Day 3 Ireland Adventure

Dublin to Kilkenny

We woke up ready to roll, literally. This was the day we'd talked about, planned for and anxietied over for months...the day we started our motorcycle ride around Ireland.

We taxied down to the small suburb of Kill, to Celtic Rider, a family-owned company that organizes motorcycle tours of the island, and more importantly, rents motorbikes to Americans who are foolish/adventurous enough to take on the Irish roads.

We were fitted for our motorcycle gear and attended an orientation by Paul, Celtic Rider's owner. The orientation gave us  a lot of  great information and reminders. "Drive Left. Look Right" became our mantra.

Finally we were ready to take off. We both are willing to admit to being kind of nervous - driving on the 'wrong' side of the narrow, windy roads, road signs in Irish and English and mileage in kilometers, and navigating through very unfamiliar territory.

Sean took off first for a short ride with Paul to get a feel for the bike and roads.

We had originally planned on renting a Harley, since that's the bike we know, but over the course of our planning Paul convinced us that a BMW would handle the Irish roads much better. So that's what we were riding

Once Sean got his wheels under him, we took off, following Paul down the road for a while just to get used to the BMW, the narrow roads, the signs and the completely alien atmosphere.

We parted ways at Piper's Stones in County Wicklow, but not before Paul encouraged us to take a short hike across a field to an ancient stone circle - our first glimpse of structures that predated anything in the United States by thousands and thousands of years.

 The stone circle was fascinating, dating back to the Bronze Age - and no, there was no humming or accidental stumbling back two centuries - and we guessed this little jaunt was more designed to let us take a few deep breaths and relax before we ventured out on our own.

Side note: Let us talk for a moment about the weather in Ireland.

We'd done our research and packed for a cold and wet trip. Long sleeved and thermal shirts, long pants and boots. Our rain gear was packed at the on top of our luggage, so we could grab it quickly  in case of a sudden downpour.

Yeah. We packed completely wrong.

For the 12 days we were there, Ireland had the hottest, driest weather they'd had in 40 years. Record temperatures. No rain at all. We bought a lot of t-shirts while we were there.

The hot dry weather did afford us some incredible views as we rode through the (usually misty) Wicklow Mountains. We could see for kilometers and kilometers and navigated slightly better since we could tell what was down the road.

Irish roads are tricky though. You never know what's around the next curve.

Like some gorgeous views

Sheep

Quaint Cottages

More ancient stuff

More sheep

More gorgeous views

We managed to not get too lost and found our way to Kilkenny.

Stopped at Kilkenny Castle.

Found more ancient artifacts.

Then headed out for a few cold ones (OK, the beer was actually room temperature) before calling it a day.