Wild Atlantic Way

Time for the 2024 tour with riding/cycling/drinking and all things life related buddy Paul! 

After the success of the Snowdonia 360 last year, we had decided to try a longer tour exploring the South Western corner of Ireland. Fortuitously, my new house is but a stone's throw (well, half an hour) from Holyhead with it's regular ferry service to Dublin. I always love taking in a ferry journey on the bike - it adds a certain excitement to the adventure. 

Bikes were packed and tucked up ready for an early start the following morning to catch the 9am ferry.

Day 1: Noel’s Party Pad to Holyhead; ferry to Dublin, then an afternoon ride down to the south. Stayed at Blackstairs Eco-Centre in Blackstairs Mountains.

 

Total miles 96

Day 2 / Friday: we have travelled down to the South West and actually joined the Wild Atlantic Way, which gives an initial impression of stunning scenery. The roads have been stupendous - lots of lovely twisty bits and hairpins, apart from a bit of boring motorway around Cork.

Total miles 163.

Camping just outside Rosscarbery tonight.

Day 3:Astounding Ireland! Today I had by far the best day’s motorcycling in my 46 + years on 2 wheels 🤩

Sublime scenery and perfect roads.

Day 4: Ring of Kerry today. A bit overcast and drizzly so we probably didn’t see it at its best, but good all the same.

Both knackered after 4/5 days riding, so glad to pull up and set up camp for the night just outside Killarney.

Day 5: Tonight’s campsite at Portlaoise. Another cracking day’s riding and we just have a couple of hours ride to the ferry at Dublin in the morning.

Day 6: and before we knew it, we were back in the hurly burly of Dublin. We bedded down in a cafe for a couple of hours before heading down to the ferry for an uneventful journey home. Safely back from 800 miles around Southern Ireland. 

New Bike Time (again!)

I had reluctantly come to the conclusion that there was no practical way of adapting the handlebars of my Classic 350, to allow it to be brought down my exceedingly narrow passageway leading to my shed in the back garden. 

So I hunted around for a replacement bike with narrow enough bars and settled on a 2000 Kawasaki GPZ500s. It's in very good condition for its age and has been very carefully maintained and upgraded by the last owner. It also came with a rack and large top box so was ideal for a tour. Most importantly, it (just) fitted down the entry, albeit with the bar end weights removed!

I bought the bike sight unseen and had it couriered across from Manchester to my new home in Anglesey. All was good, and with the insurance in place (although I had forgotten to tax it!) and some Spring sunshine, it was time to take her out for a spin. 

I had a lovely few hours, taking the lanes across to the A55 and then seeing how she performed on dual carriageway, before taking to the lanes again across to Menai Bridge, Beaumaris, Benllech Beach and finally back home. I have to say that it was lovely to be back on a bike with a bit of power again! Not exactly a superbike but much more powerful than my recent steeds.

A Ride to my New Home

I had moved to Anglesey at the end of April, but my 1961 Royal Enfield was still stored at my temporary abode in Whitchurch, Shropshire. Now that my bike shed was complete, it was time to bring her to her new home in Anglesey.

It was 4 hours of relaxed riding, taking the scenic route along the A5 Old Coach Road through Snowdonia, with a coffee stop halfway at Betws y Coed.

It rained for most of the journey but that didn’t spoil it and the bike behaved impeccably the whole way.

She’s now been shoehorned down the very narrow entry and taken up residence in the Amlwch motorcycle museum! (aka Noel’s shed.)

Yaaay! Spring Sunshine at last!

We've had an appalling winter - it seems to have never stopped raining. But the forecast for today was cool but sunny, so Rob and I arranged to meet halfway for breakfast in Staffordshire.

I think I've got the measure of Anna's start routine now: fuel on; tickle carb till she overflows; choke off; free clutch with a few kicks on the kickstart; switch on; half throttle and kick. And she normally starts first or second kick now, no matter how long she's been "resting". Once started, full choke on a cold day has her ticking over nicely and after a mile or so I can close the choke and she purrs along like a kitten!

