Ride outs, Trips
150.000 km
In January 2010, my SV and myself celebrated 100.000km together, we had covered them in less tan 5 years.
Life is like a twisty and bumpy road, and the following year, we were leaving Barcelona to go (together) to live in Paris. Although Paris is “glamour” for most people, it’s not the best place to enjoy motorbikes as it’s ALL FLAT, you have to ride for 400km before you find some twisties. So that while living there, the yearly kilometres average went down quite a bit.
In spite of not using it every day, it was when living in Paris that we went furthest away with our bikes until now:
Ireland for our Honeymoon trip –which would change our lives- (click on the pics to access to the corresponding posts)
and the following year to Czech Republic,
and Austria..
We also had some opportunities to discover a little bit of France, mainly the East part:
Reims
and Les Vosges:
area that I didn’t know at all.
In 2015 we moved again, this time to Ireland. During the first year or so, we had good opportunities to keep knowing this beautiful country, with areas we didn’t know yet, including the one where we now live:
East Cork,
West Cork,
Gougane Barra,
Beara,
The Vee,
North Cork,
And also some longer holidays to visit co. Antrim
and Donegal.
From mid-2016, the kilometres then became almost nothing, with the birth of our daughter Emma. In 2015-2016 we did about 5000km, and since then, I’d say about 500 lol .
Anyway, what’s important is not quantity but quality, and even if we didn’t take the bike as much since the 100.000km, we have discovered more distant places with very different people.
So finally, on the first Saturday of September, coming back from having breakfast in Ballyhoura Mountains,
my SV and myself celebrated our 150.000km together.
Since 2010, apart from usual servicing and tyres changing, this is what we did:
-Before leaving Barcelona, we changed the clutch. It was not giving any problem, but it was “just in case” as we didn’t know when we would find a trustful mechanic again.
-On our way to Paris, I changed for the first time the battery. We changed it again in 2017, for lack of use of the bike and probably excess of humidity around.
-For our honeymoon trip we bought a Givi topbox and Givi rigid saddle bags with SV-MOTECH frame, very handy for long trips.
-I changed the rider seat as the padding had been damaged during the ferry trip. I also changed the screen as it had been scratched in 2005, during my stay in sweet Marseille…
-When we arrived in Ireland, I had to change the exhaust seal, as it had completely fallen apart.
-The only recurrent problem I had with the bike in 150.000km was that when it rained A LOT and for a long time, some water would get into the front cylinder sparkplug cavity, and after a while the bike would run on one cylinder and stop. When we arrived in Ireland we changed the sparkplug cap. In the following long trip we did to the North, we had some rain on the way back and I had no problem. Last month on our way back from the Munster 100, Juan rode my bike for 40km under heavy rain and the bike showed no issue.
So given that I don’t use the bike too often, and that when I use it I now try to avoid rainy days, I guess we won’t have the problems for many years now. Lol
-During our Holidays 2016, the bike was refusing to start every now and then. In Ballymoney they diagnosed a fault of the starter motor and told us how to start the bike when that happened as they didn’t have the spares for repairing. When we came back Juan bought the little parts inside the starter motor and repaired it. Working perfect since.
-We removed the heating grips that stopped working a while back, and we put back the original grips. If I’m going to use the bike to do max 500km per year, I don’t think I’ll take her out when it’s too cold outside anyway LOL.
After 150.000km I’ve still no intention of letting her go, I’m still very happy with her and no recent motorbike really attracts me. So even if I only use her for 500km per year, when I do go for a spin I really enjoy every single kilometre.
So now I suppose it will take us a few year to get to celebrate 200.000km, but the objective is just enjoying with her every single kilometre, on nice twisty roads, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and with the best company!
V’s
Ride outs
Back in the saddle
After 1 year and 8 months without riding my bike because of pregnancy and then because of lack of sleep and its corresponding lack of energy, here we are with the motorbike prepared by Juan. We had planned that, if weather was good on Saturday, I would go for a spin with my bike.
On Saturday, after a full night sleep (which was brand new in the last one year and something), we woke up with a sunny morning and nice temperature, and with no wind.
After having our breakfast, Juan went for a short spin to make sure that my bike’s brakes were working fine, and then when he came back and said it was all ok, I went to put on my “biker clothes”, for the first time since July 2016!
The difference between “before Emma”, is that now, while I was dressing up, I could hear the song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…”
The big question was if I would still know how to ride a bike…
As it was the first time in a long while without riding the bike, the idea was that I would go with the bike, and Juan would follow with the car and Emma. Emma loves to go in the car.
Once we were all ready to go, I put on my helmet, and Emma found that funny, she put on her funny face and started laughing.
At last we went. Apart from a small incident in the first crossroad, when I forgot to put on first gear and went in neutral (road is going down), wondering why the bike wouldn’t work properly, then everything went back to normal and I could ride “automatically”, without having to think about it.
