September 20, 2019- Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm feeling a little scatterbrained so this entry should be interesting.  This morning we had a great breakfast at our hotel and continued our conversation with Gordon and Margaret who we first met last night at dinner.  They are Scottish and bicyclists. I have included a short video that captures their great senses of humor and wonderful accents.  Sooz and I really enjoyed their company.

We loaded up the bike and rode the exhausting distance of 28 miles to a hotel in downtown Edinburgh. Sooz had a difficult time finding a room because most hotels were full.  We are staying 2 nights at a nice modern place right next to a train and tram station with access to downtown.

Once again, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. No clouds, warm sun and cool shade.  We decided to walk to the Edinburgh Castle and explored it for almost 3 hours.  It is a major compound built in the 1500's that sits on top of Castle Rock, no kidding.  I took a lot of pictures and included some below.

The castle is much more than just a structure. Each section includes a museum showing weapons, uniforms, ornaments, art work, and written information giving visitors a real feel for the use of the castle over the last almost 500 years.

We then had a nice steak dinner on the way back to our room.  Tomorrow Sooz made reservations for a tour of the Edinburgh Museum which is supposed to be amazing, and a tour of the parts of town that inspired J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.

Walking up to the Edinburgh Castle

Long lost member of the Clark Clan (maybe)

The Castle is built right into the rock

Suit of armor

Statue of Mary Queen of Scots made in the 1500's

Robert the Bruce King of Scotland from 1306 until his death in 1329

Old wall

Sunning at the Castle

The original Thin Red Line

Cartoon from the 1700's making fun of the quality of Scottish recruits into the British army

View from the Castle

They were pretty tasty

Gordon's high-tech electric bicycle loaded and ready for the road

Gordon and Margaret

September 19, 2019 - Biggar, Scotland

Had breakfast in our hotel in Belfast and then rode to the ferry loading area.  I took a short video of our waitress who was a lot of fun to talk with. We had ordered our ferry tickets in advance so it was pretty simple to pass into the waiting area. Our ferry was scheduled to leave at 11:30 am but we didn't get on board until nearly noon. We parked the bike in line next to 2 other BMW motorcycles and chatted with the riders.  One guy was from Germany, he had a fairly new GS Adventure and takes 2 to 3 vacations a year each for 2-3 weeks while working a full-time job.  The other guy was Irish and was riding an older GS.

The ferry trip was smooth and uneventful which is nice.  The weather all day was gorgeous so we went out on deck for a little fresh air.  We got a little mixed up remembering how to get back to our strapped down bike.  The bike was on the 3rd deck front and our passenger area was on the 7th deck stern.  By the time we got to the bike we were the last vehicle to disembark.

We rode back roads winding through the country. The scenery was beautiful. Lots and lots of sheep with some cattle mixed in.  The roads were narrow and lined by stone walls and vegetation.  We only traveled about 125 miles on the bike but it took us over 4 hours.  Taking pictures slowed us down as well as the narrow roads.  All went well.

We were aiming for Edinburgh and decided to call it a day about 25 miles south in Biggar. Tomorrow we will play tourists in Edinburgh.  We ate dinner at the hotel.  The meal was good and there were a lot of locals which was a good sign.  We chatted with a couple visiting from Australia and another couple from Scotland.  Good day all around.

About 60 miles south of Edinburgh

60 miles south of Edinburgh

Typical country road in inland Scotland

Lots and lots of sheep

More country road

Farm road

At a gas stop

On deck of the ferry 

Waiting to board the ferry

Another bike waiting to board

Nice BMW 1200 GS Adventure

Sooz and fellow bikers

Mostly eaten breakfast

September 18, 2019 - Belfast, Northern Ireland

We got going pretty early this morning catching a cab around 8:30 am and going to Celtic Rider 10 miles west on Dublin.  We met Paul Rawlins Owner and Managing Director of CR.  I had reserved our bike with Paul ahead of time and signed us up to take rider safety training to get familiar with riding on the left side of the road including roundabouts.  Paul walked us through a slide show and discussion and then we headed out and went on a short ride with Paul leading us.  Maria and Kat are friends from North Carolina and were starting a 9-day self-guided tour joined us in the training.

I'm really glad we took the training.  Paul acted like we were the first people to ever take the training; he was funny, enthusiastic and patient.  He is a funny guy and really enjoyed himself which got us all in the right moods also.  He also knows his Irish history telling us all sorts of tales some of which may even have been true.  He used very  colorful language, saying at one point "If we weren't able to use the "f" word we would all be fucked."  Like I said, he's a pretty funny guy.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then went our separate ways; Paul back to his shop, Maria and Kat to Donegal, and Sooz and me to Belfast.

