May 28 - June 5
Ever since we bought the motorcycle, Brian and I have had the goal to ride the motorcycle through Ireland. But planning that trip was much more difficult than anticipated! The ferry websites were not the easiest to navigate, and there's just so much to see! But we picked our favorite sites and found ferry schedules that worked, and we couldn't have been more excited about the trip!
Before I recap the trip, here is the video Brian made about this vacation. It is so well done! I think it explains our vacation way better than words every could.
Wasn't that cool?? I don't even know why I'll try to write the rest of this, but here goes nothin!
We woke up early on Saturday, May 28 to pack the bike and make our way to our first ferry. At this point, Brian and I have packing the motorcycle down to a science, so it doesn't take us long to get our act together :)
Packing in front of our apartment
The drive started out great along small, scenic German roads. For lunch we stopped at a gas station in the Netherlands and had delicious brie and meat sandwiches with Dr. Pepper! We don't see Dr. Pepper in Europe too often, so we took advantage of the opportunity.
We made great time and pulled into the port area as it started to rain, so instead of sitting outside, waiting to get onto the boat, we went to a small pub close to our port gate and enjoyed some hot tea and a couple of games of Jenga. We left the pub at 4:45 because our gate was supposed to close at 5, and when we handed over our reservation information, the lady told us we were at the wrong port! Our port was about 2 hours away, which meant we'd never make it in time for our boat. At this point I was absolutely devastated because I thought our entire trip was ruined. If we didn't make the first boat to England, we wouldn't make it to our next boat to Ireland.
However, we were so lucky. The boat in front of us was going to the exact same port our other ferry was going to, and it actually was going to arrive an hour earlier! I couldn't believe our luck. I had looked and looked for boats to Hull, England, and there weren't many. And there was room on the boat. Trip saved! I was still in shock for about another hour, though.
So we got ready and had a celebratory dinner on the boat as we cruised toward England.
We slept quite well in our little bunk room on the boat, and we forgot that we gained an hour overnight, so we were ready for breakfast an hour early. Nap time! Then we went to the ferry's buffet breakfast where they had the worst coffee we've had in Europe. The rest of the buffet was decent, though!
As we exited the boat on our motorcycle, we saw lots of signs like this:
Brian adjusted to driving on the opposite side of the road really well. Maybe because we spent a year driving on the left in Pakistan? Who knows, but I'm so thankful for Bri's great driving skills.
It was cloudy all day on Sunday, but we didn't see much rain. We started out driving on the highway, which was quite boring, but then we made our way to some smaller roads that were gorgeous.
We saw cute, perfectly manicured little towns; cool architecture; lush, green hills; lots of baby animals; old rock walls; and thick forested areas.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called the Egerton Arms, which was a super cute restaurant that had a really friendly staff and amazing food.
I was very surprised that our first meal in England was so tasty, because Brian and I both had heard that British cooking was bland.
Our starter platter - warm Camebert cheese, fried mushrooms, falafel, bread, salad, olives
And we shared the lamb with potatoes and veggies as a main course. While we ate, we noticed there were tons of little kids all around us, and they were all so well-behaved! It was a great first dining experience in the UK.
Part of our drive after lunch was along a road called the Cat & Fiddle route, which was a twisty, turny road that was a blast on the bike. Then we drove along the coast, where we saw dramatic hills and signs everywhere in Welsh, which is a very strange looking language.
Dyma beth Cymru yn edrych!
Translated - This is what Welsh looks like! Lots of y's.
We made it to the port right on time, and it was the correct one this time! Yay! This ferry ride was only a couple of hours long, and it was a really nice boat. I napped the entire time - it was a very relaxing experience!
B on the ferry to Dublin
The drive to our hotel in Dublin was very quick. We stayed at the Morrison, and we got a corner room, which was awesome.
Driving through Dublin
We quickly got ready and then it was time to explore Dublin! Dublin was everything we wanted it to be - cool Irish pubs, great food and beer, and a lot of fun. We started out by going to a "famous chipper" and got fish and chips in a paper bag. The Irish lady in front of us confirmed that this was the BEST spot to get fish and chips. Bri wished the fish was fried a little longer, but I loved it.
