{"id":483,"date":"2015-09-27T14:58:05","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T21:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/?p=483"},"modified":"2021-11-29T04:41:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:41:19","slug":"september-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"September – Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bike1\"<\/a>Finding a motorcycle to rent (hire) in Ireland is no easy task – insurance over there is horribly expensive.\u00a0 Therefore – the three places in the whole country that rent bikes are all booked up.\u00a0 I got very lucky (Luck of the Irish) and was able to reserve a BMW 1200GS for one day.\u00a0 It was raining when we got there and rain was forecast for most of the day.\u00a0 We were told that we were under no obligation to go but I knew that it was now or never.\u00a0 Really, there was no decision to make – we were going regardless.<\/p>\n

Let the adventure begin!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Ireland<\/a>Our day would be spent riding around The Ring of Kerry.\u00a0 It is a scenic ride around the Iveragh Peninsula in southwest Ireland\u2019s County Kerry.\u00a0 The route takes you though rugged coastal landscapes and rural seaside villages.\u00a0 There are plenty of places to stop and historical sights to see along the way but we didn’t do too much of that since it was cold (high temp that day was 63\u00b0) and raining most of the time.\u00a0 By the time we got done with lunch\/dinner in Kenmare, we barely got the bike back in time.\u00a0 (For those of you that follow Robin on Facebook, Rossbeigh is where she went on her horseback ride.)\"Bike6\"<\/a>\"Bike12\"<\/a>
\nDespite the weather, the Ireland countryside was spectacular and when it was safe to do so, we stopped to take a couple pictures.\u00a0 By the time we got to\u00a0Cahersiveen (45 min), it was time to get out of our wet jackets, have a beverage and try to dry out and warm up.\u00a0\u00a0 Baileys and the hottest coffee available for my co-pilot, and a good old Coke for me.\u00a0 The bike is patiently waiting out in the rain for us to get back on.\"Bike2\"<\/a>\"Bike3\"<\/a>I wanted to take the ferry across this little bay but I left all the money at home (too excited I guess).\u00a0 We found out that it was only \u20ac3.00 for both of us and the bike, I actually had that in pocket change so we hopped on the ferry for the 5 minute ride across to Valentia Island.\u00a0 Valentia was the eastern terminus of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island for one hundred years, ending with Western Union International terminating operations in 1966.\"Bike4-1\"<\/a>
\n\"Bike15\"<\/a>The weather broke just enough (and at the perfect time) for us to get a view of Skellig Michael<\/a>, a rocky island seven miles offshore.\u00a0 Skellig Michael is famous for an abandoned 7th-century Christian monastery; can you imagine, back in the 800’s living on a rock seven miles offshore?\u00a0 Today, it is a tourist attraction.\u00a0 Several of the Star Wars movies have scenes that were filmed on the island.\u00a0 Weather permitting; over 100 people take the 45 minute boat ride out to see it.\u00a0 Robin thought it would be a fun day trip until she found out that the only way to get to the monastery was up these 600 steps (with no handrail) – then<\/strong> you have to walk back down.<\/strong>\u00a0 At that point, wild horses could not have dragged her…\"Bike18\"<\/a>
\nPeat<\/a> is still burned in Ireland and the smoke from a “turf fire” is distinctly different from that of a wood fire.\u00a0 I’m told that if you go to Ireland in the cooler months, many of the pubs burn turf fires in their fireplaces and that seats near the hearth are the most popular.\u00a0 This cottage was burning peat – that smell (love it or hate it) is 100% Ireland, it must have mystical elements or something.\u00a0 On a motorcycle, you are actually “there” wherever “there” might be, as opposed to being inside a vehicle, where your sensory experience is mostly limited to sight.\u00a0 It is SO much better on a bike, even when the elements make it a challenge – Just one of the reasons I love to ride…\"Bike5\"<\/a>\"Bike9\"<\/a>\"Bike7\"<\/a>
\nAfter a brief stop in Kenmare, it was time to leave the coast.\u00a0 We headed up into the Killarney National Forest.\u00a0 The roads were narrow and twisty but in my book, that’s cause for celebration.\u00a0 The blue sky was a welcome sight and we weren’t getting wet anymore.
\n\"Bike8\"<\/a>\"Muckross<\/a>
\nOne of the attractions in the Killarney National Forest is the Muckross Abbey<\/a>.\u00a0 It was established in 1448 as a as a Franciscan friary and has a violent and interesting history.\u00a0 Alas, we were out of time so we’ll add that to the list for our next visit to the Emerald Isle.<\/p>\n

\"Muckross<\/a>

Muckross Lake, Killarney National Forest, County Kerry, Ireland.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was excited to have a chance to ride a motorcycle in Ireland and it was everything I thought it would be.\u00a0 I didn’t think it would take all day to ride 140 miles but I would jump at the chance to do it again.\u00a0 The BMW 1200 GS Adventure was more like riding a dirt bike than a low riding Harley Davidson\u00a0 The roads in Ireland can be very bumpy though, and with over 8 inches of suspension travel – the 1200 GS Adventure is perfect for the conditions.\u00a0 It would be a blast to come over for three or four weeks and tour the island on a bike.\u00a0 Maybe someday…..\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See the rest of the Ireland adventure here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Finding a motorcycle to rent (hire) in Ireland is no easy task – insurance over there is horribly expensive.\u00a0 Therefore – the three places in the whole country that rent bikes are all booked up.\u00a0 I got very lucky (Luck … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/recent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}