very convenient for the SP2 suspensions.
So after putting on our textile wear (Juan was wearing for the first time a warm jacket and boots), at about 10am we took the bike and were on the road again.
Our new home is a little bit further away from Kinsale, though the road is good. I got a little bit cold in the first kilometres of motorway. When we took the bike out it started raining slightly, but it stopped after a few minutes, and the sun appeared to warm us up a little.
The road to Kinsale is nice, I enjoyed the sun and the landscape, and after a while we arrived to Kinsale.
So we went for breakfast, full Irish Breakfast of course, with egg, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomato, black and white pudding, toasts, butter and jam. With tea for me and coffee for Juan.
After a good while with our breakfast, Juan told me that he did not want to go back home, nor to go for a walk, so we stayed there with another tea/hot chocolate…
When we finished, he still did not want to go back home (to be precise, “go back home” meant by then having to unpack boxes and stuffs so that we could start cooking in the new home… ).
Well, then we would go on with the ride-out, and go back later… So I suggested to go to “Old Head of Kinsale”, where we went for our first ride-out last year in May.
So there we went. The road is very nice. Though at that time of the year and with all the rain we had during winter (one storm after the other, no low temperature, but unusually heavy and followed rainfalls), we have to be very careful as the potholes have gone even bigger and close to the farms the tractors leave the road very dirty with mud (and others…)…
When we got to the cross indicating “Old Head”, we found ourselves with the road closed, a Garda diverting traffic, and many many people, men, women and children walking on the road. There was a “Fun Walk” organised to collect funds for Charity, that was taking the same path as we wanted to Old Head. The Garda told us that we could get to Old Head taking a diversion to the left further up the road, but maybe because we were concentrated in not riding over anybody, we missed the cross. So we followed suit and after a good while, the road got quite bad and we decided to go back.
At last we ended up taking a road we already took many times, along the Ocean coast and with several nice beaches. On the lower part of the road, the beach had invaded the road (in spite of the dunes) which was covered with sand and even pebbles. We stopped further up, above a beach. There were many surfers.
The sun was shining but the wind was quite strong, so the temperature was not too high. We stayed there for a while, enjoying the sunshine in our faces, and listening to the relaxing sound of the ocean waves, then we went.
We followed the road to Timoleague, where we had been in one of the last November ride-outs.
And as we were there, I suggested we could go to the nice beach of Courtmacsherry, and from there we would start the way back home.
Courtmachserry was very unprotected from the wind, and it was not too warm. So we did not stay too long. We decided to go back home through the shorter way, through Bandon. Just before leaving the village, we got across 2 bikers. Juan tells me “the first bike wasn’t Jim?”. I hadn’t seen it (I may have been looking the other way…). And while he was telling me, another bike came by, a green Kawasaki… Finbarr! We beeped… he saw us and slowed down. So we turned around to catch them. They stopped in the hotel of the village, which has such a welcoming chimney 🙂 . That’s so funny to bump into them! They had planned to go to a Charity Run, but arrived too late, so they just went for a ride-out. They were 4 bikes, one who had come down from Galway for the day.
So we all went for teas and coffees while we updated ourselves on the past months and chatted about holidays plans.
After a good while enjoying the warm atmosphere of the pub and the company, we finally had to leave…
And of course, we followed the group and went back… through the longest way, through where we came from… and with a short stop in Kinsale.
The sun was still shining but we now could now see very dark clouds on the horizon…
At the first raindrops we thought that it was a good time to go back… we said goodbye and all left.
All in all, we arrived back home at about 5pm, quite tired but we can confirm that we had completely disconnected from routine… that’s what it was all about.
A Full Irish Breakfast! 😉
V’s
Ride outs
Beara Peninsula
On Sunday 30th of August we went for a ride out with the bikes, as they had forecasted no rain and there was no road race on the calendar. The idea was to go to Beara Peninsula, the one just before the famous and very touristic “Ring of Kerry”.
