Day 4
Anyway, Wednesday we split up and I headed to Dublin. Just over 3 hrs on the ferry.
I was all set to stay at my mother in laws house in MultyFarnham, however, due to some miss-understandings, and arguments with the other half that didn’t happen. I decided to try and find a camping shop to buy a new tent, as I wasn’t going to sleep another night in the leaking sieve that was my current tent.
I Docked just after 5 and set off on my Irish Trip. Well, I made a start! Dublin traffic is worse than London, and it was stop-start all the way. It was also like a sauna and I was baking in all my gear. I got lost trying to find the shop, as the sat nav tried to take me down a tram only road so I gave up and found another shop by accident.
It was at this point after deciding the tent was too dear for one use, that the bike wouldn’t start in gear. Normally I can pull the clutch in and hit the starter and it goes, but it was like it was dead, I kept trying and eventually, she turned over. I decided to head to another uncle in Longwood.
After some more riding, the clutch got worse and worse, until it was at the bar with no disengagement of the clutch! At this point, I was crapping myself thinking the trip was over already, and I was stuck in Dublin for 3 days until my return Ferry.
However, I gingerly made it out by cutting the bike engine to get into neutral and then start the bike and put in gear and slip the little clutch I had to pull away.
On getting to the N4 the speeds picked up, and after 10miles the clutch returned to normal operation and was fine ever since.
Anyway, I made my may to Danjos and they remembered me from my 1st visit last year, and I chatted. They offered me a place to stay for the night after I explained my issues. Penny had her own bed in their garage too.
I explained I was heading down to Kerry the next day to complete the Ring of Kerry and then hoping to head north after.
They treated me to dinner out, and I had a good chat. The next morning I headed to Mullingar to buy and a new tent. After a massive search, I found a cheap tent as only going to be used one night as I decided I was going to find a hostel in Killarney for the Thursday night.
The weather was nice, and I headed to 3hrs or so to Killarney. Around Limerick and Tipperary, the heavens opened so I stopped off and relaxed for a bit, and then continued on to the hostel.
18 euro got me a bed with breakfast, lucky for my I was the only person in my dorm, I was a bit jealous of the NZ guy who was sharing with 3 Swiss girls though.
The place was more like a hotel, the bathroom was nice, bath and shower and great looking.
I cooked myself dinner and bought a few drinks and then settled down to watch some Netflix.
The next morning I checked out, and the girl at the desk printed me off some maps an directions. The 1st stop was Torc Waterfall.
and a video (4k)
Torc was great, lots of folks there taking selfies on the waterfall and other pics, I climbed down a bit further and got some images from some rocks towards the center of the stream. My polarising filter fell off and I picked it up and dried it off, but unfortunately, It kept steaming up so a few images look very cloudy.
Next stop was Ladies View.
(Foggy Pic edited)
The weather was changeable from sunny warm sky’s, to shocking rainstorms, but I plowed on. The roads were great in places, nice and twisty (N70/N71/N72) but also a laden pan, wet roads and unfamiliarity do not lend well for fully attacking them. however, no buses caused any issues.
After stopping here, I just carried on and stopped off every so often for some great views.
