N.I. Trip - *update: trip report*

[derillius24]

Hello all,

List minute Marty here. I'm heading to Northern Ireland for a long weekend (Friday to Monday) from sunny Dundee, leaving at antisocial O'clock tomorrow morning to make the 10am ferry from Cairnryan across to Larne.

I only got back from a hectic work week in Sheffield a couple of hours ago and I've not even had a chance to think about routes / must-sees etc. I was due to be going with a mate but he ejected himself from the saddle yesterday on the way to work in the rain - he's alright but his bike is battered and bruised. I've booked the time off work so, fuck it, I'm going.

So, BCF collective, can anyone recommend routes / roads / sights / places to rest my noggin for the night etc? Weather to be largely shite with a break in the downpours on Saturday.

Cheers
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CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R

[-Matt-]

Belfasts got a lot to do, although not been through on the bike before. We did some of NI last year on the bikes doing a round trip of Ireland.

Londonderry is worth a visit - quite a visible "split" across the river and interesting walking on each side seeing the differences and various mural's (lots of them in some areas especially, try get hold of a tourism map to locate the good streets). Quite a nice city wall running through the centre you can walk round with views over the area also.

We did giants causeway but that was a swarming cluster-fuck of tourists as you would expect, which detracts from the atmosphere sadly.

Port rush if you're especially interested in the NW200 might be worth dropping in on route? The north east coast would probably be worth doing in areas too but again we ran out of time unfortunately. The original plan was along these lines for the NI section roughly, including cushendall/larne along the coast.

That was my first time on the bike over there bare in mind so there may well be lots of other more worthwhile options. Local bikers had some good pointers for riding spots, worth asking about while you're over there.

Have a good trip .
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[derillius24]

Hi, Matt. Thanks very much for taking the time to reply - greatly appreciated . All great advice, I'll take heed of it and try to tie some of your suggestions into my trip. Made the ferry anyway (I must be on a ferry as I've just been charged about 12 quid for a brew), mainly dry apart from through Glasgow but what's new?!

Cheers
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CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R

[-Matt-]

How was your trip in the end?

I'm in two minds whether to bother going back over there again on the bike after our last visit. It was partly down to trying to cram too much into too few days (and we had atrocious weather for half of it), but it did still seem to be lots of mileage on fairly dull roads whichever route we took a lot of the time to ride between places (especially in the south). The various sights and towns were great but it seemed like more effort than it was worth as a bike trip at times.

Did you find enough good routes to keep the riding stints interesting up there?

[derillius24]

Hi, Matt.

Thought I'd give a brief(ish) trip report for you and anyone else interested.

I get where you're coming from - the roads weren't always as interesting as I expected they might be and it rained like I have never, ever experienced on the Friday, the day I set off - Jesus Christ . The winds that day were nothing short of violent, either. However, a good time was had. Ended up in the South for the majority of the trip and I found the scenery to be really beautiful and the people incredibly friendly and helpful.

Day 1
6am departure from a dry Dundee to the Cairnryan ferry port. ~ 170 miles all in. This was loads of time and once Glasgow had been battled through the ride down the A77 was really quite good fun. It hugs the Ayrshire coast for a reasonable amount of time and was quiet and twisty. I had a cup of tea at the port where all the staff were friendly and made sure I was first on. It was a two hour crossing across to Larne and the boat was comfortable.

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As I approached Larne, the sea was getting progressively rougher and the rain started to batter down - a sign of what was to come...!

Straight off the boat (first off ) and on to the Newgrange Monument where I'd arranged to meet a few others. It was 105 miles on largely dull roads from the port and the rain was incredible the entire way. I managed to take one of my boots off at the café and pour a significant amount of water into a plant pot.

From here, we headed on to our stop for the night, Wicklow on the east coast of the South. Nice place where we had a terrible night's sleep with all of the radiators cranked to 11 in attempt to get our gear dry for the morning. Needless to say, it wasn't!

Day 2
Next morning and it was dry. The plan was to head off through the Wicklow Mountains however about one mile out of Wicklow, one of the bikes that was with us, a borrowed-from-a-mate 1998 R1100GS decided to shit itself so we pulled in off one of the main streets and started scratching our heads. Many sighs, no progress.

We were aware of an obscenely loud GSX-R Thou that had done a few recces past before he pulled in to see what the craic was. He was local and initially offered us use of his dad's shed and all of his tools. We thanked him for his kind offer but decided to see what we could do before he headed off to Dublin.

A while later, he returned post-Dublin errand and pulled back in when he noticed we were still there. By this time, we'd been on the phone for about an hour trying to organise a pick-up from a dealer / mechanic who was going to have to see to it. He got off his bike and got on the phone - literally five minutes later his uncle pulled up fully equipped with a trailer to give the bike and riders a lift to a mechanic they knew in Dublin. Much effort later, and realising the trailer was too small, they disappeared then arrived 10 minutes later with a bigger trailer! Bike loaded, and off for a 2 hour round trip to the dealership. Amazing people who couldn't have been friendlier or funnier. The Thou looked like it'd seen some serious action, it was severely battle worn with melted edges hanging off of the 190 rear. Turns out he's a club racer and retired road racer who's duelled with the Dunlops in some of Ireland's maddest races, including the NW200 and Killalane. Phone pics proved no nonsense. Top man.

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Two compadres down, we set off through the mountains. The R759 towards Sally Gap, down the R115 (great road, very tight and twisty with ridiculous bumps along the way - I was laughing inside my lid most of the way) before stopping for tea and scones in Laragh.

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We stopped for the night in Curracloe having ridden through Rathdrum, Aughrim, Bunclody and Blackwater. These roads were superb - quiet, immaculately surfaced and sweeping the whole way. Curracloe beach was beautiful and the weather was lovely by this time. The opening scenes to Saving Private Ryan were filmed on it, I believe.

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Day 3
From Curracloe back up North via Malahide (supercars and HUGE homes +++) and the A2 coastal route from Newry to Newcastle at dusk which was really good fun. The wind was mental again by this point with waves crashing over the walls at the side of the road giving you a bit of a soaking at times. It was pretty funny but I don't imagine the bikes were enjoying the salt bath...! Again, Newcastle was a beautiful place to stop and we managed to get into the Slieve Donard Hotel which was probably the poshest place I've ever slept. A triple room was on Booking.com in the morning for £469 for the night. I gave them a call at about 6pm asking if they'd do a last minute deal on any rooms that needed shifting - we got a triple for £170, result. It was stunning.

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Smithwicks is great beer
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Day 4
Early start to head back to Larne for the 10.30am sailing. Dull roads, uneventful. Knackered by the time I was back in Dundee.

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All in all, I had a really good few days as the company was great, many of the locals were superb, food and drink was top notch and we stayed in some beautiful places, more by luck rather than good planning in all honesty. As matt got at above, I'm not sure I'd bend over backwards to go on another bike trip over as the roads weren't generally quite as great as I'd imagined they might be (I reckon Scotland has much more to offer in that regard, but maybe bias?! ) but I'll definitely head back for a load of other reasons.

Cheers.
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CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R