The peninsula ends with an island, “Dursey Island”: we had been there with the car on the first August week-end (and the truth is that those roads are much more enjoyable with the bikes!).
From Dursey Island
Dursey Island
View over Kerry Peninsula “Ring of Kerry”
The first part of the road is a large and good national road, and then it’s a secondary road but also quite good.
On the first part, still not very far from Cork, there is a very good section, recently paved, with beautiful views over “Iniscarra Reservoir”. That morning the lake was completely still, with amazing reflections. We stopped to take pictures of course!
Close to Kenmare we found a very nice place to eat our sandwiches. There also the water was still and with beautiful reflections.
After the sandwiches we went on entering to the peninsula from the North, going along the coast and with views to Kerry peninsula (where are the highest Irish mountains, over 1000 metres high, right next to the ocean).
We took the first road on the left, the R574 that goes through “Healy Pass”. This road is amazing, with almost no traffic, beautiful views to “Glanmore Lake”, over the Ring of Kerry, and of the mountains around us.
We stopped several times to take pictures and enjoy the silence, the views and the PEACE it radiates. At the first stop we were parked close to the entrance of a garden with a man mowing his lawn. He looked happy that we were taking pictures of the views from his house 🙂 .
After getting to the south part of the road and as we were tired, we decided to go back home instead of following to Dursey Island.
I think that when the good season is back we will have to plan a full week-end with a stay overnight in B&B, because there is so much to see and the roads are very nice.
So we went back through Glengarrif and then we took the R584 which goes to Gougane Barra (see post about “Colourful ride out”), with many corners, and some bumpy sections.
Anyway in general I think that most secondary roads in Ireland are not for speeding… but more like to enjoy the scenery…
We got back home a little tired but happy.
Beara Peninsula, we will have to come back…
V’s
Road Races
2016 Road Racing Calendar
The 2016 calendar is confirmed for Northern Ireland road races and for Isle of Man and England.
The dates for the races in the Republic of Ireland have not been officially confirmed yet by the Clubs, they are the proposals.
Update 02/12/2015: The calendar for IRRC is now confirmed.
I will update the list when confirmed.
IRELAND (NORTH and REPUBLIC) & ISLE OF MAN (chronological)
*1-2 April 2016: Mid-Antrim 150 (Clough – Ballymena – Co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
*22-23 April 2016: Tandragee 100 (Tandragee- co. Armagh- Northern Ireland)
*29-30 April 2016: Cookstown 100 (Cookstown- co. Tyrone- Northern Ireland)
*10-15 May 2016: Northwest 200 (Coleraine-Portrush-Porststewart- co. Antrim- Northern Irleand)
*28 May to 10 June 2016: Isle of Man TT (Isle of Man)
*18-19 June 2016: Kells Road Race (Crossakiel- co. Meath- Republic of Ireland)
*1-2 July 2016: Skerries 100 (Loughshinny- co. Dublin – Republic of Ireland):
http://www.loughshinnymotorcycleclub.com/
*9-10 July 2016: Walderstown “Race of the South” (co. Westmeath – Republic of Ireland)
*11-14 July 2016: Southern 100 – (Isle of Man)
*23-24 July 2016: Faugheen 50 Road Race (co. Tipperary – Republic of Ireland)
*29-30 July 2016: Armoy Road Races (Armoy – co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
*10-13 August 2016: International Ulster GP, Dundrod (co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
http://www.ulstergrandprix.net/
*10-11 September 2016: Killalane (Loughshinny- co. Dublin – Republic of Ireland)
http://www.loughshinnymotorcycleclub.com/
ENGLAND
SCARBOROUGH- OLIVER’S MOUNT CIRCUIT (North Yorkshire – England)
*Spring Cup: 16-17 April 2016
*Barry Sheene Race & Rally Festival: 23-24 April 2016
*Cock O’ the North: 18-19 June 2016
*International Gold Cup Road Races: 24-25 September 2016
http://oliversmountracing.com/
IRRC 2016
30 April- 1 May: Varsselring, Hengelo
15-16 May: Oss
20/21 June: Oostende
22-24 July: Chimay
6-7 August: Hořice
20-21 August: Imatra (Finland- new race on the calendar)
24-25 September: Frohbur
V’s
Ride outs
A touristic ride-out
On Friday Juan told me that there was a ride out planned for Saturday at noon, with the group we go for a ride out from time to time. It seemed to us that it was a little late to go out, knowing that at 5pm it’s getting dark, but anyway, it’s better late than never, and also it’s not too bad to be able to have a little more sleep on a Saturday morning 😉 .