I followed the A roads across from our temporary home in Whitchurch through Audlem, Woore and then onto the A51 towards Rugeley. Just under 40 miles / an hour later, we reached our cafe stop. There is still an oil weep from the rocker cover, which gives the necessary Royal Oilfield character - I'll sort that out when I have a little more time. The roads were damp but drying and it was great to be out - on the way we passed the 500 miles running in milestone, so I'll start opening her up a little more now. As it was, I was happy to cruise at 45-50.

The sun was properly out for the return journey, which passed in a blur of happiness! I think I enjoy each ride on Anna just a little bit more than the last. It is so unlike anything else I've ever ridden. Here's to continuing improvement in the weather - it's been a looooong winter.

 

My 2023 Motorcycling Year

2023 has been a rich and varied year for motorcycling!

January

The Crusader 250 was in her final stages of the mechanical restoration and could finally be fully assembled for the first time to apply for her original registration number to be recovered.

 February

The wiring was all finished and we went for the "first start"!

 

 Painting of the coloured bits started in earnest.

 My registration number recovery was approved!

I got out for the first ride of the year on Gloria the Honda 250G5 - a nice bimble around North Wales for a couple of hours. Then followed that a couple of weeks later with a longer journey down to the National Motorcycle Museum in the Midlands, followed by an overnight at Tamworth.

 March

I bought my first ever new bike - a Royal Enfield 350 Classic, as a modern reliable ride, and particularly in anticipation of a big adventure coming up in May.

Sadly, that meant that Gloria was put up for sale and she went off to a new home in Northern Ireland.

April 

The long running in process started, with a couple of journeys down to Stafford and Tamworth.

 The Crusader's paintwork came on a treat.

 May

Rob and I had our big adventure, across to France then Belgium for the Spa Classic racing. The Classic's running in miles were finished on the way home.

 June

Crusader paintwork was finished and final build completed. We had our first ride together!

Paul passed his bike test and we had an evening spin out to the Ponderosa Cafe followed by our first camping trip on the bikes over to Oulton Park.

 July

After building up 50 or so local "confidence miles" on the Crusader, we had our first proper adventure to Middlewich Classic Car and Bike show. Note the rear indicator hanging off!

August

Two big adventures this month. First was a trip up to Buttermere in the Lake District on the Classic 350, to visit Andy and do a spot of wild camping on the fells.

Swiftly followed by the Crusader's big test - a fully loaded camping trip over to the Isle of Man for the Manx Grand Prix, which she coped with admirably.

I have a loose arrangement, whereby I can sensibly manage to have 2 bikes "on the road" at any one time (mainly due to storage constraints!) and one in the process of  restoration. Well, with Gloria sold, thoughts turned to the 2023/4 Winter project. So this month, a 1981 Moto Guzzi 500 arrived at the Shearer Home for Lost Causes to be recovered from her "off the rails" hipster brat bike experience and be converted into a middleweight touring bike.

This was her in her previous existence - not nice!

 September

The Crusader's initial running in was pretty much now complete and we had another overnight camping trip to display at the Malpas Yesteryear rally.

October

Another big one for the Classic this month! Paul and I did the Snowdonia 360 route over 3 days.

November

Probably the last ride of the year - a local trip up to my sister's place to take advantage of some late Autumn sun. And hopefully inducted another future motorbike fan (my great nephew) :-).

The restoration and repurposing of the Moto Guzzi has started with most of the missing parts now having been procured and refinishing of the many black bits under way.

 December

I was quite distracted by working on our bathroom refit but stilll trying to keep some restoration activity going on. Lots of painting and starting to look at the seat recovering.

In the middle of it all, I caught COVID and was laid low for a week, but I celebrated recovery by adding some shelves in the Bike shed for all of the "require no further work" parts to be stored! Very motivating, as the pile grows, and starts to free up much needed space in my tiny workshop.

It was also my birthday and I got a truly "life enhancing" present off my lads😀