Well.....amazing what a jet lag induced coma can do for your sleep. Popped up at the crack of 5.....and felt good. Unfolded to get out of me Hobbit bed.....bit of a challenge but managed.
    
Today I need to get to Holyhead in Whales....cause a ferry is waiting for me. So got lots of time.....Ferry is out at 11:50, need to be there for 11:20....no problem...thats why I drove to Birmingham.....to make my day easier.....so I thought.....
 
To start, one thing I like about Europe is that you hear every language ever invented in a day sometimes. Today I got to hear a friendly waiter with some kinda english accent try to ask a Spaniard if he wanted Hot Breakfast.....LMAO. I feel soooo much better about me language attempts...it was painful to watch....sort of like an episode of Faulty Towers, great way to get a start snorting coffee through your nose.....wish I could describe it but words fail me. Kinda rare LOL.
 
So since I had so much time today I only needed to drive about 2 and a half hours lotsa time.....I leisurely packed up and hit the road....the writing was on the wall about 5 minutes after I left however. Hit a traffic log jam about 5 mins from the hotel.....country road....lined up for miles ..... not wide enough for filtering even...so was trapped. No worries eventually I will get on the m50....motorway that is.....
 
Okay...I now know what M stands for..... MENTAL. Friggin Hell what pandamonium.....mile after mile of log jam....and me filtering...variable speed limits, where the speed limit was 40 mph.....yup....and that felt fast...all the filtering in the world and it was still slow.  

 Then to add insult....I am not exagerating but there is a speed camera evey few 100 yards it seems.....and you have to slow down....so you actually have to drive the speed limit...frig. Did not factor this into me day....finally the road opened up a bit and I got to get a few miles under me belt but its not like a Edmonton Calgary run.....crap even the Highways have roundabouts....no wonder the Brits don't seem to travel far...its outta fear of killing someone from frustration I suspect.  

 Least I am not even thinking about the left hand stuff now....if you think you need more practice....I bet I have a record for laps around a roundabout....word of advice when in doubt about your turnoff...go for another lap....its kinda fun.......even though they go the wrong way....and I thing I finally seen the ultimate in bureaucracy.... get this, guys are filling pot holes....from a truck. they had a pilot vehicle you had to follow to go around the truck. So we are talking 30 feet. you had to wait.....cause they closed it to one lane....then the pilot vehicle wwould meet you....turn around and you would follow him....yup 30 feet. I was speechless. It was very serious stuff too....LOL
As I headed north most of the roads became sane and very country.....through lil villages...and again speed cameras freakin everywhere.  

The scenery just kept getting better. Somewhere entered Whales.....crickey...they really do speak a differant language. The signs are bilingual...Welsh on top and my o my what a strange language...even the town names cause me to spit up trying to pronounce them.....I learned that ARAF means slow down.....only problem I had was that me GPS (aka b****ing betty) kept telling me that I was getting later and later for arrival and I was getting closer and closer to me 30 minute cut off....so had to twist the wrist...a lil bit at first....
 
This is a bit sad cause OMG is Whales ever cool...the road became this twisty Nirvana.....and the lil towns and villages .... and pubs all looked really cool. Really wanted to stop and take some pics but no freakin way I could.....so had to twist the wrist a lil bit more....each village had to slow to about 30....lotta villages....open road albeit twisty...oh and did I mention it started to rain....so bit slick.  

 I really had to crank it after a while...so again wicked looking countryside no pics....as I blew through the scenic parts.....I was in a national forest at one point it was like travelling down a hallway of trees. It was so green and twisty with rock walls on the edge of the road....not much margin for error at all. Definately got the pulse up.  
 
 Finally I hit an open freeway...the A50 I think for the final run into Holyhead.....I redlined in an attempt to make the ferry.....I think the top box causes the front to get light, weaving at speed reallly sucks. So had to slow a wee bit....but in the end all me efforts were in vain....missed the ferry by 2 minutes...yup two minutes.....I tried the but I'm canadian thing....and nope....rules and regs....sighhhhh. 

  Funny thing as that I went to the wrong booth at first.....had I gone to the correct one first I probably would have made it......ack.   Good news was that there was another ferry that departed two hours later...bad news...its the slow ferry...ahh well whatever...its holiday time. So parked it in a coffee shop......not a pub....still not sure if that was a wise choice....wittled away a bit of time and .....headed over to the ferry. Had to wait in the rain for a bit but it wasn't too bad then drove on the ferry strapped the bike down and headed up to the lounge. Was kinda neat got a club class so free drinks and food....my subconscience must have know this and that is why I went to the coffe shop earlier...  

 Officially the biggest ship I've been on. The lounge was nice. Front and center view of fog...and water..from a leather couch....the crossing took about 3 and a half hours and it was neat to see the Emerald Isle rise into view from the mist. I was a little worried it was going to be raining still but the clouds looked like they were lifting a bit....crossed me fingers.
   
Shot off the ferry like a bat outta hell....was kinda fun ripping down the ramp as the exhaust echoed off the walls. Pretty inspirational.... Ta Da...Dublin......first impression...kind drab....... probably cause docks are in the industrial area. Either way started to think that I should over night there as Belfast isn't too far away and I could make it tomorrow....had planned to get there today..but ah well.... needed gas o hall first. Ended up in down town right out of the gate. Seems they are having an F1 event on Sunday....might try to catch it if possible as its a non race day on the Isle of Man (races every second day because of rain potential). We will see........ either way got to ride the track lol right past the grandstand....at 20 mph wahooooooo.

 Got gas.....then me phone rang. It was Mike from the bike shop...just checking up making sure I was okay. Nice touch. He pointed me to a nice hotel in the pub district. Easy as that LOL. Well as usual all the fun places are in one way areas....I drove about 20 times around the place till I made a decent approach and landed. Nice gal at the desk she upgraded me and I managed to make my first oopsy.....don't ask or joke about the "United Kingdom" in the Republic of Ireland. In a conversation with the other guy at the desk about whether my sim card would work as its hard to keep track of who is in the UK...I jokingly said...."who the heck is in the UK for pete's sake cause my card can't figure it out".....bit of silence....then the "Ya...we don't joke about that here!".....then he laughed.  

Ackwarrrrrrddddddd I grinned a bit...he said don't worry about it. Would have made a good Youtube vid..... funny thing is I know the history......ah well no harm no fowl.  

They gave some advice on where to wander around and off I wandered. The economy is definately in the tank....austerity vote posters every where each sign post has a vote yes sign.....and a vote no sign...or sometimes two....bizzare. Finally tripped on a cool looking pub and settled in. The Guinness tastes better here for sure. Had some Irish salmon....and they broke out the Irish Rovers LOL well actually it was a local band and they played on till the locals got together to show some real Irish jigs. Of course everyone in the pub was super frieendly and got to chat a bit was kinda cool but....was gettin late and I was gettin tired so ...wandered off to bed. Need to do anther ferry run tomorrow....I shant be late......