Evening in downtown Belfast

Vegetarian dinner at the Indian restaurant The Archana

Signage in Belfast for my planner friends

Great bike paths

Sooz and me in front of Trim Castle built in 1174 AD - it was the shooting location for the movie Braveheart

The canal and lock system

The path along the canal is named for the thousands of Irish that died during the famine of the 1840's

Paul telling canal tales

Canal wayfinding for my planner friends

Paul conducting rider safety training

Sooz and Paul yucking it up

During lunch Sooz reserved us a nice room for the night in downtown Belfast.  We blasted along pretty well taking back roads and then jumped on the M1, A1 and N1 highways.  The weather was perfect and the bike ran great.  We had one small toll and got gas and were at the hotel by 5pm.

Tomorrow we take the 11:30 am ferry from Belfast to Cairnyan, Scotland.  We're going to head towards Edinburgh.  If we make it, fine, if we don't, that's fine also.

We took a break with Paul at a canal that had a small lock system.  The canal system connects Dublin with the inland areas and was built around 120 years ago.  Ireland building a bike\pedestrian path next to the canal which will draw a lot of tourists.

September 17, 2019 - Dublin, Ireland

Wow!  What a day we had playing tourists today!  We walked over 7 miles in absolutely gorgeous weather.  It was crystal clear and slightly cool, upper 50's lower 60's, all day.

First we had breakfast at a small cafe called the Metro Cafe.  Eggs, bangers, cooked tomatoes, pancakes and coffee.  Sooz had a breakfast sandwich on good Irish bread with eggs and bacon and a pot of tea.  No pictures. We met a nice couple from London who were in Dublin for a funeral.  The man was a graphic designer for film and amusement parks and spent a lot of time in Orlando working on the Harry Potter park.

We then went to the National Library and did some genealogical research on the Skehan (Susie's maiden name) and Clark clans.  Didn't have much luck with Skehan but found my great grandfather Thomas Hurley who emigrated to the U.S. and died in Mercer County, Ohio.  We couldn't find the Irish town or county he came from.

Next was the Dublin Southside Cafe for coffee, we started losing energy and needed a pick me up.

Then it was off to the National Museum of Archeology which was free and excellent. Below is a picture of a mummified partial corpse found in the bogs of western Ireland. There was also a large gold exhibit of jewelry and ornaments from 800-1,000 BC, I think.

We took a cab to the Kilmainham Goal (Jail) Museum built around 1890.  Inmates have included petty criminals and Irish nationals arrested during the 1916 uprising and 1920 revolution. Some were also executed.

We walked by the huge Guinness brewery and bottling facility on our way to The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland, for dinner.  I had Irish stew and Sooz had fish and chips.

For dessert we walked to Murphy's Ice Cream shop then back to our room.

Tomorrow morning we pick up the motorcycle and head north to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

For my planner friends, a redevelopment site

Typical downtown Dublin Street

Dinner of Irish stew and fish and chips

History of The Brazen Head pub

River Liffey

Wayfinding

Entry to Museum of Art

Kilmainham Gaol

Entry to Guinness

Irish Mummy

Irish Mummy

Partial Irish Mummy

Museum of Archeology

Dublin Southside Cafe

Historic Irish Urinal

September 16, 2019 - Dublin, Ireland

We arrived in Dublin around 8am local time which is 3am our time. Took a cab to our room and crashed for a few hours.  We then walked to a nice pub for a meal and exlored some more before coming back to the room.

First impressions:
- the people really are nice and easy to chat
- our cab driver James Healy is a native Dubliner and gave us a nice narrated ride talking pretty much nonstop for the 40 minute ride
- look right before crossing the road
- no problems understanding the local accent so far, we'll see of that changes when we get out of the big city
- pub food lived up to its reputation

Tomorrow we are playing tourists in Dublin on foot. We pick up the bike Wednesday.

Nice used motorcycle shop

Dog Store Toy

Devitt's Pub

Our room in Dublin

Rajesh Neighborhood in Dublin where we are staying

September 14, 2019 - Gainesville, FL

Tomorrow we leave Orlando around 9am and fly to Dublin.  We arrive in Dublin around 9am local time.  We had an exciting afternoon today when we received an email from British Airways telling us our flights to from Orland to Dublin had been canceled.  So we had to get on the phone and reserve new flights.  No real problems but it got the blood flowing.

We leave September 15 and return October 12, 2019.

I have set up a tracker so you can follow us as we move around Ireland and Scotland.  The first 2 weeks we will be riding a rented BMW R1200GS motorcycle and touring the Scottish Highlands and then we will rent a car for touring Ireland.  Should be fun.  We are bringing our own helmets and renting the rest of our gear.  In past trips we brought our own riding gear but this time we decided to rent everything but the helmets.

If you want to track us click HERE