ULSTER GRAND PRIX - AUGUST 07-08-30

There would be something “Deja Vu ” about this trip despite the faces being different and the destination having changed. As you can guess it was the weather. After the downpour of Scarborough at the “Cock O’ the North” I had been praying that the July weather would not extend into August and affect my annual pilgrimage to the “Ulster” but sadly despite a good start to the month the forecast for our weekend was not looking good. Nevertheless the ferries and hotels were booked so rain or no rain we were definitely going.

I was being joined for the weekend by my old friend from Raglan - Tony Styles, Clive Linton & Steve Virgo from Coleford and a late addition in Rob Harrison from Chepstow.

Raglan had seemed a central point to rendezvous and everyone arrived promptly at the lay by opposite the castle for a 7.30am start for the run down to Fishguard for the fast ferry to Rosslare. I had already checked that morning if the ferry was running as earlier in the week it had been cancelled due to the bad sea conditions but this day all was OK. We took the all too familiar A40 (via Gilwern) to Crickhowell, Brecon, Llandovery etc. and stopped just the other side of Carmarthen at the “Old Forge” for some coffee and breakfast.

Everyone seemed to have settled into the steady pace and the early start gave us plenty of time left for the ferry particularly as I had a short cut in mind that would save us going around Haverfordwest. The B4313 off the A40 near Narberth takes you northwest and although slightly bumpy in parts twists and turns to make it a very enjoyable alternative to the traffic strewn A40. All seemed to be going swimmingly until I noticed that apart from Tony I had lost sight of the others.

We had overtaken one car so I slowed thinking perhaps the other three had not been able to get by but still no sign therefore Tony and I pulled over and waited a few minutes. Still no one appeared and Tony had just made a U-turn to go back when the car we had gone past stopped and told me that one of our friends’  boxes had fallen off. I followed Tony and sure enough there was Rob struggling to re-locate a very damaged top box (which he had borrowed !) onto his 1200GS with Clive and Steve looking on smiling and passing the odd cryptic comment. In fairness to Rob he seemed to have it under control and it was not too long before we were underway again.

The B4313 comes out in Fishguard town and as we exited the town overlooking the harbour we could see that the ferry was loading so there was no time to fuel up as planned but instead we rode straight to check in and onto the ferry. This just goes to prove that you have never got too much time as if we’d been 15mins later we’d have had to wait for the next crossing @ 2.30pm which was the boat which also takes 11/2hrs longer than the fast ferry.

The crossing itself was amazingly calm and we arrived in Rosslare pretty well on time which was to give us all afternoon and early evening to go across country to our first overnight stop in Galway. First though the fuel stop we needed just outside Rosslare which also gave Rob a chance to check his top box again. Also his Sat. Nav. had been in the box but also seemed unaffected by its tumble and seemed to work OK. Irish roads I find are on a par with ours in the UK in that the main (N) roads are well surfaced and well signposted ( but now in kilometres ) but if you get on the R roads they would sometimes not quite match up to our B roads and you can expect some bumps and poor surfacing. Actually this seems to be prevalent on entry or exiting small towns and it has occurred to me that this may be the Irish version of “traffic calming”.
                                                     

The first part of our journey saw us make excellent progress on the N25 as far as New Ross where we where we picked up the R700 to Kilkenny which was another very good and interesting road. We stopped for tea in a small town called Bennettsbridge where as the name implies you have a very narrow bridge with tight access each side and we were able to sit outside a cafe watching the various HGV’s very skilfully negotiate this. Up to now the weather had been kind to us in that at least it had stayed dry but we were forced inside the café to finish our tea due to a rather heavy downpour. Luckily it was but a shower and we resumed in the dry but with care as the road had reached that “just wet” stage.

Using more R roads some of which needed attention to the surface we met the N7 and headed east for a short distance to Nenagh. Here I made a mistake going into the town whereas it transpired the by pass would have been a far better option. The town was crammed with traffic and this probably cost us 45mins in wasted time.

Nevertheless we got back on the planned route again on R roads to the lakeside holiday resorts of Ballina and Killaloe. Lough Derg is quite a holiday attraction but both these towns were very quiet with hardly any traffic (all the cars were in Nenagh!) and this gave us an uninterrupted scenic ride around the lake before turning east towards Loughrea. This part of the ride too was very enjoyable with reasonably good roads and little or no traffic. Loughrea again is as the name implies alongside a lake and the approach from the southwest was quite enjoyable. We were now entering the last lap and saw signs for N6/Galway which was to give us an excellent albeit busier road for the rest of the way.

I cant say that it wasn’t good to relax a little as although we all enjoy the twists & turns it can prove exhausting after a few hours and a couple of hundred miles.
Galway is a rapidly growing city and as we approached the outskirts the traffic was becoming more busy. The destination was an area known as Salthill which is right on the edge of Galway Bay just west of the city centre.

