Wow, what a day........

Woke up all cheery in Dublin...had some breaky, loaded up and hopped on the bike. Decided I was not going to miss the ferry this time so headed for Belfast right away....only thing was that I wasn't taking the freeway..so hit the first country road that headed north....it was a great weather day.

Great decision and I even entertained a few drivers as I was a bit lost on the way out of town so had to sort the GPS...pulled onto the shoulder and had to stop...Betty always wants me travelling on the freeway so I have to check any route she makes for me. Sure enough she routed me on the freeway...so at the side of the road I sorted it to get on the nearest country road.  

 Now the freeway is pretty busy and had to honk on it to get into traffic...this is where I get to entertain. The bike has power..and a topbox...the combo I think makes it want to wheelie at the flick of the wrist...not so bad...the fun part is that the ASC kicks in as soon as it thinks your going to kill yourself and does whatever it can to get the front tire on the ground. It starts pulling the throttle back quick..result...you get thrown forward...front wheel makes contact with ground before your throttle hand can roll off...system thinks all is good now...this happens before you can roll off throttle quick enough.....result another wheelie...and so on and so on until your get it coordinated...end result...is that you look like a cowboy on a mad bull with a bike helmet hangin on for life....and trying to merge nicely....quite fun and I'm sure it looks crazy. Hard on the neck....if I turn off the ASC....I'll just be buying another set of tires...so I'll leave it on....

Off I went, found the coolest country road...was what I imagined Ireland to be...green lush narrow, and very curvy....was an absolute blast to ride....spectacular scenery. Stopped a few times to just take in the view...talked to some sheep. Lots of sheep here.....I just kept going up the country roads till I finally had to get on the freeway to get to Belfast. Its only a couple of hours from Dublin at least.  

Ireland was in kmh....Northern Ireland....mph....made for a bit of speed confusion but sorted it quick...there is not any signs that I saw to tell me I was in Northern Ireland other than the speed signs changed to the circle signs with the red border.....all good. Remember Northern Ireland is in the UK....Ireland is not. Very important....

Rolled into downtown Belfast...right to parliment square. No bombers nearby so looked like it could be fun as a big international festival was going on. So found a place to abandon the bike and started to wander around downtown Belfast. I was able to find a beer hut at the festival and yup.....get a Guiness. Dangggg it tastes good here. Was funny seems its like a free speech area as a car just parked on the side walk in front of city hall...with a lil gaggle of folks. They set up a PA and started to on a religious rant....and sing hymns...I thought it was a bit odd...but seems the locals were not impressed as a few started shouting at em "Shut up ya daft arses!" Never dull at least.  

Warning...good luck sorting out simm cards for a phone...In the England...3 worked..sorta..was good in Holyhead....Dublin...worked but couldn't get data....got a vodaphone card and it worked...So in Belfast....it didn't work so good...so swapped the 3 card and it seemed to work ok.....no idea what will work on the isle of Man...it's in the UK too ....but frig who can keep up with carriers and roaming charges.  

So felt like it was time it move on rumor had it that Titanic was built here so took a peak on a map and it seems they have the Titanic Quarter...seems like the place to go soooo off I went.  

Wow...they built a whole area to capitalize on the fame....and of all the luck I missed the hundredth anniversary of the launch...by a day...stoopid ferry. So I found a place to park and wandered to the Museum. Very bizzare....its built on the spot where the ship was built and is the same height as the ship. Very modern looking. So went inside and took the tour. Kinda cheesy....well a lot cheesy actually but one spot was kinda cool. Imagine a tv screen that is showing the launch of the Titanic from the front looking at the ship as it slides away into the water....now imagine this mounted near the ceiling and below it are windows that are glazed over with murals....so you can not see out. As you watch the launch...it hits the water....and the crowd cheers....then poof the windows change and you can see outside...the exact area that it launched from. Must say it was a bit interesting to see as a hundred years and 1 day ago.....

After me sentimental moment I wandered outside to the drydock that they have since filled it in but they have the outline of theTitanic as it would have sat in the dock looking from the top down.....so you can walk the length of it...so I did...it was definately big...and long. Bike boots are not the best for walking specially on concrete. Belfast is pretty proud of building the largest unsinkable ship...bit ironic.....I might not advertise so much personally but that's me I guess. They are cashing in on it thats for sure. 
 
So on the way out I asked a gal who looked local about the mural houses...she grabbed a map and started to tell me in a cool accent about where to go .... where I would see british flags n where I would see Republic flags and the area where all the action happened. I thanked her and off I went.....

Wow...if you are into history at all...it felt like I stepped right into it.   The area is sort of a poor working class district with a lot of row type housing and the houses have murals painted on them depicting certain politcal views like free the prisoners, also memorials to fallen heros, most of them are for the IRA and the cause and they really put a bad light on the Brits....then without even knowing...I was on the demarcation zone....dead mans lands...big gates barb wire and you can just drive through it....very interesting.....so I stopped and the murals were all down the wall on the republican side...about bloody sunday etc etc.... it seemed very fresh still.

So I kept going..the british area was all done up in flags for the big Diamond Jubilee coming up next weekend.....not a brit flag to be seen in the Republican side....then I ended up driving along this huge wall....all full of murals again...cept this time....memorials...and paintings of hope for the future.....
One that caught my eye had a saying on it....quite ponient....

