2nd Aug 2008 - Preperation. Limerick and Ring of Kerry.
We left Dublin in the morning. We would head to Limerick and drop in to my Sister who lives in Limerick.
The journey was incident free almost all the way to Limerick, But then just a few kilometres before my Sisters house Glen's bike slowed and stopped. We quickly discovered the problem.. Apparently there is a certain condition with the Honda Deauville where you have to put fuel in it every so often to keep it running. Glen ran out. After we got this sorted we went to My Sisters house. And had some grub. We also did some nice acrobatics on Audrey's (my Niece's) new trampoline.
From here we drove to Ballybunnion, which was a longer drive then we had expected. We found some farmers field just out of town and went to set up our tents.. in the dark. We filled up with beer and food then the heaven opened. The rain was heavier then I had ever seen. This would be a good test for our tents. Glen's was soaked and he eventually slept in puddles. My tent was dry, but the wind made the most awful noise on the material. Ado's tent seemed to be the best and I think he got the best sleep.
We woke up very early in the morning.. Freezing. We went to town to get breakfast. We headed off then early to start the ring of Kerry. The weather was very mixed. Sometimes heavy rain, sometimes sun. It was so annoying, and very difficult for me to tackle with my lack of sleep the night before. The ring itself was fantastic, and one of the nicest bike rides I'd ever been on. After the ring we were homeward bound. On the way back we stopped for a bite to eat near Moate. While here, Somehow Ado's bike fell over and broke the clutch lever. We had to push start Ado with the bike in gear, and try to get home without Ado stopping. Every time Ado stopped we would have to push start him and we were still about 130km from home. This was going to take forever to get home. I've no idea how it happened, but somehow Ado didn't have to stop once and made it the entire way in 3rd gear.
We all went home with a few lessons from the weekend that night. For me, I learned that a good night sleep is absolutely essential in order to enjoy the following day. A good, warm sleeping back is very important, and I would need a pillow to support my head. And for the rest of my life I'll always carry any liquids or breakables in a separate pannier to the one where my clothes were carried in. 6 Broken Eggs for breakfast splattered all over my clothes :( Also where possible we should try to pitch tents in daylight.
The journey was incident free almost all the way to Limerick, But then just a few kilometres before my Sisters house Glen's bike slowed and stopped. We quickly discovered the problem.. Apparently there is a certain condition with the Honda Deauville where you have to put fuel in it every so often to keep it running. Glen ran out. After we got this sorted we went to My Sisters house. And had some grub. We also did some nice acrobatics on Audrey's (my Niece's) new trampoline.
From here we drove to Ballybunnion, which was a longer drive then we had expected. We found some farmers field just out of town and went to set up our tents.. in the dark. We filled up with beer and food then the heaven opened. The rain was heavier then I had ever seen. This would be a good test for our tents. Glen's was soaked and he eventually slept in puddles. My tent was dry, but the wind made the most awful noise on the material. Ado's tent seemed to be the best and I think he got the best sleep.
We woke up very early in the morning.. Freezing. We went to town to get breakfast. We headed off then early to start the ring of Kerry. The weather was very mixed. Sometimes heavy rain, sometimes sun. It was so annoying, and very difficult for me to tackle with my lack of sleep the night before. The ring itself was fantastic, and one of the nicest bike rides I'd ever been on. After the ring we were homeward bound. On the way back we stopped for a bite to eat near Moate. While here, Somehow Ado's bike fell over and broke the clutch lever. We had to push start Ado with the bike in gear, and try to get home without Ado stopping. Every time Ado stopped we would have to push start him and we were still about 130km from home. This was going to take forever to get home. I've no idea how it happened, but somehow Ado didn't have to stop once and made it the entire way in 3rd gear.
We all went home with a few lessons from the weekend that night. For me, I learned that a good night sleep is absolutely essential in order to enjoy the following day. A good, warm sleeping back is very important, and I would need a pillow to support my head. And for the rest of my life I'll always carry any liquids or breakables in a separate pannier to the one where my clothes were carried in. 6 Broken Eggs for breakfast splattered all over my clothes :( Also where possible we should try to pitch tents in daylight.