The Chipper
Streets of Dublin
Next, we went to a bar called the Stag's Head where we drank some delicious Kilkenny, Guinness, and Jameson. The bar was quite crowded for a Sunday night, and we had a blast hanging out.
We were a little hungry after the bar, so we went to Abrakadabra Doners, where they put chili sauce on the doner kebaps, which is so brilliant!
On Monday morning (30 May), we slept in and then drove toward St. Patrick's Cathedral. On our way, we stopped at a little place on the street for breakfast.
Onto St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was overwhelmingly huge and beautiful.
We had some sun for a little while as we drove along some small roads heading to Northern Ireland.
We saw this cleverly named hair salon
As we arrived at the famous road along the northern coast, it started to rain.
So we took a break to see if the weather would roll over. Bri found a great tea room, and we enjoyed some tea, scones, and carrot cake for lunch.
Our plan worked! The weather blew over, and we loved the ride along the coast.
Our last activity for the evening was a rope bridge. To get to it, we had a nice hike with some great views like this one.
The bridge was actually pretty sturdy for a rope bridge, which made me a lot more comfortable on it.
Rainbow!
Bri took this picture to give a better perspective on how high the bridge was. I'll talk more about this picture in a minute :)
After the bridge, the ride to the hotel was so pleasant and pretty. It was a really nice evening.
We spent Monday night at the Bushmill Inn, a really cute B&B in Northern Ireland. The hotel staff was extremely nice and even gave us an upgraded room - they didn't think Bri would fit well in the bed of the smaller room :)
The Inn
Our room
We had dinner at the Inn, which had a really nice restaurant with amazing seafood and even a Guinness soup!
My date :)
As we were finishing our meal, we saw the couple that Bri photographed on the bridge! Random. We found their table at the restaurant and offerred to email them the picture when we got home. They were quite excited about it! As we talked with them, we found they were a really cool couple, so we invited them to drink some whiskey with us by the fire when they were done eating. So after dinner, we had a whiskey tasting and then sat by the fireplace to chat with our new friends.
We had great conversations about music, traveling, technology, and our jobs. As we talked with them, we started to figure out that the guy is a famous musician! His name is Steve Lewinson and he's in the band Simply Red. It was definitely a fun night!
On Tuesday, May 31, we had a hearty breakfast at the Bushmill Inn and then went to see Giant's Causeway, which is an amazing formation from an ancient volcanic eruption. We hiked along the coast for a couple of hours to really enjoy the Causeway.
Then we rode to the Old Bushmills Distillery to take a tour and buy some whiskey. The ride to town was so pretty!
While at the distillery, we learned a lot about Bushmills whiskey - it's the oldest licensed distillery in the world, they age their whiskey in up to three types of barrels, and it's delicious!
For lunch, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at this cute little restaurant called The Copper Kettle.
Our drive that day was amazing, as usual :) Here are some things we saw!
That night, we stayed at a hotel near a lake and had dinner at the hotel bar. We talked to this guy who works for Samsung, and he gave us recommendations on what to do during the rest of our stay in Ireland.
Wednesday, June 1 was rainy, but we still saw some cool stuff!
When we stopped for a break, we met another GS couple from Germany, and they gave us some great recommendations on things to see along the rest of our trip.
Break time! Traditional Gaelic whiskey cake - yum
After lunch, we saw lots of little lakes and we drove along the ocean. Then we made it to the Burren, a cool rocky landscape.
That night we stayed at this B&B
View out of our room at the B&B
After getting ready, we walked down the hill to Gus O'Connors Pub and had some delicious fish and chips!
After dinner, the pub started to get more crowded, and then the musicians started playing!
Shamrocks on our Guinness!
While we were enjoying the live Irish music, we started to talk with the people sitting next to us. First we talked to a group of teachers from Vermont, and then we met a couple of Raytheon employees from Boston.
