The Quick Quacks do Northern Ireland
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Thursday the third of September found me snoring my way up the A1 all the to Ponteland where I stayed the night with Gary and his delightful family. We went out for a very pleasant Indian meal then hit the sack ready for the ride to Stranraer.
Friday dawned reasonably bright and we enjoyed an excellent borders ride taking in some cracking roads, most particularly (and Gary will correct me if I have this wrong) the Crocketford to New Galloway A712. I may have to go up again just to do this road. We arrived at the ferry remarkably early. In fact early enough to watch Robbie and the reprobates run into town to stoke up on carbohhydrates before joining us in the queue. Befitting my position I was in the Club Class queue all alone, but still had to slum it with the rest before getting on board.
The trip across on the Cat was pretty cool, very fast and smooth, making Northern Ireland seem almost close. Transfer in Belfast went smoothly then Robbie lead the way to Portrush by a fairly direct route. Pretty uneventful except for Adrian and I getting temporarily separated from the rest.... Then it was Hail and Well met! Great to see everyone again.
On Saturday there were three groups led by Robbie, Aran and Colin. The 200 mile route was very pleasant, taking in some exciting roads and excellent scenery. Surely the high point was the truly bizarre experience of being served tea by a large, armed policeman.
Sunday dawned rather damper and we elected to take a gentle meander. Des led a snake of Quacks through some amazingly twisty coastal road. We headed inland to something of a fairy glen where we had a very relaxed lunch break before moving on to Joey's Bar and the memorial garden.
Sunday evening I took myself back to Belfast by the coastal road in cloud and gathering dusk. It was quite a challenging ride on bendy, slippery, half seen roads. What more can you ask for? The queue to board the overnight ferry was ludicrously delayed. Security checks? I don't know. Not a luxurious ferry, but the cabin was just fine and I slept through the whole crossing.
Early Monday morning (when I had rescued my bike from it's resting place) I set off from Birkenhead, but not before the police checked me over for stolen grand pianos or something. It was misty again so I didn't struggle with the local roads but nipped down the motorway to the A41. I can heartily recommend the A41 to Whitchurch, A442 to Telford then Kidderminster, A449 to Worcester, then the A44 to Oxford as a way of getting from Liverpool to (nearly) London without using motorways.