Life at Adventure-Spec is pretty hectic. Keeping up with the needs of the growing customer base has meant less riding than is ideal. So when he spotted a couple of interesting looking events, Chris took the opportunity to put some miles on his Klim Adventure Rally Suit aboard the Trusty Pig (his Honda XR650R)…
“Horizons Unlimited are close to our hearts at Adventure-Spec. We’ve been picking the brains of overlanding experts on the HUBB and attending the excellent traveller’s Meetings for many moons. So when i heard there was a new event being organised in Northern Ireland it seemed like a great opportunity. Ive spent a lot of time working in Belfast in the past, but never had the time to explore what i now feel is a bit of a hidden gem.
As ever the actual decision to go was last minute, booking the ferry at 4pm Friday for a 2.40am sailing from Holyhead. I threw a few essentials into my Giantloop Coyote saddlebag and headed off into the night, zipping up all the vents on the Rally suit putting it into ‘boring long stretch of fast straight tarmac’ mode. The last stretch into Wales and across Anglesea was crossed in darkness and i was pleased to have the VisionX Solstice Solos lighting the way, i had enough of getting caught out with pathetic standard lights a long time ago…
The three and a half hour ferry crossing was packed and i got little in the way of sleep, but was desperate to catch the group for the trail ride so held the Pig wide open as i headed north-west out of Dublin in heavy rain.
Grim weather and an early morning on the road...
To my dismay id missed the group by about 1/2 an hour on my arrival at Enniskillen, they’d left early at 8.30am. Nobody knew the route, but in a vain attempt to catch up I got hold of the run-leader’s number and sent a text. Surprisingly, i got a call an hour or so later as i was stood at the counter in Tesco’s getting supplies for a camp breakfast, plus some local maps. Brian the run leader gave me a rendesvous point, i had 40 minutes to do 26 miles of twisty tarmac, so again the Pig got a beasting…
I was glad to see a fleet of mud-splattered bikes out side the services. The fleet ranged from 250 enduros upto an r1200gs, pretty much the whole spectrum, although the KTM LC8 Adventure was the most popular ride, followed by the BMW XChallenge
It don't get much better than this..
The route had good variety with fast flowing rocky trails running into more technical woodland sections and everything in between. I love getting out on the trails, a perfect way to see some beautiful country side.
i thought id left the bank holiday traffic jams in wales...
Brian had put together a really good route taking into account the mixed ability level in the group. There were only a couple of show stoppers, with the R1200GS doing its best submarine impression as it buried itself upto the cylinders in a bog.
best have a rest before digging the beast out...
It was a long day in the end coming back way after 6, with those who had ridden all day completing over 180 miles. Full ride report photos here, thanks for the photos grumpyman! If you fancy trying some riding in the area Brian McGirr can be contacted on 07968 135310.
I caught the last of the presentations upon return and settled into a night of Irish Hospitality accompanied by lashings of Guinness and a BBQ the like of which i have never seen anywhere, even in the US (ie. it was a gigantic amount of food). As ever at Horizons Unlimited events I bumped into numerous people i’d met before and with the aid of the Black Stuff the tales of derring-do grew taller and larger, but a great night was had by all.
Feeling a little worse for wear i had a late start to the next day and slowly packed up my tent whilst cooking up a plan for my next couple of days. I was thinking of heading to the Rory Gallagher festival nearby, but just as i was saying my goodbyes i spoke to one of the new friends id make the night before. David and i had got chatting and realised we had communicated before. David had posted some very kind words about the quality of our BMW F800Gs Crashbars and Bashplate on the UKgser forum which we had seen. In my excitable state id forgotten about the wonderful invite to stay at his house in Coleraine, accompanied by a cracking route through Donegal to get me there. i had a plan, Happy Days!
The scenery in the North West of Ireland is right up there with the best i have seen, the route being almost the perfect ride for the time i had.
I headed towards the most Northern most point of Ireland before hopping on the short ferry from Greencastle back into Northern Ireland as the sunset
I got off the ferry and rode pretty much straight onto the beach for a flat out blast down several miles of riding heaven. I got my Dust to Glory moment that day…..
(check out this link to the section of Dust to Glory i refer to, from about 3.55. My bike isnt geared to pull 110mph, but you get the picture, if you havent seen it i can highly recommend getting hold of a copy as its an awesome movie)
David’s mate Martin was over from Liverpool for the HU event, so the three of us headed into Port Rush for a drink and some food. David’s house is practically on the North West 200 circuit, so during a trip around the circuit I learnt the intricacies of slipstreaming on narrow public roads at over 200mph. I must get over for the race as soon as possible, it sounds like a great event.
After an evening discussing their plans for a South American expedition next year, David and Martin sent me on my way around the Antrim Coast Road.
My Hosts!
What a road! Twisiting serpentine tarmac from Coleraine all the way around to Belfast. I took the opportunity to divert off and explore a few trails at various points, one took me out to the cliffs at Torr Head (the photo topping this post is from there). Epic views of Scotland across the ocean were my reward, atop cliffs towering several hundred feet above the shore below. This was the treasure at the end of my mini-adventure…
My ferry back from Dublin landed me at Holyhead at midnight, so once again i zipped up the vents on my Rally Suit and headed into the cold night eventually getting back to adventure-spec HQ at 4am.
Next week a mini adventure trail-riding from Yorkshire down to South Wales…
