We set off a little later than planned having found a McDonalds for breakfast. Top tip, don’t try their toasties, they are just a pitter bread with some fake cheese thrown in, thank goodness for hash browns.
The day started fantastic with a short ride to the Gap of Dunloe.
The Gap of Dunloe is a famous narrow mountain pass in County Kerry, Ireland, located near Kate Kearnet’s and about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Killarney. It sits between the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and Purple Mountain ranges, featuring five glacial lakes and the historic Wishing Bridge.
It’s a fantastic road marred for the motorcyclists a little by the horse dung from all the tourist carts that can be hired to do part of the loop. Once you get past the first 4 miles or so it’s a clear run and an absolute highlight of the tour.
The ring took us back towards Killarney and made up the first section of the ring of Kerry. Williams Snr had done this route a number of times but wanted jnr to experience it. Unfortunately, the weather gods decided that he was going to experience it on their terms . One of the longest heatwaves in history came splashing to an end. It rained, then it rained a bit more, then it chucked it down. Jnr had decided it was only a shower so could not be bothered getting his waterproofs on. Not only did he get rained on but he also managed to perfectly time riding through standing water at the exact same time as passing traffic. Quite a gift, to say he was wet would be an understatement. Still he never went on about it….much!!!
Ring of Dunloe
We were glad to reach our digs. A B&B called An Dooneen, The Hurley Farm B&B. Our host was a lovely lady called Mary who dried all bends gear for him and ran us to the local pub to get red and watered. Proof that people are generally really good.
Literally hours in the planning, Williams junior AKA Ben and Williams senior AKA Rob are heading off to Ireland for 5 days. We met at the services on the A55. Ben with his bag hanging off his back seat secured with Rock straps done up with all the tension of wet string and Rob having packed enough provisions for a full bike service and a nuclear winter. We filled up with fuel that cost £1.72 per litre thanks to the orange peodo in the states and headed off to get a biker Brew stamp in Llanberis. The journey down the A55 towards Holyhead was a fairly uneventful affair except for Ben the child raving his bike up in every tunnel and lots of filtering due to heavy Friday traffic with regular reminders that there were huge boxes on the GSA
We stopped the night in a place called Tallaght, which is a western suburb of Dublin. After doing battle across town with a significant number of scooters, we arrived at our digs to find the underground car park locked up for the night. We spent some time positioning the bikes so they could be locked together, checked in, and went up to our room. After we had settled in, probably 40 to 50 minutes after arrival, Williams Junior noticed a piece of paper warning us we would be clamped if parked above ground for more than an hour. We scrambled downstairs to quickly get them moved and gained access to the underground car park. About to get clamped. Dinner was curtesy of Nando’s. Is the X or the S silent? The next morning we retrieved the bikes and headed out to the first of our planned routes and what will likely be a real highlight of the trip ‘Sallys Gap’. Very chilled cat Following a brew at Laragh (the end of Sallys Gap) we had a quick stop at Gendalough before heading toward...
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