It had been a number of years since the last HOC trip to Ireland – and that was to the Republic – so to my mind, another one was well overdue! 

Northern Ireland this time – a place I had visited many years before and remembered as very beautiful, but unknown to many English people due to the Troubles, happily now long gone.

I had expected approximately 8 – maximum 10 people total – to show an interest, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find 18 people champing at the bit and ready to go!

So there we were, meeting up on the Friday morning early at the Tickled Trout, with everything crossed for the weather!  The ride up to Stranraer is about 200 miles, so we left just after 9.30am and cracked on up the M6 in dry weather, no problem.

There were 13 bikes altogether and 17 people (Gill Tankard unfortunately couldn’t make it due to unavoidable dog-sitting duties); Dave and Kim, Tony and Ann, Steve and Ange, Steve and Sal, Andy T, Dave T, Tony Bailey, Will, Mark Wells, Carl, Ming, Rob and myself.

Turning left at Gretna, we got onto the A75, which is 100 miles of A road to the port and stopped at a Little Thief and petrol station for a fuel and food break – this unfortunately turned into a “teacake only” break, basically because they were so bloody slow we could have been there all morning – and we had a ferry to catch…

With the weather starting to deteriorate we pushed on past Dumfries and further west, only to get rained on BIG style (turning on the tap type of rain), not to mention being hassled by a couple of idiot truck drivers with mobile homes on their trucks – obviously brainless and with VERY small appendages….

We finally got to the port at 2.30pm – 10 minutes late for the check-in but the leprechauns must have been with us as the boat was late, so luckily no problems there!  I have to confess though that both Rob and I were getting seriously twitchy about getting there by the skin of our teeth…!

On boarding we found out that Carl had lost a spinner somewhere on the M6 and that my tax disc had decided to bounce down the road as well…   fortunately I had been a good girl and brought the bike docs with me, so I was OK. 

A smooth crossing – well, it must have been a smooth crossing ‘cos Rob (amongst others) tucked into pie and chips on board AND kept it down!! – then we were off the boat and finally relying in earnest on the satnav…. (ooh no!!!)  Mark and Dave Tankard had both been to the hotel before so with a combination of technology and little grey cells, we rolled up at the hotel with no problems.

The bikes were safe in the car park in front of the bedroom windows.

Once we had checked in, it will be no surprise to people reading this that we hit the bar!!!  We also had a meal altogether in the restaurant (which was lovely) and then retired to the bar once again (no really??) for the remainder of the evening.  A couple of stray Canadian students helped us out in the bar, providing photographic “evidence” for Kim that she had been away at a “wedding” (for the benefit of work!!!) – Kim, you little fibber!!  It rained overnight but we weren’t riding then, so no problems.

Our decent Hotel		Shopping time!!

After a comfy night, leisurely breakfast and a check on the weather (which was brightening up), we were off once again (wets on for safety) in the direction of the Harley dealer in Antrim, about 10 miles away.  The satnav actually worked this time – we just didn’t spot the entrance to the industrial park and therefore had a pleasant tour of the area before finally getting to the shop!!   Provincewide is a pretty new dealership and is one of the purpose-built open plan showrooms but it was very well set out, with a great area upstairs for riders to relax.  We had a tremendous welcome from the dealer principal - Alan - and his team and really enjoyed the visit.   After about an hour, with the weather brightening by the minute, we set off for Carrickfergus, first stop on the way up north.

Carrickfergus is famous for its 11^th century Norman castle and we were not disappointed.  The castle is perched right on the seashore and we found the perfect spot on the quayside next to it to park up for a great photo.  The weather by now was getting warmer and very sunny – this was our lunch break so we made the most of it in this very picturesque spot.

Carrickfergus Castle		Along the coast road.

A few butties and shandies later, we were off again, taking the coast road north towards Ballycastle.  I had heard from several people that this road was worth the trip and it didn’t disappoint – stunning views of the coastline, riding through small villages and beautiful green countryside – fabulous.   The ride from Belfast was only approx 60 miles but we made the most of it and took everything in, stopping for a photo break in the sunshine!

Not too much of a walk to the pub!!		Fabulous view from the Hostel.

We finally arrived in Ballycastle and found the hostel – a small place right on the waterfront by the small marina, again with stunning views from the upper rooms.   We had the whole hostel to ourselves for 2 nights, which was great and much more homely than staying in a hotel.  We had a warm welcome from the landlady – Ann Marie – sorted out the rooms and retired to the pub next door (how handy is that?) for a few scoops…  The hostel has a backyard, accessed by big barn doors at the front of the building and we got all the bikes in here – this was perfect because it was locked and completely secure, which gave everyone peace of mind.

	Will, the birthday boy.

We started the evening off (Blue T shirt night, of course!) with a presentation to Will of an HD alarm clock on behalf of the club for his 64^th birthday.  We also actually managed to find a HOC T-shirt to fit him and he looked very fetching!