Accuweather had planned a shower at 9.00am and then sun and cloudy. At last the 9.00am shower started at 10.00am, and then there was another one just before 11.30am. But then at 11.35 the sun showed up 🙂 so it was just in time, everything was planned perfectly! 😉
So at about 11.40 we went out with the bikes to meet with the rest of the group. It was so sunny that the sun reflected on the still wet tarmac and we could hardly see.
We met with the rest of the group, Finbarr, Jim and Brendan. And this time there was not a single GS! 😉 And after filling in the tanks, we left…
Finbarr had planned an itinerary that resulted very touristic, and the stops very interesting with many historical explanations about Ireland.
We first went through a road with large corners, that must be beautiful with autumn colours (that are already gone), and then a more narrow road but not less beautiful. We enjoyed it a lot.
The first stop was in Timoleague, where are the ruins of a Priory.
In Ireland there used to be many abbeys, churches and castles but unfortunately many suffered from the passing of time and the successive wars against the English, and are now ruins. He told us that the monasteries used to have small windows except for one room where the monks would meet to write/copy the sacred texts books, lives of saints or other books. In this priory was written “The Book of Lismore” (in 1480). The abbey was founded by Franciscans in 1240 and destroyed by fire by Cromwell’s troops in 1642.
The ruins have been converted into a cemetery, with many graves (most ancient ones) around, but also inside of what was once a chapel and the rest of the abbey.
The place is very nice, and with the sun that was shining that day, even more.
After a good while in the ruins, we went back to the bikes and didn’t go too far, to Courtmacsherry, where there is a beautiful beach and also a very welcoming hotel with pub/restaurant. There we had some lunch to recharge the batteries before going on.
We went back to Timoleague and took the R600. This road goes along the coast and is beautiful. We stopped close to a pub called “The Pink Elephant” with amazing views over the bay,
and then we stopped a few kilometres ahead with nice views at the ocean,
and we went to Kinsale where we stopped for a cup of tea.
There we were chatting with a motorcyclists couple who had coincided with Jim on the ferry back from his last trip to the continent. After tea we went to Charles Fort on Kinsale heights. Finbarr also told us some historical information about that fort.
Kinsale was the place of the famous “Battle of Kinsale” in 1601, were Spanish troupes leaded by Don Juan de Aguila, came to support the Irish troupes of Red Hugh O’Donnell and Hugh O’Neill against the English troupes of Lords Mountjoy and Carew. Unfortunately the battle was lost by the Spanish-Irish coalition.
It was getting late and darker, so the visit to the fort was left for another day.
We took the way back home, through the R600; a few kilometres after/before Kinsale is were ends/starts the “Wild Atlantic Way”, more than 2000km of scenic roads along the Atlantic coast, from North to South through the West coast.
The road from Kinsale to Cork is quite good, even if it is usually quite busy (well, for what we usually have around, everything is relative!).
It was a brilliant idea to plan the ride-out on Saturday, as on Sunday it was pissing rain until 2pm…
November the 7th : a very touristic ride-out!
V’s
Ride outs
Colourful ride out
Last Sunday, thanks to the time change and that Monday was Bank Holiday and we could have some more sleep 🙂 , we got up early to watch MotoGP. The truth is that lately we are watching very few MotoGP races as they are mostly boring. We watch some afterwards when there have been some positive comments on the race (that is to say: 5 or 6 passing in the last 3 laps…)… We prefer to keep with road racing (unfortunately very few can be followed live).