After a few kilometres on lovely backroads going nowhere really, we arrived in Mallow and followed the road to “Ballyhoura Mountains”.
After the snow and rain of the past few weeks, some roads had many potholes, and could be quite dirty on the tractors path. We always have to be careful.
That road is very nice, between forest and mountains covered in brownish and yellow velvet at that time of the year. The green velvet will come back later in the year.
After leaving the forest road, we stopped to take pictures of the mountains on the other side of the valley, with some remaining snow at the top. I had THAT SMILE back on my face. Emma had fallen asleep. And Juan, who was the camera keeper, also had THAT SMILE on his face.
We followed suit that road which then goes down. Until Ardpatrick, where there is a nice coffee shop where they serve a lovely Irish Breakfast until noon, and then lovely soup and sandwiches menus. It was later than noon, but they still had some food to make breakfast so Juan went for an Irish Breakfast, and I had soup and ham and cheese toasted sandwich. Emma had some of my soup and a big part of my sandwich…
Once batteries recharged, we went back, through another road which I don’t have a clue where it goes through, as we got lost on backroads and Juan finally had to turn on the GPS to avoid ending up in Tipperary lol. As most GPS in Ireland, the GPS was taking us to a main road, and at the first backroad turn, it would indicate to take the backroad instead of staying on the main road… backroads which were in quite bad conditions at that time of the year. But lovely sights though… 😉
After a few more kilometres we arrived home. It was still early as we didn’t do many kilometres, but they were enough to get that big motorbiking smile on our faces.
The next day it was Juan’s turn to go with the bike, while Emma and myself would take some rest.
So that’s the plan for now on the sunny days… To take the bike by turn. We’d just like Emma not to hate motorbikes for feeling abandoned when we go with the bikes. We’ll see if it works out! 😉
After a 20 months break, MariCel is back on her bike!
🙂
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
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
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. 😉
Ride outs
Solo ride out- October 2015
On Saturday it was solo ride out day. It doesn’t happen too often because I’m lucky enough to share most ride outs with Juan and from time to time we do some group ride outs. But that Saturday he had to work exceptionally. As we had had 2 weeks without rain and it doesn’t happen too often I thought that I should take advantage while it lasted, we are in Ireland and at the beginning of October, Indian summer will not last forever.
So I left home at about 10am with the bike.
I had planned to “visit” the small peninsula East of Cork, where we had been with the car in one occasion and that had beautiful views.
The first stop was in Rostellan Lake with nice views over the village.
The next stop was to take a picture of something I love in Ireland: the hedges along the road that get together above and form a green tunnel over the road.
The first idea was to go to “Roche’s Point”, where we had been for a sunset in July:
But I missed the junction, there was no clear indications and the indications I saw did not correspond to my map.
Apart from this cape I had no fix point where to go, just the idea to take as much as possible the road along the coast. I got lost several times, I turned around several times, once because I just crossed a small junction with a handwritten sign with some plastic protection indicating “CLIFF WALK” so I went there. The road ended up in an unpaved car park (not the best for me to move the bike around), I had to get down of the bike to turn back and park her. There was only one car parked and a tractor ploughing the field next, followed by dozens of seagulls. I went down to a sand and rocks beach with a lot of seaweed and a lot of surfer seagulls 😉 . There was also a lone fisherman in the distance.
I just stayed there for a while, enjoying the sound of the waves (and of the seagulls) and watching the seagulls play with the waves. Those places radiate Peace.
After a while I went on. The roads were not the best for my bike and after getting lost several times I finally arrived to Ballycotton. The sky had been overcast all morning with a very difficult light to take pics.
I parked the bike in the harbour where there were many fishermen. And I stayed for a while taking pics.
While I was taking pics the sun appeared and the light got much better. Though I started to have problems with one of my lenses which would not focus anymore…
I tried to get something to eat in one of the pubs but they only served sandwiches and I didn’t feel like having a sandwich so I went on with the ride.
I arrived to another village, went back, ended up in a cul de sac (not indicated) having to turn in a garden entrance and back again to the “main” road. After a while I ended up in another car park on a very nice sand beach with dunes, had to do some motocross to turn the bike, and stopped to take a few pics. It was very nice, a pity that I don’t have a clue how to get back there…
Later on I stopped in a village to fill the tank and buy some Tayto and Coke. An elderly man asked me about my bike and told me to respect her always, told me that he had an accident once when he had a bike back in the 70s and that the bushes saved his life. He told me about a good mechanics in Middleton and after a while chatting we said goodbye and I went on.
