The Final Run In

Friday 14/04/06, Day 5 of the Irish Trip

We were on the road relatively early again on the Friday. Our intention was to make Dublin by mid afternoon. We would be travelling mostly via main roads, the N6, N4 and M4 directly into Dublin. Main roads and motorways are not the most challenging ones to ride on, but these did pass through some amazing scenery and also did the job of getting us to our destination relatively quickly. One other positive about this route was that it took us straight past a town I was eager to visit, Athlone.
A couple of hours ride from Galway and we were at the picture postcard village on the banks of the Shannon. We both parked in the same car park space outside of a beautiful cathedral, St Peters, and also right next to Athlone Castle. As I mentioned earlier it was good Friday, and so there was an open air service going on outside on the steps of the cathedral, so would you believe that just as we were walking away from the bikes to have a look round my alarm started sounding. As is the norm in these situations I had already put away my keys and could not remember for the life of me which pocket they were in! As the alarm continued to sound I was searching more and more frantically for the keys, while at the same time getting more snooty looks from the congregation. Well if they are practising Catholics then they would surely forgive me for this faux pas, wouldn’t they?
On closer inspection the place seemed to me to resemble one of a number of Cornish villages with lovely cottages leading straight onto the road, all painted in bright colours and with a number of lovely little shops. I suppose the main difference was that you don’t get cathedrals and Castles in Cornish villages! However what you do also get in Cornwall are those shops selling curios such as josh sticks and strange ornaments. You know, the sort that spring up next door to surf shops. As we were having the by now obligatory brew in a nice café over the road from this shop, we spotted a t-shirt in the window that Mo just had to have. It was a plain blue t-shirt with the message across the front ’My Other Body Is A Temple’. Say no more.
Before leaving we took the opportunity to take a few photos of ourselves and the bikes down between the castle and the banks of the river. Well worth it. The two photos towards the bottom of the blog were taken here. My only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer but time was marching on, and as they say at kicking out time in the pub, ’if you want to stay longer you should have come earlier’.
Back on the road and this final leg of the journey seemed to be taking for ever. We eventually arrived in Dublin about half past two after completing the last bit on the M4, a toll road that I never knew they had in Ireland. Still, while travelling you learn all sorts…
As it was still a bit early to head round to Santry (where Martin, Michelle and the kids lived and we would be staying) I thought we would head into the Temple Bar area of the city, park up and maybe get something to eat or drink. The bikes ended up being parked up on the kerb because the place was so busy. We went and had a walk on the banks of the river Liffy (which runs through Dublin) and I had a coffee at a small stand that was on a walkway suspended over the river. Nice coffee, nice weather and a nice city. It was here that I received a text asking what time we would be round. It was obviously time to go, so we headed back towards the bikes via the Hard Rock Café. I remember we felt it best to stop off here and use their toilet facilities rather than pollute my uncles house.
I had heard the rumours but it wasn’t till we entered the Hard Rock that I realised it was no joke. It being Good Friday, nearly all the pubs in Ireland were shut, and those that were open could only serve soft drinks. So upon entering the place we saw that all of the pumps were covered by black bags forbidding their use. AAAAHHHH.
We arrived at the house shortly before tea time and after saying hello to everyone and introducing them to Mo, we set to putting the bikes away, showering and getting ready to relax about the house for the evening.
The beer came out relatively early, and shortly after that the guitars came out. And so the evening passed by with just the right balance of beer, food, conversation and music. My cousin Anthony who is a lot younger than me turned out to be a great guitarist, and between the three of us we cobbled together an impromptu performance of dancing in the moonlight by Thin Lizzy. When you don’t see someone for a while it is easy to be surprised by them when you do see them. As well as being a great guitarist, he is also an accomplished drummer, a kit being set up in his room next to his amp and guitar.

Saturday 15/04/06, Day 6 of the Irish Trip.

Mo and I headed into the city centre to take a look round and get some presents for the folks back home. This was to be our final day in Ireland. The ferry would be another overnight crossing that night.
We took the bus in and got off at O’Connell Street, the main thoroughfare in Dublin. After taking a look round a few shops we ended up buying some DVD’s for ourselves and Anna (my daughter) and some jewellery for the ladies. We also headed back for another look round Temple Bar and along the Liffy.
Heading back to catch the bus we ended up walking through a demonstration celebrating the Easter uprising of 1916. I’m not going to go into a history lesson but it was one of the darkest periods of British rule over the Irish and turned into something of a massacre by the British, followed by a farcical trial for the rebels that turned them into heroes and only strengthened Irish dislike of the British. So as you could imagine, sensing the mood of the crowd once we realised what we were in the middle of, we kept our mouths firmly shut. All it would have taken was Mo to drop his Navy I.D. card and I think we would have been in for it.
Back at Santry we took a walk over to the park with Martin, and Kevin and Katie (my two younger cousins). This was a really enjoyable relaxation period before packing our stuff ready to catch the ferry.
After having some tea and saying our goodbyes we headed off for the ferry port and our bed for the evening. As it turned out there was a misunderstanding about what time the ferry actually left and so we ended up getting there just in time.
As it was when we boarded in Liverpool, we were on first and settled in before the ship had even finished loading. This time though, after having a look round we could only manage one beer before heading for bed.

Sunday 16/05/06. The final Day.

There is always a feeling of an anti-climax for me at the end of any trip. The realisation hits that the days of doing whatever you want are nearly over and the days of doing what you ‘have’ to do are nearly upon you. There is a definite difference between having to get up to go somewhere you want to go (Athlone, Limerick etc.) and somewhere you don’t. (Manchester to work for example).
As it was, the previous night was the first good night sleep that I had had all week so after watching the ship tying up alongside and then being called down to the car deck I was ready for the short ride home.
We were back home well before seven in the morning and rather than go back to bed we put on a DVD we had purchased the previous day, Team America, fuck yeah.
And so the trip was finished. Mo ended up staying at mine for another couple of days, which was good as we don’t see so much of each other any more. We would be seeing and speaking to each other a lot over the coming months though, talking over our Irish Trip and also planning for the bigger European trip that was coming up in August through Europe.
Several of my friends comment to me on how many miles I am putting on my bike doing the trips and get aways that I do, but my opinion is that there is no point having the damn thing if I am not going to use it.