But that day there was Pedrosa pole position and as it’s almost the end of the season we decided to watch it. The race had its lot of excitement and controversy. As the controversy bores me, I’ll keep with Pedrosa’s strong race and victory, at last he got back to his best level. Fingers crossed for next season.
That said, the race and its result ended up waking us up completely, and as it was still early and the day did not look too bad, we decided to go for a ride-out.
We had to delay a few minutes the departure as a cloud decided to pour rain at that moment. But it was only a few minutes.
The idea of the day was to make the most of the ride out taking pictures of Autumn colours. I always loved them, and it is a complicated task as they “arrive” overnight and they are gone in one week or even less if there is a lot of wind or rain (both being quite usual in Cork…). So if you miss one weekend, the next there are no more leaves and no more colours…
As we don’t know yet many places here and that in Ireland there are few forests, we decided to go to a place where we went in June (report here), in Gougane Barra, about 70km and 1 hour ride from home.
The road to get there is very pleasant, the first part quite quick and then it’s a more narrow road and a little bumpy but nicely twisty. In Autumn it’s beautiful, the hedges had their autumn wear on and as it had been raining a scent of wet leaves and wood filled the air. I opened the visor to enjoy it better.
The view around the road was amazing, the mountains that in summer look like green velvet were now coloured in reddish, yellowish or orange brown, the trees along the fields became yellow and the gardens coloured in red, yellow, orange or clear green, a trees rainbow.
We stopped for a first time along the road to take a picture and went on.
With so narrow and twisty roads I can’t stop as much as I’d want to take pictures because there is no room for it (and Juan is quite happy about that 😀 ).
At last we arrived to Gougane Barra. Some trees had already lost their leaves but the colours had nothing to do with when we were there in June. The sky was mainly overcast (it actually rained a little when we stopped) and as it happens sometimes, the light was difficult for taking pictures. But I took them anyway 😉 .
After a while arrived a dozen of Porshe 911 of almost all ages and parked along the lake. It was a nice image 😉 .
When we arrived there Juan was quite hungry (it was after 10am and we had had breakfast at 7am…), and we thought we would have some Irish Breakfast on the way. But the hotel and the bar in front of the lake were both closed. So we had to wait…
After the pics session we went back (the road ends on a paying car park which is also the starting path for hiking around the park). At the next crossroad we decided to turn right to Bantry, indicated at 22km, and to stop as soon as we found some place to have breakfast. That part of the road is also very nice. We were about to stop in a pub indicating “parking at rear” but we missed the entrance and were not in a good place to turn, so we went on.
We went to Bantry, got lost in its streets. The village was crowded with cars: it seems that there was a car rally going on and it was a chaos to go around. And you won’t believe me but we couldn’t find any pub open!
Of course my bike decided that it was the best moment to give problems… My bike has one and only recurrent problem, every time it rains a lot (quite often here 😉 ), as the front mudguard is too short, some water enters in the front sparkplug hole and it stops working and the bike ends up on one cylinder only. So at low speed as when you are stuck in traffic jams, it just stops every two minutes.
As we couldn’t find a place to eat we decided to go back. We got lost again, turned back again. I had seen a pub after the last cross coming from the nice road to the main road so we tried there, but the restaurant was closed until 5.30pm. So we decided to go back to the pub we had first seen on the road going to Gougane Barra. This time we found the parking at rear and the pub was opened and served food! With all those turns and back it was already noon. We both took a lamb dish with fresh vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was quite good. Juan finished his meal with an ice-cream as usual 😉 and we went.
Now that we were not hungry anymore we could take our time again to stop to take pictures 😀 .
We stopped 2 more times. The truth is that the colours were incredible in spite of the difficult light.
We literally escaped from the second stop as there were very dark clouds rushing towards us.
At last we got back home at about 3.30pm, we just had some rain for a few minutes back on the main road, but when we arrived we were dry.
25th of October: a colourful ride out. 😉