I ended up behind a tractor with a trailer full of potatoes, so full that from time to time with the (not few) potholes a potato flew away… I had to keep a safe distance until I could overtake…
At the next junction I stopped because I realised I was going the wrong way (again), so I went through a 3rd road indicating the village I had left a while ago. The road was actually quite nice, with beautiful views…
The sky was getting cloudy again and got a few raindrops. I finally arrived to a junction with a better road, which indicated Knockadoon to the right, on my map the last cape on the coast before getting back to the main road. It was not really a village but had a very small harbour and a nice cliff walk. There was nobody but me, and many noisy seagulls. I sat on a bench in front of the sea to eat my Tayto and drink my Coke. The light was bad again for pics, but still nice for the eyes. And again only the sound of the waves on the rocks, the sea was very quiet.
After a good while I went back to the bike and started the way back home. The road was much better now and I went directly to Youghal where I took the main road back home. I arrived at about 4pm, a little tired but quite happy.
I enjoyed a lot riding without a fixed goal, getting lost several times but it didn’t matter.
And I always like a lot when you meet elderly men who say that they also had a bike some day and they always happen to have had an accident. This one was lucky to be saved by the bushes but others would tell you a list of all the broken bones they had then. It happened often to us in Spain and it happens also in Ireland 😉 .
I’m not riding solo very often and I missed sharing the “adventures”, but I had a great time.
I hope the bad weather will take some time to arrive and that we will have time to go for a few more ride-outs before winter.
Ride outs
An entertaining month of June
The month of June did not start quite well, with Monday 1st as Bank Holiday but with pouring rain all day.
Luckily it was probably the last remains of winter, and the rest of the month looked more like spring.
On the first Sunday we met with a group of bikers Juan had met in a filling station one hour after getting out of the ferry in March, and with whom he had gone for a spin in April around the “Ring of Kerry” before I arrived.
We first met Jim from Cork, and picked up another guy on our way to Limerick, where we would meet with the rest of the group.
We had a nice Irish Breakfast in a pub while we were waiting for the others to arrive.
In total we were about 12 bikes. Apart from ours, one Deauville and one VFR800, all the others were BMW GS… All are people who travel quite a lot, with at least one 10 days trip to the continent every summer. There was another woman rider, with a lowered GS, I got on her bike that happened to be really comfortable… but I wouldn’t change mine for it.
We then started the ride through narrow roads on the hills over Limerick. The roads were good for the GS, but not so good for ours. Some looked more like tarmac pathway (with weeds in the middle, bramble on the sides, and room for only one car- it was so lost though that we didn’t come across any…) than what I would call a “road” but the views were beautiful and the truth is that we had a nice time.
We stopped a few times to rest and also to have lunch, and it was a good time to chat and get to know each other.
Between the jigs and the reels, we were 12 hours on the bikes. We ended up quite beat but happy.
The next week-end I had prepared a nice trip to one of the numerous peninsulas of the area. This was “Mizen Head”.
The idea was to get directly to Baltimore and there follow the “Wild Atlantic Way” road to Mizen Head.
Village where were born Henry Ford’s parents
One of Juan’s colleague had joined us for the ride-out, with his BMW R1200GSlc. He finally led the way and we took a long cut through a very nice place where we stopped for a while. Unfortunately the 2 pubs of the village were still closed.
Glandore
We then followed the road to Baltimore, a nice seaport that reminded a lot some Asturian port. We stopped to have breakfast, Irish breakfast of course.
There was a big yacht parked in the bay, with a helicopter. A local man told us that it was a yacht that was usually rented to people with money, and there was a rumour that this time George Clooney was there. We were not invited to check it out anyway, and the yacht looked more like it was empty…
After breakfast we went to the nearest cape, with an amazing view over the bay.
Then we proceeded to Mizen Head. We arrived to such a beautiful beach (white sand and turquoise water) that Juan’s colleague who was still leading missed the cross to Mizen Head and we ended up in Crookhaven where the road ended. We turned back to get to the right road.
The road to Mizen Head has beautiful views, between others, over a white sand and turquoise waters beach, though we did not stop because we were following our guide.
We arrived to Mizen Head, where there is a big car park and a restaurant, and the entrance to walk to Ireland’s most Southwesterly Point. There is a bridge over the cliffs that must be impressive but we didn’t go because 1-Juan was hungry and preferred to spend his money on fish&chips than on a walk 😀 2- We didn’t have the right shoes nor gear to walk under the sun during I don’t know how much time. So we’ll come back another day to see Ireland’s most southwesterly point.
The temperature was perfect and it was sunny, the perfect day to ride, and also to have an icecream while enjoying the scenery.
After a good while enjoying the views and the sun, Juan’s colleague left us to go back home, and we left a while later.
We stopped on the way down where we couldn’t stop before, though the water was not so turquoise anymore as the tide was higher. But it was lovely anyway.
We went back home through a straighter way. At last we didn’t do the whole planned route but we discovered a nice place we wouldn’t have known without the help of a local.