Our friends from Boston
Thursday, June 2 started out with a great breakfast. I had porridge with a shot of Bailey's in it, which was SO delicious! I highly recommend trying it. We sat with a group of 3 young couples from Philadelphia (all related in some way) and enjoyed getting to know them briefly. Then we went to see the Cliffs of Moher.
After the Cliffs of Moher, Brian found some more really cool cliffs further up the coast, so we drove along those for awhile.
We drove to Loop Head and saw the Bridges of Ross. There were great views with mountains in the distance. For lunch, we stopped at an Indian fast food place and had doners, and we still had a long drive ahead of us! Here are some things we saw:
Lots of little bars with cool Guinness adds
Castles!
There were a lot of these adorable little straw roof houses
When we were getting close to our B&B for the night, we stopped at this little stand for fresh, sweet strawberries.
Our B&B for Thursday night was this castle, which was built in the 1400s.
That evening, on our way to dinner, we stopped at the castle owner's driving range to hit a few balls. It was such a gorgeous evening!
For our last dinner in Ireland, Bri had one more round of fish and chips, and I had a steak. For dessert, we shared a Bulmers cider.
Two straws :)
As we walked home from dinner, we stopped to hang out with the cows for awhile. They were so cute.
When we returned home, we opened one of our new bottles of whiskey and had a nightcap as we read about the history of the B&B castle - it has been a B&B since the 70s!
On Friday, June 3 we woke up early to make it to our ferry. The B&B owners made the most elegant, delicious breakfast, complete with homemade jams, yogurt, granola, and applesauce. The stewed apples with cloves and the rhubarb with orange ginger were my favorites. The green and white china she served with was so beautiful!
We made it to our ferry just in time - the gate closed as we drove onto the boat! We watched Runaway and Tangled on the ferry, and then we arrived in Fishguard, England. It was definitely the prettiest port we had seen so far.
For lunch, we bought sandwiches, jammies (cookies), and Dr. Pepper (again!) at a gas station. The drive was so green, and we had the warmest weather of the entire trip.
One of our main stops on Friday was Stonehenge, which was amazing to see. We took the audio tour, but it didn't add a lot to the experience because no one really knows why or how Stonehenge was built. We did learn that the stones are from Ireland and weigh 45 tons. That's a long way to transport huge rocks!
The last part of our drive that day was great. The roads were winding and completely covered by tree tunnels, which looked awesome.
We stayed at a hotel chain called the Premier Inn that night and ate at their restaurant called the Red Lion. Since it was our last night in the UK, we ate traditional beef pies that looked like this:
On Saturday, June 4, we skipped the hotel breakfast and grabbed scones at this little bakery, which turned out to be a wise decision. Super cute, right?
While we were eating by the motorcycle, an older British motorcycle enthusiast stopped by to talk with us about the trips we've taken, and he told us all about his adventures as well. Everyone we talked to on this trip was so nice!
Today, the word that we kept repeating was "Cute!" because all of the towns we drove through were perfectly manicured. We took a break at the Swan Inn because it had a nice garden in the back. The inside of the inn was really cool too - lots of old wood beams, which were super short and difficult for Brian to navigate around!
We made it to Dover early, so we went to hike around the cliffs before getting on the ferry.
For some reason, we got "VIP" access to this ferry, so we were treated to a glass of wine in the ferry's business lounge. It was pretty nice!
Cliffs of Dover from the ferry
We arrived in France to find I had booked our hotel there for the wrong night (whoops), so it was 10pm, we had nowhere to stay. We tried stopping at a couple of hotels to ask if they had a room available, and when we had no luck, I jumped on Expedia to see what I could find in the area. EVERYTHING was booked. It was so crazy - even in Brussels, there was only one hotel with a room available. We ended up staying at a Brussels airport hotel - we got there around 1am!
On Sunday, all we needed to do was make it back to Frankfurt. And because we had driven a lot further than planned the night before, we were able to take our time on Sunday. We rode along the Rhine River and cruised home. What a trip!
