Stage 1 - Other club members join Alan on the first leg to Dublin
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Club member Alan Reid sets off for a solo
cycle to Mallorca Stage 1 - Other club members join Alan on the first leg to Dublin |
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| Saturday 4th April 2009 Report by Stephen Phillips The journey started for Maeve in the rain in Dromore at 8:00am with two guardian outriders Ross Galway and Michael Pyper who made sure she arrived in Scarva to meet everybody else at 9:00am. A quick cup of tea and coffee to warm everybody up and we set off with full wet weather gear on at about 9:30 down the towpath to Newry. The sky was leaden and it was raining but by Newry the rain had eased off and we could see some breaks in the cloud ahead. Ross and Michael accompanied us to the other side of Ravensdale and we said goodbye and thanks. Circumnavigating Dundalk was not as bad as had been feared because the ring-road traffic was light and we headed inland via the N52 to Ardee. By midday the clouds had disappeared revealing blue sky but we were pestered by gusty side winds. Brendan followed in the support car and arranged for a lunch stop in Collon where soup and sandwiches were very welcome. John Ruddell decided he needed to wash it down with a pint of the black stuff. Collon was about the half way mark and we were all in a good spirits looking forward to the second stage. At Slane we had to climb out quite a hill but were rewarded with a fine view over the Boyne and the battle ground. A relatively flat few miles followed then and incident with a dog running out from the opposite side of the road at us and being hit by an overtaking car gave us all a shock. Undeterred we cycled on to Asbourne and that is where we got a bit of a surprise. Although the AA route planner was told to avoid Tollways and Motorways it must have decided that the N2 from Ashbourne was not a motorway (but it was) and by the time we realized it we could not turn back. Several miles of anxious riding on the hard shoulder hoping the Garda Siochana would not arrest us we eventually turned off into Dublin via Finglas - phew! We reached the river Liffey passing Temple Bar and then across O'Connell bridge and right into the centre of Dublin around the bottom of Grafton Street and the Molly Malone statue up Nassau Street and St Stephen's Green dodging double decker buses and the busy afternoon traffic - very exciting. Our journey then passed Donnybrook and Ballbridge onto Dun Laoghaire arriving at the hotel at 5:00pm. Alan found the journey down a bit of a struggle and he blamed it on his heavy touring bike. Later he noticed that his rear brake block was worn down and because he had fitted a new one recently it must have been rubbing the whole way from Scarva - not a wonder he had to push harder than he expected. Everybody was glad to get the bikes safely locked up in the hotel basement and after hot baths (not sharing) we had a nice meal in the hotel with time to relax with a few drinks recounting the days events before retiring to bed. Maeve forgot her pyjamas so some men offered to see if there was anything they could do for her! Sunday morning was sunny but cool and we said goodbye and bon voyage to Alan Reid who was to get the ferry to Holyhead at 1:30pm. We had Dublin to ourselves on Sunday morning with very little traffic and so we decided to go right up O'Connell Street and get our picture taken in front of the big needle. For the return journey we decided to give motorway cruising a miss and went up the old N1 via Swords and after a coffee stop and a spot of pole-dancing by Bernie in Balbriggan we pressed on to Drogheda and then had our lunch again pre-arranged by Brendan between Drogheda and Dundalk. The sun had disappeared and the cold returned and it took us a few miles to get warmed up but with flat roads and the sun returning we made fast progress to Dundalk and retraced our route through Ravensdale and Newry and then the towpath signalled the wind-down to our long journey. Arriving in Scarva at just after 5:00pm the cafe owner kept the doors open for us and we were all ready for a cup of hot anything and like a flock of seagulls we finished off whatever cakes and buns he had left. Coffee stop over and just before 6:00pm five brave souls started again - Bernie, Sonja, Maeve, Mary and Stephen P - and after saying goodbye to Bernie and Sonja in Banbridge we were down to 3 - the "Chosen Few" - and at Dromore there was only one left still going - Mary had to finish the last stretch to Hillsborough on her own. It has to be said that Mary was the revelation of the two days - what a star and what a brave effort - even more so for being the newest member of the club! Many thanks to Brendan for being our chaperone, tour guide, food arranger and general support vehicle. He made our journey more enjoyable and just the fact that he was always there gave everybody a sense of confidence. The intrepid cyclists were:- Anne Maguire Bernie Monaghan Sonja McLaughlin Maeve Cahill Mary Hunter Ann Annett Alan Reid John Ruddell Jim McMaster Stephen Phillips Support Vehicle:- Brendan Monaghan For more photos (and to see these ones in more detail) click here The link to the message board for this trip is here |
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