First Trip of the Year - Ireland & Scotland

[Earache]

I have no idea where they got all of that freakin' rock to build all of these castles with. It's a mystery that modern science has yet to solve....

Edited May 28, 2009 by Earache

[Earache]

More piccies later if anyone wants them. Probably will post more even if you don't want them

[Casper]

Is it just me or does nobody see the pictures in the posts in the last few pages?

[Earache]

Is it just me or does nobody see the pictures in the posts in the last few pages?

Crap! I see them. I copied and pasted from Photofucket. Please tell me that they are there.

Is the text visible?

[Casper]

I see text, but no images.

[speedwolf02]

*scratches head* same here... just see text..

[max power]

now you gotta fix it. I was really enjoying the nice littie day dream you were leading us on.

[Earache]

Ben - delete back to the last pic you can see and I'll do it again.

[Harb67]

...recession? What recession?

Have enough fun on your trip for the rest of us poor bastards back here

[Earache]

picture FAIL...

I'm in the process of reloading all of them now - should be able to start seeing the pics now.

[Earache]

Some of the coastal roads were good. Hard to see in the pics, but the surface of the roads generally sucked. A sportbike would have a tough time on these as it would ground out constantly. The BMW GS was clearly the bike for the job and we saw shitloads of them on the roads along with some naked bikes. Very few sportbikes.

Lots of thatched roofs along the coast as well, even on newer homes...

[Earache]

We stopped in pubs for hot tea for the wife constantly. This place was kinda cool, very small and comfy. I liked the grindstones that they had mounted in the wall. Could see into the next room through the axle hole...

Three bar stools - no waiting...

[Earache]

The roads are very poorly marked here and navigation is a bitch. Just trying to figure out what road you're on takes a lot of time.

Signposts look like this and are hard to read when you pass them at 50 mph. No signs are marked with directions like "east, west, north or south", they are just marked with the next town name down that road. If you don't know the town names, then you're fucked.

I made route sheets each morning listing the towns I wanted to pass through, not the highway numbers or direction. Worked out better this way....

[Earache]

Cliffs of Moher. Couldn't believe or understand what the attraction to this was. Had to pay to walk to the top of it to look down or take a tour boat into the ocean to see it closer.

It's a cliff, 600' tall - I get that. But it wasn't that cool. Weird.

Cool old monastery out on an island. Was from the year 400 or so...

Cliffs of Moher. Couldn't believe or understand what the attarction to this was. Had to pay to wolk to the top of it to look down or take a tour boat into the ocean to see it closer.

[Earache]

The next day we're leaving Spanish Point and heading "oop norf" to Galway. Fuckin shit day; freezing cold, raining and 40 mph winds. Lovely.

Great day to be on a bike......

[Earache]

Saw a sign that said "Tea Room Cafe" that pointed down a dirt road. Judy wanted tea, so we went down that way. About 5 miles down the road, we happen upon the tea place. And they have their own tower castle.

We're the only people that have been there all week., so they unlock the castle and tell us to close the door on the way out....

[Earache]

Colder than a well digger's ass in this thing, but it's pretty cool. These things were made for much shorter people back in the day as we (I'm 6'1" and Judy is around 5'11" tall ) smack our heads on stuff constantly. Should keep our helmets on....

[Earache]

The round holes are for muskets and the long slits are for bows and arrows to be shot at the attackers below.....

[Earache]

Could be made into a decent place to live - six small rooms with a larger room at the basement. All of the green and gary stuff on the walls is mold, hope you're not allergic....

[Earache]

Spiral stairs ended at a closed door. It wasn't locked and no one said I couldn't go in, so I did.

Out onto the rooftop! Sweet! I could shoot my bow at people below and throw all sorts of shit on them if they attacked. But no one was round except us. Pity, I'd enjoy shooting some people from up here...

[Earache]

Another day, another castle.

Only about 15 miles down the road from the Tower Castle is this one. This is cool in that a person lived here until 1971. Had to see that.....

[Earache]

Ledge around the top of the wall once supported a wooden ledge that the archers would have stood on. They shot through the holes in the wall (kinda hard to see here)...

[Earache]

Dunguare Castle was built in 1520 and is different becasue the current owners tried to recreate what it looked like back in the day with some antiques and props. Gives you a better idea of what it looked like instead of just seeing a big empty room like most castles have...

[Earache]

The banquet hall was recreated using drawings and descriptions from old books. This is what it would have looked like back in the 1500's.

The interior walls woudl have been covered in plaster and painted white though - they weren't bare rock like you see here.....

[Earache]

And of course lots of holes to shoot shit out of...