The motto for this tour is "fun, fun, fun" - coined by Frank Hutch and happily bandied about by all riders. The motto for today was "wet, wet, wet" again coined by Frank and he was not kidding. Back in London we had read a 10 day weather forecast for Ireland - basically the heavens were to open every day and Hewie was to just pour buckets of cats and dogs down to earth. It would seem northern hemisphere weather forecasters know their stuff - 9am ride out time the heavens opened and every rider was pretty much totally soggy by the time we had navigated through Waterford. Brett did his usual and rode out with his stand down, for which he led the betting all day on who was to take over the role of Princess for Tuesday.
Our route today, led by Conor and Fintan, saw us drive by some breathtaking coastal scenery Tramore, Annestown, Dunvargan (Dun Garbhan for all you Irish speakers) all the way to Midleton to the Jameson Distillery. Now as this blogger recalls the scenery was spectacular - shame you couldn't see it through your visor covered with rain. Note to blogger - riding an Indian is a pain in the wet because your wrist gets wet when you reach down to change gear and the water runs from your arm and down into your glove. Also never believe what you read - that waterproofing stuff you spent hours putting onto your jacket DID NOT WORK! Needless to say dear reader that by the time we got to morning tea we were very much soaked.
Our route today, led by Conor and Fintan, saw us drive by some breathtaking coastal scenery Tramore, Annestown, Dunvargan (Dun Garbhan for all you Irish speakers) all the way to Midleton to the Jameson Distillery. Now as this blogger recalls the scenery was spectacular - shame you couldn't see it through your visor covered with rain. Note to blogger - riding an Indian is a pain in the wet because your wrist gets wet when you reach down to change gear and the water runs from your arm and down into your glove. Also never believe what you read - that waterproofing stuff you spent hours putting onto your jacket DID NOT WORK! Needless to say dear reader that by the time we got to morning tea we were very much soaked.
Dorothy and Phillip, who have been doing a sterling job of marshalling earned themselves the nickname of Hansel and Gretel as all the way from Waterford to morning tea Dorothy shed tiny bits of her hiviz orange wetweather over jacket as it was flapping around in the wind as Phillip drove hell for leather to catch up to the front of the pack for the next mashalling post.
Jim's habit on hols is to refresh himself with
an ale or 2 when we stop - however the Irish do not realise it is high summer and the place is crawling with tourists - so every bar or pub we walked to at our stop at Dunvargan was not open until 12.30pm. Sorry Jimmy but it is cappuccino for you!
Jim's habit on hols is to refresh himself with
an ale or 2 when we stop - however the Irish do not realise it is high summer and the place is crawling with tourists - so every bar or pub we walked to at our stop at Dunvargan was not open until 12.30pm. Sorry Jimmy but it is cappuccino for you! As you can see dear reader the Irish really are jokers and so every time we got off the bikes the rain stopped and every time we got on the bikes it started. It was noted at dinner tonight that as soon as we got to our hotel the sun shone and the clouds blew away!!!
Jameson Distillery was very interesting as we were shown how the Irish make their thrice distilled nectar of the gods - 4 of our group volunteered for the whiskey tasting to see what was the best whiskey - the Irish 3x distilled; the scotch 2x distilled; and the american 1x distilled (I heard Johnny Walker's name and that bloke Jack Daniels being mentioned in a derogatory manner by our tour guide....) Anyway Dugal, Jim, Frank and Brett tasted and received a certificate to prove it - well done boys - why were you all having trouble with your sense of direction leaving that stop?
Jameson Distillery was very interesting as we were shown how the Irish make their thrice distilled nectar of the gods - 4 of our group volunteered for the whiskey tasting to see what was the best whiskey - the Irish 3x distilled; the scotch 2x distilled; and the american 1x distilled (I heard Johnny Walker's name and that bloke Jack Daniels being mentioned in a derogatory manner by our tour guide....) Anyway Dugal, Jim, Frank and Brett tasted and received a certificate to prove it - well done boys - why were you all having trouble with your sense of direction leaving that stop?Leaving Midleton at 2pm saw us about 2/3 the way through our 137km run for the day. Remember it is still raining but is easing. Next tourist attraction is Cobh (pronounced Cove) which was also called Queenstown and was the final departure port for the Titanic. An amazing little town clinging to a cliff face - take pity dear reader for us riders with our foot clutches and dodgy brakes. The approach to the port was down a oneway street that had a decline of at least 60 degrees - it felt like straight down!!! and so we had to stay upright and focused so as not to wipe out any of the locals that walked in our way. A killer right hand bend found us on the narrow road to the visitors' centre - which Dugal completely missed as he zoomed past it on the Blackhawk. We spent about an hour and a bit looking at the exhibits and reading about international travel and cruise holidays for the poor Irish back in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Note reader the sun was shining at this point.
Final fuel stop for the day and we finished our ride in bright sunshine at the Caragaline Court Hotel, Cork (Corcaigh for Irish readers) Heaters on in rooms, clothes draped around rooms - everyone had the same story at dinner. As mentioned earlier about the betting on the Princess award - Brett came home a winner - he was a sure thing and I should have put at least 5 euro on the nose. Well you live and you learn.
So Monday was wet, wet, wet but really it was just more fun, fun, fun - soggy or not your would not be dead for quids (oops euros - we are in IRELAND).
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