Irish Camping and Biking Weekend

[Moorso]

I will, hopefully, be doing a more detailed report on my blog, but thought I'd give a brief synopsis here.

The plan was for a biking and camping weekend with no particular route....just to go where the road took us. The last time I had used my tent was at the Oxygen festival here in either 2006 or 2007! I had taken the precaution of airing out the smell that was funkier than James Brown's cloak several days in advance though, although as things would turn out, I could have maybe done with some form of smell as an insect repellent! My mate, Kivi, arrived up after work on Friday night and we set about packing the bikes. I had had to get soft Givi luggage that afternoon as the hard pannier on the right side won't fit with the new carbon exhaust (something I will have to rectify...and I have been informed that it is the pannier that will have to be adjusted, rather than the exhaust!). But the soft luggage happily took everything I wanted and the tent was strapped to the seat all was well. I got the Givi luggage of Gumtree for a bit of a bargain price, so I am quite content. We set off to an ABR Ireland favourite....Meelmore. The drive down was a joy, taking the back roads through Killyleagh and Downpatrick to Newcastle, but we arrived just in time with the light fading and the mist rolling over Slieve Meelmore onto the site. It had been so long since I put the tent up it was a bit of a faff....I could feel the midges crawling all over me as I began to sweat in the humid conditions with my sweating made worse by my frustration with a tent pole. Sure enough, I awoke to find I had, literally, been eaten alive. No matter though, we were off to Castlewellan for a morning fry........



As we sat and watched the world go by, and several cappuccinos later, we realised that similar interests were ideal for a biking weekend. I love National Trust(esque) houses and properties, and the roads to them are usually fun on a bike, so we decided to go to Ardress House. A smaller manorial site, but quainter as a result. The A29 road turned out to be a bit of a peach; even the leaden skies could not constrain the grin within my helmet. The road cuts through rolling drumlin countryside, pierced only by the occasional farms and hamlets, the road has plenty of banked switch-back corners before you pass through small to medium towns. We passed through my father's hometown of Dungannon....a place I haven't been to since I was a boy, mores the pity. We turned off for Ardress House, a rough stone laneway flanked by apple orchards gives way to a more impressive mature tree-lined driveway, past the front facade of the building to the farmyard at the rear. Here you can wander round feeding the inquisitive chickens, avoiding the hissing geese and trying to pet the baby goats, all the while Kivi (complete with his Fred Dibnah t-shirt) marvelled at the plethora of period farm machinery; "by 'eck it were grand" as Fred would no doubt have said! We took the tour of the main house, initially a 16th century grand-ish farmhouse later extended in a mock Georgian style. However, the property would be dwarfed by the larger National Trust properties (e.g., Mount Stewart etc) and is definitely more of a functioning farm house rather than a grand palace or manor site. But it has a quaint feel and you are able to walk around with only a few other visitors, rather than crowds. It started to rain, but this was of no consequence. We knew where we were heading next.....Springwell.

Kivi has a 'touring in the trees' pass which enables him and his other half to use sites all the year round that are off limits to other people. Springwell is such a site. It sits atop the Coleraine Mountain and was in sharp contrast to Meelmore as it was quiet, secluded and peaceful (which I much preferred). There were also less midges! Having had the previous night to practice, I was a lot more proficient at erecting my tent, and it was up in under 10 minutes. I was able to relax. The next morning promised one of the nicest fries I would have (apparently) in Rocca (Coleraine). The town centre was agreeably quiet on the Sunday morning, and sure enough, the fry was rather special.



The Sunday route (the journey home) would take in the north coast road, but this time I was determined to take the Torr Head route, a more challenging twisty, undulating road that I had only been on once before. It didn't disappoint. The views were magnificent and the riding challenging and more enjoyable as a result. We overtook the Sunday drivers with ease. I have to say, once onto the main coast route, I was disappointed. We have done this road, I suspect like many other bikers here, many times. But I am almost bored with it now...and there are usually a lot of a**holes on the road and today was no exception....Kivi nearly being wiped out by a Citroën driver who overtook on a blind corner. The next trip is planned for some time in August, with Tyrone mooted as the potential destination. I still dream of heading off to the Black Forest or a similar location on the bikes.....but these mini 'adventures' will have to do in the interim.....I like them....they aren't so bad!!

[Sin_Tiger]

  sometimes the wee jaunts highlight things we miss everyday though.

[Moorso]

Absolutely Sin....don't get me wrong, I still want to head across Europe. But there is a lot to see in our respective back yards!! 

[Sin_Tiger]

But there is a lot to see in our respective back yards!! 

Right with you there, we often forget what a fantastic part of the world we have been blessed with.