We had partial “bike to bike” communication in that Clive & Steve could hear me but I could’nt hear them , Rob hadn’t a radio and Tony is as deaf as a post anyway. Tony stuck to me like glue but inevitably in the traffic we went one way and the others went somewhere else. We did stop to wait but I knew it was not going to be a big issue as everyone had the hotel details and they all had Sat. Nav. Sure enough Tony and I had just arrived in reception when we saw three Beemers pull into the car park.

On this subject of “partial “ bike to bike link I have subsequently been told that the reason for this is the fact that we were using different make radios and despite being clicked to the “same channel” it is possible that my radio was receiving on a very slightly different frequency to theirs - enough for it not to work - very strange !
I had hoped that we could visit the very busy quay part of Galway where there is a terrific atmosphere in the bars and some lovely restaurants with tables outside a la francais. But it was getting late and the weather whilst it had stayed dry was closing in so we elected to eat (and drink) near to the hotel. By the time we were suitably nourished nobody really felt like a walk into the quayside so five weary travellers retired gracefully to their beds.

Before breakfast on Friday I took a stroll along the front in Salthill looking directly over Galway Bay which was a little disappointing as I could not see across to the other side due to the mist. The forecast for the remainder of the day gave rain and by the time we began to pack up the bikes to leave it had started to do just that. One of my priorities when booking hotels is to get covered parking if possible and fortunately the Waterfront Hotel had underfloor parking to the rear so at least we kept dry until the off.

I was able to try out my bright dayglow yellow overjacket for the first time as although my old Triumph summer jacket has never let me down in the rain it was raining quite heavily and as much as anything I wanted to be sure that all my documents and money stayed dry.  I was also hoping that the brightly coloured jacket would make it easier for the lads to see when following but that notion was short lived as when I led back to the quay to show them something of what they’d missed the night before we lost each other in the one way system. Fortunately I did not have long to wait before they appeared as even partial “walkie talkie”can have its uses and we made our way out towards Connemara. 

There seemed little or no point in taking a tour around the coast as it was pouring with rain and visibility was poor so after a fuel stop we headed inland to Maam Cross and the N59. On approaching Maam Cross we could see what seemed to be a police road block but on getting closer we could identify the uniforms as Customs officers. They were checking vehicles for what we know as “red diesel” so quite why they stopped us we’ll never know but that’s Ireland for you ! By this time we were catching glimpses of Lough Corrib and the right turn in Maam Cross onto the R336/345 headed us in the direction of the lake and the surrounding mountains.

This was an excellent ride and  the rain had almost entirely eased up but there is an awful lot more to this part of Ireland than we had the time for but in this visibility  we could not have done it justice even if we had. We had to press on to the north and to do this we needed to cover some miles and joining the N17 at Claremorris would help us catch up for the little bit of sightseeing that we had enjoyed.

This is a very good road but still it passes through some lovely countryside and we were able to make excellent progress whilst keeping one eye out for the Garda. A stop was in order as we were approaching midday and the first likely looking place was a caravan site with a café attached and a drop of rain on the visor simply confirmed it was the right thing to do. We enjoyed both some nourishment and entertainment from Rob who asked the waitress if he could lay flat on his back on the floor as his back was giving him a bit of jib. I think she thought it was her lucky day as I’m not sure if she understood the Gloucestershire accent to begin with but when Rob began to snore there was a definite look of disappointment on her face. If this was not enough we could see that outside someone was taking more than a little interest in the bikes and when challenged it turned out to be the owner of the site - not that gives him any right to sit on them !

As we prepared to leave Rob still complaining with his back managed to coax Clive into letting him try his “Sargent” seat and they were swapping seats as the rain came in again. It barely affected us though as by travelling directly north it seemed we were keeping in front of it and it was a dry run through to Sligo before we continued north in the direction of Ballyshannon on the N15. Just before the town we would pick up the N3 east to Belleck and here we would cross the border into NI and just that little bit more respect would need to be paid to the speed limits. The road number changed to the A46 and was taking us along the side of Lough Erne towards Enniskillen and it was just after Enniskillen that Tony and I lost sight of the others again. We stopped and waited but no sign so we turned around to go back and after a mile or two saw three Beemers whistle past in the other direction. Another about turn brought us together and this time it had been Steve’s turn for his “Tom Tom “ to fly off . Apparently it had bounced once on the tarmac before disappearing into the undergrowth and it had been more luck than judgement that they had found it and even more fortunate that it seemingly was still working !

