Day 2 - Sailing to Ireland

It came as no surprise that I woke up at 4.00am. After reading for an hour, I had failed to get back to sleep, so I got up & started writing a new blog, Four Go To Ireland. Three cups of coffee later, whilst looking out over the golf course, I had finished the blog for Day 1.

At 08.30am, Chris & Angela gave us a knock & we went to breakfast. It was an extensive selection of delights. We all ate way too much, well I did, but in my defence I hadn’t eaten a Full English for the last 4 months.

45 minutes later, we waddled out & visited the petite, but beautiful 11th century chapel for a couple of photos. Angela gave a sermon at the lectern & Jackie signed the Visitor’s Book.

It was then back to the room, pack, load up the car & bike 🏍 & off we headed in convoy. We picked up the M48, then the M4. We stopped at Welcome Break Service Station at Sarn Hill, where I filled up with petrol & Chris cleaned his windscreen & in the process managed to trash his windscreen. He did manage to repair it.

We continued at a steady 70 - 80mph along the M4, then took the A48, A40 & finally A477 into Pembroke. We arrived around 12.30pm & stopped at Pembroke Harbour as we were a bit early for the ferry. My buttocks were aching again, hopefully they will get used to the saddle! We watched our ferry arrive & dock.

Angela had emailed me the booking document for myself & my bike. At the harbour I got to examine it on my phone & to my horror noticed that the bike registration was wrong. It read ALX, when my bike was KLX. Brilliant, I had visions of my bike not being allowed on the ferry & it was bound to be Jackie’s fault. It wasn’t!

At 1.30 we joined the queue at the dock. When I got to the check in booth, I stopped & dug my phone out hoping they wouldn’t notice the ‘misprint’. As I struggled to find the email, the girl in the booth asked me to move forward so she could read the registration number. Damn, I wasn’t going to get away with this!

Suddenly, whilst I still struggled to find my booking document email, the girl handed me a boarding pass & told me to proceed. Strangely the boarding pass has my name on it, which makes no sense to me at all. Never mind, I wasn’t going to argue.

I pulled up with the only other motorcycle in the queue & said “Hello” to the persons with it. They reluctantly gave me a half hearted nod of acknowledgement. The driver was bald headed & covered in tattoos & later when we disembarked I saw he was wearing a Vikings Motorcycle Club jacket, who are similar to the Hells Angels & have a reputation for violence.

I joined the others at the car & we waited in the sun to board. I got chatting to an elderly Irish couple in a red VW Beetle Convertible & I bored them with our misadventures in America in the same car. They gave me a tip of where to visit in Baltimore, near to where we are staying for the first week.

When I returned to my bike, several other motorcyclists were also in line. I chatted with a guy from Portsmouth who was on a Moto Guzzi, who told me that it was his 4th bike & he had recently just completed over half a million miles in total on them. I also discovered that he & most of the other motorcyclists were heading to Cork, for the Irish equivalent of the Isle of Man TT being held on Sunday.

Eventually we boarded the Irish Ferry, us motorcyclists first, where we had to secure our bikes to the floor using ratchet straps. I then made my way to the Club Class Lounge on Deck 11, apparently it was only £20 extra.

We took our table & seats beside the window & even before the ferry had set off we tucked into the free food & drink. It is fair to say that during the 3 & a half hour crossing to Rosslare Harbour we got our money’s worth. The girls certainly did with the wine!

At the start of the crossing, we were able to watch the Ashes Cricket on my iPad, but as we got out into International waters we lost the signal. I decided to give my Mum & Dad a quick call, which turned out to be a mistake, the most expensive call I have ever made. Luckily I only spoke to my Dad who likes to keep phone calls short, otherwise it could have been a lot worse. After making the call, EE sent me a text saying that I was connected to a maritime network and my call cost £2.40/minute!

On the way out we passed Skokholm, Skomer& Grassholm Islands, which I later read attract an abundance of wildlife including dolphins & killer whales. I will pay more attention on the return crossing .

As we approached Ireland, we passed the minuscule Tuskar Rock Lighthouse, before docking at Rosslare around 7:00pm. I unstrapped my bike & disembarked. I was asked by the Garda what my Nationality was, but interestingly at no point did I produce any documentation to prove who I was etc etc.

I met up with the others at the Rosslare Port Lodge, our accommodation for the night. It can probably best be described as functional, the rooms are more like Police section house rooms. We will probably cancel our booking here for the return journey!

After dumping the bags in the room, we went straight out to the nearest pub, the Kilrane Inn, which is the 1st Pub in Ireland or Last Pub in Ireland depending on which way you are travelling!

We all had a pint of Guinness, when in Rome, except Jackie who had a cider from Somerset! After just two drinks we walked back to our motel about half a mile away. En-route we stopped at a Memorial for those who suffered & died in the fight for Irish Freedom in the Wexford Rebellion of 1798.

We then stopped for a couple of portions of chips (& a battered sausage for me) to eat on the walk home. By 9.30pm we were back in the room, showered & I would probably have been asleep if it wasn’t for the snoring on the other side of the wall. I’m not naming names!

Song of the Day - Sailing by Rod StewartRead more