This day also we got home quite late, but with the head (and the camera lol) full of beautiful images.
Next week-end was for another type of entertainment. We were going to a road race… Report here …
The last June week-end started on Friday. Yeah, I know, they always start on Fridays after work, but this time it really felt like it started on Friday. Juan called me in the afternoon to ask me if I could go buy something to make sandwiches. When he arrived, we put on our bike gear, prepared the sandwiches and went, both on my bike, to a surprise destination (for myself).
After more than 45 minutes on a road, quite uncomfortable, without the rain gear (I don’t know how we could go without the rain gear in Ireland…) and with very dark clouds on the horizon, I was wondering if it had been a good idea…
But 15 minutes later, without a raindrop, we arrived to paradise: the road stopped in front of a lake, mountains and a small chapel.
We had our picnic and the sun came out of the clouds, up the mountain. The truth is that with the sun it was difficult to get good pics because of the backlit.
After the dinner, we walked to the chapel and took pictures.
We stayed there a good while, the place felt very peaceful.
But we had to go back before it was too dark, mainly because of the bumps and pot holes (we don’t see them during the day, so imagine at night) and all the small animals that cross the roads at dusk…
We covered the 70km back home with a smile on our faces…
On Sunday I had thought about doing a nice trip but on Saturday we realised that my front lights were not working and we spent the afternoon (while raining outside) trying to find the fault and correct it. Juan finally found it and fixed it, but then he wanted to reconnect the heated grips (they are not working anymore since a while but we never removed them), and it all went wrong again and a fuse blew up. Well, I won’t get into details but at last on Sunday we went to buy fuses and we finished fixing her. My bike lights are working again. Hope it lasts.
Our first June in Ireland was quite entertaining, with beautiful scenery, road races, and more charming places. It was like being on holidays every week-end! We have to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts…
V’s
Ride outs
10 years with Her
On 4th of May, 10 years ago I was buying my SV650S. I was then living in Barcelona, and I had just sold my dear first Motorbike ZZR250 with about 80.000km, 60.000 being “mine”.
The first 5 years with the SV were the richer in kilometres as I made more than 100.000 including commuting, many one-day ride-outs with friends, and holiday trips, mainly in Spain (mainly Pyrenees, Catalonia, Galicia and Asturias for the North and Almeria and Jaen for the South) and France (Lyon, Marseille, Millau, Perpignan).
In 2011 we moved to Paris region, with the motorbikes of course, but there everything is straight and flat 400km around. Some Spanish friends used to say “I don’t turn on the motorbike to do less than 500km”, and we happened to do more or less this during 4 years… but not by choice, just because around it was so boring.
Because of this, in 5 years, the kilometres average fell drastically lol and we “only” did 38.000km…
We though had some long week-ends discovering Massif Central, Champagne and Alsace (border with Germany), to get some oxygen and wear a little bit the side of the tyres 😉 (and wear again the middle to come back with 400km of straight line lol).
We also had 2 nice holiday trips, first one in Ireland (RoI & NI) for our Honeymoon trip, where we discovered our first Road Race in Armoy and had plenty of corners and beautiful landscapes in Connemara and Killarney. And second one last summer, in Czech Republic to see Horiçe Road Race and in Austria (and Italy briefly) to discover the Alps.
In 4 years without twisties around, we realised how much we missed taking the motorbikes to disconnect, to breathe… and we decided to go to Ireland 😉 . And here we are, just arrived end of April…
In 10 years and 138.000km I had no main problem with my SV:
-The typical problem on this model when it rains a lot at once and water enters in the front sparkplug hole, and I end up with a SV 325S for a while…
-I had the valves clearance done one month ago (2nd time), and everything was within tolerance…
-I changed some time ago:
*The back shocks
*The fork springs
*The seat after the first ferry trip- it was already wore but it got worst as they tightened so much the straps in the ferry.
*The clutch before going to France, to avoid any problem in the future and because we had a good and trustworthy mechanic there.
Now I have a small problem due to the rear cylinder gasket that is gone… and I have to fix that. Also the injection is difficult to adjust, and the bike sometimes stops when cold or stuck in traffic jam.
In 10 years the SV (and me) have travelled through 9 countries, and it is about to get its 3rd registration plate lol, and she posed before many beautiful landscapes.
I hope we will go on together many more years and kilometres as there is none of the new models in the market that convinces me, and if she happened to fail, I have no idea of what other motorbike would replace her.
For now, and once solved the small problem, she will pose in front of nice Irish landscapes.
As the best way to celebrate our tenth anniversary together, on 4th of May, we had our first ride out together close to our new home 🙂
R604 from Kinsale to Old Head R604
Old Head of Kinsale
Fish&Chips
Cross R600/L6098