So it was on to Omagh and the A32 which we would pick up just after Irvinestown but at this junction there were road works which concealed the sign for Omagh and I had lost sight of the three Beemers so relying on our intercom I called out to look for this sign at the roadworks but to no avail. As it transpired Tony and I turned right and the other three went straight on. We stopped to wait for awhile but rather than go back we guessed that if they had gone straight on that they would go like blazes to try to catch us and we would never catch them up. Anyway I can only relate what Tony and I did for the rest of the way moving on to Omagh followed by the A4 before hopping onto the M1 towards Belfast. By this time the rain had caught us up with a vengeance and boy was I glad of my yellow jacket as much for the fact that I wanted to be seen as well as keeping out that torrential rain. We eventually left the motorway on to the A26 heading north following signs for the airport which I knew would take us near to Dundrod and the circuit. Once at the circuit we took in a “lap” to familiarise ourselves with any possible changes in vantage points before parking near the paddock in front of the grandstand. It was quite busy bearing in mind the weather with crowds mingling through the retail stalls where I managed to buy my customary two programmes and T-shirts. Before returning to the bikes to head for the hotel I also enquired with an official regarding the weather forecast for the next day and with a glum face his response was that it would be lashing with rain on the Saturday.

Normally I try to book the Ballymac which is literally a stones throw from the circuit but despite trying to do this directly after last years visit I failed as it was already fully booked by a wedding party. This year therefore we were some 20 miles away in Ballymena which was no big problem except that this particular evening it was pelting down as we left and got gradually worse to the point that cars were slowing down to a crawl on the dual-carriageway but rather than join them I felt it safer to stay on the outside keeping a steady pace. Nearing the town it did ease up considerably until in Ballymena itself it had stopped raining  and we were able to find the hotel without too much difficulty. As we approached the Adair Arms we could see three familiar characters who also had just arrived.

We compared notes and as suspected they had gone straight on and when they realised this had reverted to the Sat.Nav to find Ballymena and the hotel. Clive apparently had set his for the shortest route avoiding M-ways and as a result they had literally gone across country through farmyards and god knows where else before reaching the hotel. This may not have troubled their GS’ machines but I don’t think Tony’s FJR and my Pan would have been quite so at home. But apparently they had seen little or no rain and had passed what they said looked like a very impressive motocross venue. After this exchange of stories we all checked in and agreed to meet in the bar later.

I was just getting ready after a nice soak in the bath when the phone rang and it was Marie from reception enquiring if I had lost some keys. I glanced towards the table and could see mine but apparently a set of BMW keys had been found between my room and the next. I said to Marie that they almost certainly belonged to one of the lads and asked her to keep them and say nothing to anyone else. When I later went to reception they were clearly from a Beemer and I suspected they were Robs as he had the room next to me. Marie agreed to keep “shtum” and say nothing even if one of the others asked about lost keys and I proceeded to have some fun. On entering the bar it was full of KTM orange shirts who turned out to be riders and team support for the works KTM motocross team.

One of them later explained that the track the boys had seen earlier was the venue for a world championship round on Sunday and practise would be on Saturday. The atmosphere in the bar was quite convivial and we decided to stay in the hotel for our meal not wishing to venture out into the cold wet night.  Also a decision was taken that whilst we would get up early with a view to going straight to Dundrod that in the morning we would asses the weather situation before making our final decision.

For those who may contemplate a visit to the Ulster GP I can assure you that on a good day it can provide some of the closest and exiting racing you will ever see. For me it can be the best racing on the calendar and to get the best view it is advisable to get “inside” the circuit which on a bike enables you to move quite freely between different locations using the lanes that crisscross the inside of the circuit (one lap is just under 8 miles). The disadvantage to this is that you have to get inside before the roads are closed at 9.30am and you cannot get the bike out until the roads open again which could be as late as 6.30pm. Normally this is not a problem as there is a full days programme of racing and the moving around takes care of the waiting between races so the day passes quite quickly. However with the prospect of bad weather and the inevitable extra delays this can cause coupled to the fact that some of the boys were not such fanatics about the racing anyway made me think it might be better to simply consider parking at least some of the bikes outside on this occasion . By morning the decision was almost made for us as the rain was coming down thick and fast and the decision was to hang around Ballymena that morning and if the weather improved we would go to Dundrod in the afternoon. Midday was the witching hour and in the meantime some took a walk into town whilst others went back for some more sleep.

At 12 o’clock the rain had all but stopped but now we had a different crisis to take care of as Steve had lost his keys but even worse he had chained his bike to Clive’s so both were frantically looking all over the hotel and the car park for the missing keys. All credit to Marie she held a straight face but it was me who could not keep it up as after all we needed to get away and when I showed Steve the keys  the look of relief on his face was a picture but he chose not to tell Clive immediately as by this time Clive was crawling under the furniture in reception muttering something about sending for replacement keys by courier ! For a few minutes it was good fun to cheer up what had been a slow start to the day and it did not take long for bikes to be fired up and away to Dundrod we went following the A26 .

We came to the traditional “Road Closed” sign and rode around to meet two young ladies selling the race programmes which also serve as the entry fee. I explained I had already bought mine the day before but they still insisted on seeing it whilst the others had to dip into their pockets for £15 each. After this we moved on slowly up the road past a row of cars and bikes all parked neatly on one side in the direction of the loud sound of motorcycle engines. There is something about the sound of racing bikes having their “necks wrung “ and  fortunately were able to get quite close to the circuit to park by which time I for one was getting quite exited. (To be continued next month!)