Ireland Road Trip 2024 with Mark Anyon, Mal David, David Monyihan and Tony Cheung
Road trip to remember, stands up from Gateway services in Mold. Lads moaning on my call to don wet weather gear and by heck it was a good call, Anglesey shed a fair bit of dribble on us😅
After a good laugh at Dave’s newly badged Indian bike we arrived in Dublin
Fantastic roads in to Drogheda to visit The battle of boyne site with a nice lunch.
A quick blip on the motorways in Newry before heading onto the Mourne mountains with views to die for. The roads to our first night’s dig at seaview guest was not disappointing and the hotel was a good find with secure parking for bikes overnight.
2nd day started with more extras on Dave’s new Indian and a good laugh we made a fleeting visit to Ballymena Indian dealer it turned out to be more a Honda dealer. This was karma after the joke we played on Dave, he was made up 😂
The Antrim coastal road was made for us bikers. We had the sun and very little traffic, the roads were pristine, the views were breathtaking and we were on Indians 😍, plus the sun was out to play.
Further up the coast a visit to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Whilst on the rope bridge the heavens opened up, drowned rats back to the bike🤣 although the sun came back out to dry us out after some coffee and cake
Unfortunately as we went further up, a dark over cast and rain was dropping, we actually got wetter by stopping rather riding on pass the clouds😂
The next tourist hotspot and one of the unesco heritage sites The Giants Causeway, just mesmerising.
Joey Dunlops bar in Balleymoney was our final stop before the hotel in Portstewart. Both stops steeped in history. The Anchorage Inn at Portstewart was a lovely stay and the bar below was night to be remembered with live music, extreme friendly locals and copious amounts of the dark stuff Guinness washed down with the golden nectar of Irish whisky.
3rd day started with a few very sore heads and a blur of last night festivities. An hour ride to waken ones’ mind for our fuel and brew stop before heading up to Glenveagh national park. Breathtaking views in Glenveagh, the mountain road were pristine and perfect our steeds to enjoy the cruise to take in the beautiful mountain range. As we descended down to the coast we joined the famous Wild Atlantic way road, again, the road was pristine, the landscape awesome and better still the drivers pulled over to allow us royalty bikers pass😍. Brief stop in Donegal for drinks and pee pee then carry on the Wild Atlantic way before our lovely stop at Davis’s Yeats Tavern, top nosh and very reasonable prices. Although mark didn’t think so as he paid for all of us😂. Delay to our next stop due to some festivities before our next stop in Crossmolina, locals pleasantly impressed with our bikes and plenty of photos taken by them. The next leg of our journey was somewhat of a mixed bag, freshly laid gravels roads, old gravel roads and a few potholes thrown in. Although this went on for only around 10 miles it drained all of us of energy and as the few piss heads started without much. An unplanned stop was made at Letterbrickaun as a photo opportunity for a stunning scenic shot, the lads were more thankful they could stretch their legs as we already had been in the saddle for 10 hours. Riding to our last brew and fuel stop by now was getting harder to make progress with the roads not being as pristine as previous. As we came into Maam Cross our pains and weariness disappeared for a while as the views of the surrounding mountains just soothed our eyes. The time was getting late and we pondered on whether to reroute the shortest to our hotel. Bikers we are, so we stuck to the designated route plan and rode down to the coast for a relaxing coastal route with plenty of therapeutic views. Landing at our digs for 21:30hrs, we were well and truly knackered.
4th day homeward bound. Freshly awake and although sad to be homeward bound we were looking forward to cruising the great Irish roads and soaking up yet more of Ireland. And bye heck it did not disappoint, as we left the city of Galway and joined the country lanes. The weather was perfect, the roads were dry and more importantly no traffic. An absolute blast on them twisty country lanes through Doonard and Tyhagh, what an amazing road R446 and R351.
Fuel and breakfast in Borriskane at The Green 1918 for hearty Irish breakfast, yum!
Another fast dash on the country lanes on the R491 and then onto R490 with spectacular views of the Irish mountains on the veranda. The last and final stop before the ferry at Portlaoise services for some ice cream and drinks. The final route to ferry was not as expected with the planned route showing 3 hours, so direct route on the motorway was taken. With the dreaded thought of missing the ferry and the cost of the toll road, plenty of mistakes were made by myself ie,. bus lanes and cycle lanes. We made the ferry and to be honest we were absolutely shattered but it has been worth every single minute.
Ireland comes very highly recommended and you just need some of the Irish luck with the weather as we were.
Thank you to my brothers, Mark, Mal and Dave for being such good company.
Enjoy the photos.
Till the next one
Over 1100 miles covered door to door