An attempt to find a restaurant to take 17 people without booking on a Saturday night, as you might expect, failed miserably, so we split off into several sections and did our own thing.   However,  I booked a restaurant for everyone together for the Sunday night, as this would be the last night of the trip.

Everyone had a good night and got back safely – we found to our delight that many of the pubs in Ballycastle have lock-ins – the local constabulary are extremely flexible about this, so as you can imagine, we took advantage of the longer hours….   However, top prize goes to Tony Bailey and Ming, who – I am reliably informed – arrived back home giggling like a pair of schoolgirls…??   That’s LIKE a pair of schoolgirls, not WITH, I hasten to add – although it probably wasn’t for want of trying, eh lads…??

Sunday morning came and the weather was a little damp, although not pouring down – first on the list was breakfast, so we hit the little café 2 doors down from the hostel.  I think we took them a bit by surprise – they were not used to having so many customers first thing!!  We decided to visit the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge first, which was about 5 miles away from Ballycastle and rolled up.  It was very busy (bank holiday) but we crossed without any problems – the scenery again was stunning.  The climb back up, however, really sorted out the men from the boys – and that’s me back to the gym pronto!!!

The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.		Bushmills Distillery

We moved on to the Bushmills Distillery, which was again very busy – I hadn’t booked the tour, as they had asked for the money upfront and I couldn’t be sure how many would go or if we would get there on time, so consequently it was full.  But we spent some time having something to eat and drink in the caff (I think Will was tasting something a bit stronger than coffee…) and had a potter around the souvenir shop.

 The weather was clearing nicely by the time we got out and everything had dried out, so we headed for our third destination of the day – the Giant’s Causeway.   This was again very busy but Rob managed to find us a great parking space away from the crush (the traffic was terrible) and we (lazily!) caught the bus to go down to the coast.  It is a truly spectacular sight – the rock formations are so unusual and the coastline so dramatic – there were a few too many people around for my liking but we managed to get a couple of great group photos which you can see on the website.

Giant's Causeway

One of the buses broke down (heat exhaustion?) so we had a bit of a wait to get back, but no problems.  On the way back to the car park, we spied a Goldwing trying to manoeuvre his way out of a space, so we helpfully asked him if he needed a pull back…  the answer came “no, it’s ok thanks, it’s got reverse gear…”!!!!!!!   Woosies, the lot of them…

Then it was back to Ballycastle via the inland route, which was also stunning and the satnav did very well, apart from taking us on a little dead end detour to a farm…..

Back at Ballycastle, it was a procession of people for the showers and then everyone was out to the restaurant for our last night meal, which was really good and it was a great evening.  We then split up again and some went further into town, others back to the pubs near the hostel and from observations the following morning, a good night was had by all!!

Monday came and it was brilliant sunshine as we left Ballycastle, with many thanks to Ann Marie for a great stay.   But as we rode up over the hills, we could see mist coming in – at first I thought it would go over us but it was really low and as we came back down to the coast, we could see that this was sea mist rolling in – proper Irish mist!!!

The ride down the coast was a mixture of sunshine and mist, but still very stunning and enjoyable.  We stopped at a country park for something to eat and then rode gently back down to Carrickfergus for a quick stop before continuing down to the port at Belfast.

The satnav gave us a bit of a wobble as we approached the port – or so we thought, as we went sailing past the exits marked “Ferry port”, but fair enough, the little machine was spot on this time and took us to the correct dock for our ferry back to Stranraer.

A mirror-smooth crossing for the way back was great – the only hiccup we encountered was a delay of about an hour because the ferry couldn’t get into the port due to “low tides”, so we had to wait until the water levels went up a bit!!   This put us a bit behind for the long ride home, but we filled up just outside the port, having said goodbye to Andy and Dave Tankard, who had taken the extremely sensible step of booking a hotel in Stranraer for the night and riding home the next day.

The rest of us cracked on back down the A75 at a good speed and only stopped briefly at the side of the road once so that those of us who were wearing sunglasses when we left the port could take them off and see where we were going in the diminishing light…!!   What a relief that was!

The main stop was at Southwaite services just outside Carlisle, where we had a brew, filled up and put on wets for the journey home – just for warmth really, as the weather had held out brilliantly for us.  I personally went for the record, wearing a total of 3 jackets and no doubt looking like a 2-wheeled female Michelin man in luminous orange!!   We said goodbye to Mark and to Sally and Steve at this point, who were cutting across to join the A1.

The rest of us headed on down the motorway -  traffic was negligible as we were travelling so late that we had completely missed the Bank Holiday home rush – result!!

Rob and I finally made it back home at about 1am, tired but really pleased with the way the trip had gone.

We had a cracking time and sincerely  hope that everyone else enjoyed it as much as we did – if people want to do it again next year, no problem, we can either do the same area or go somewhere a bit further afield, like over towards the west of Ireland – it’s a club decision and up for discussion!

Thanks very much indeed to everyone who came on the trip – it was brilliant and – like all our HOC trips – people just get on and have a good time – fabulous!

Here’s to the next one…..!

Deb