"I wise man keeps one eye on the past......a fool keeps two!" Very fitting and it seems that they are trying to get past the images of the past. Its going to take a while however obviously. I wandered around the area quite a bit. Time for some Guinness to lighten up the thoughts....so I found a lil pub...had to order food so chips it was....and looked at the time... ack...pounded back me gunness and hopped on the bike and hit the road to Larne....thats where the ferry is. It's only about 25 miles away so no worries...took the coastalroad...very scenic......and I hit me first Orange Men parade...wow....they still are poking the turd....let it go people.....  

So it was a great lil ride...lots a twists n curves...and poof I ended up at the ferry....a lil bit early. So was only about 10 bikes from the front...in row 1....went to row two and the gal gave me s***....ack....not sure what the big deal was....put me tail between me legs and went to the proper line This is where I met me Irish posse....good bunch of guys that started to fill me in....we went for a coffee to wait as it was about 2 hours till the ferry...and chatted....one of the guys had a motto guzzi...I used to think they were nice till they filled me in nope hunks of junk LOL. Funny bunch....I need a translator cause it was like an episode of Snatch....frig...I needed subtitles for a couple of guys I'm sure they thought I was daft....laughing before the punch line n stuff oops....they seemed to forgive the "Continental"....seems thats what us north americans are.... I did get my digs in...specially about the wrong side of the road thing....frig....

So headed back to the ferry and holy crap what a diff an hour makes.... I've never seen so many bikes in one spot...all lined up everybody leathered up....mostly serious sports bikes...but I swear one of every make and model..except a Goldwing...LMAO....not many Harleys either. Ohhh not sure I mentioned I'm catching the midnight ferry it arrives around 4 in the morning yay......long day.  

So the Race Marshal....gave the nod and we all started up the engines and s***ttt it sounded like and MotoGP start..... except..no quick launch...then the gal that gave me s***....hand picked types of bikes to board first....seemed the smaller the bike the sooner you boarded..if you had panniers....you sat...I had panniers.....so I sat....she was mean about it too....but eventually I got the flag wave to go...and got on the boat....holy crap....organized chaos...never seen anything like it....bikes stuffed everywhere. You follow the guy in front of you and when he stops you stop....just get off and put it on the side stand and they lash it down to a rail next to you. Its a low ceiling too so had to seriously duck the head driving in and make a uturn....in a narrow area....on an RT...I'm good...others couldn't make the turn on smaller bikes LOL. Don't get in the way when they are lashing cause they will tie your appendiges to it if you are in the way.  

So wandered upstairs and the boys saved me a seat and off I went to find a Guinness.....bikers were layed out everywhere.....seriously in every corner a dude in leather riding gear.....I thing it held 300 bikes....and I believe it. Definately a party atmosphere....I was getting nackered...but couldn't sleep so just sat back n chatted for a bit. Pete one o me mates...nice kid...chatted me ear off. So the trip went quick...but got in pretty early/late...I dunno...lets just say its all nighter now for me. Then bonggggg..... Ladies n gentlemen proceed to your vehicles and get ready to go. Mad dash to get on the bikes as the doors are locked until this point. Unlash em yourself and hop on...and wait for the signal....

Now let me just preface I'm deep in the bowels of this boat.....someone got the signal....then the MotoGP started up again....engine reving like crazy..in a big steel sardine can....holy s*** was it loud....I still think I'm still breathing out blue smoke....was feeling light headed by the time we rolled out...its a mad dash for the ramp...again controlled pandimonium...good fun actually. So some where in all me haste...I never seemed bothered to look at a map.....the directions I got were to get on the course...and head for Kirk Michael on the other side of the island...you can only go one way as the moutain side is converted to a one way road.  

So it was funny all the bikes took off in various directions like they knew what they were doing...I sat back in a parking lot to try to sort meself.....and off I went...I had gotten a stay home room not a hotel...they are pretty hard to get. Vivien and David's place.

 I started to see padding and advertising signs...crappp I was on the TT course.....so.....twisted the wrist a bit...and zoom..... no one on the road except bikes from the ferry and the odd car now all those bikes were wandering about like bumble bees totally lost. I had about 20 kms to go and as long as I stayed on the course I was good. Finally the lost were left behind and I cranked it...passed a ton of sports bikes...wtf boys use em as they were meant to be..sheesh.  

The sun was coming up no one in front of me and I was having fun bit nippy but had a big ass grin on.....I hit Kirk Michael a bit too soon....so after having crappy directions to the house..I decided I better call them cause I couldn't find it...right about there....the simm card craps out and says nope can't do that..ack which card to use??? Finally someone came out of his house to talk to the guy in the BMW driving up n down the roads....crap it's a village and I couldn't find it.....she (Vivienne the owner) said turn on "Estate"......however the the Estate road sign was in Manx...."Kerroocruin" would a been good to know that. So the chap I talked to knew Vivien and he pointed me in the right direction...nice guy.

Got there...bloody tired must say....and wasn't totaly sure if I should ring the bell or not it was 5 in the morning....finally closed me eyes..rang the bell and Vivienne popped out with a big grin on. She sorted me and told me to get some sleep.....but not too long as the roads will close and you need to sort out where to be for tomorrow race day as roads will be closed and you can end up trapped.....

Off to me room ... quite nice .... got me riding gear off and passed out.....long day but I was actually on the Isle of Man! How cool is that?