When your Asian mom makes you bike tour Northern Ireland in the rain and hail

we are a bike touring family whether the kids like it or not we started touring with the kids when the younger one was two it was a lot of effort early on on one trip my husband even had a tow both kids but as they have gotten older the options have grown in what they were capable of last year we did our first ever Bike Tour in Asia but this time we headed back to Europe to explore Northern Ireland so why did I choose Northern Ireland well to be honest I didn't know much about the area I mean I had watched Dairy girls but what we found was gorgeous scenery and yes lots of rain our route which started in Dairy would take us back into Ireland and then along the antrum coast into our final destination of cushendall so after all those years of touring with and without kids this is my first tour of an ebike I was a bit sad to have to use an ebike cuz it felt like a total copout but I've been having intermittent knee pain the weeks before the tour needless to say the kids were a bit upset that was on an ebike and they were not on the first day we headed out from dairy which was part of Northern Ireland and ended up Crossing back into Ireland which uses an entirely different currency I kept forgetting to stay on the left side of the road luckily there were no cards around and we ended up on a nice bike trail I kept the ebike in eco mode as I really wasn't trying to zoom away but it did help since the kids have gotten faster over the years and I always end up carrying all the extra jackets snacks and water bottles for them the old abandoned ruin on the right is Boom Hall which is a former manor house built in 1779 looks like there were plans to try to restore it but had not been made it was on this hill climb on Alder road that we crossed back into Ireland but there was nothing to indicate this besides my cell phone notifying me that I was now on a different Self Service the fact that he crossed back and forth between the two country so easily was so fascinating to me we didn't encounter many cars so far but this is one of the scariest Crossings we've had to do so we got a late start today and didn't start biking until 10:30 it only 22 miles so should have only taken two hours but with all the stopping and walking up hills it was about going to take double that so unlike the other days there were no food options along today's route as we were just in Farmland we ended up having a make do of a convenient store lunch of mostly sugar and ice cream I mean the kids were having happy there was one downside about having so many tractors around ah dust Dusty so you may be wondering if we're carrying our own luggage on our bikes and the answer is no we have done bike camping before which is really fun for a night or two but for these longer tours I prefer hotels and Luggage service we got very excited when we saw the coast again as this we were on the final stretch to mobile surprisingly when my son saw the ocean he thought about going swimming we're in Mobile what no it's too cold are you sure yeah look at a cold Atlantic water Mel had a Charming little Main Street with shops and restaurants our destination was in BMB but it was also a busy restaurant they sent us up the back to put our bikes in the garage we were unexpectedly placed in a separate apartment due to some issues with the room so room sees in there and then there's another room upstairs it's room seven but this apartment had a washer dryer which was the best thing ever the original route planned by the tour was to go up into the mountains and enjoy Scenic views but of course the kids saw the route offered a shortcut which was a left turn on a more direct and busier road that cut out the big hill climb guess what drawn they chose it was only a quick 3 miles to the ferry terminal this morning where we got to experience boarding the fery with cars in the distance we could see a martello tower martello towers were forts built over Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars to guard against possible Invasion Napoleon never actually invaded Ireland so these forts were never used we were hoping it would be open but it looks like he needed a guided tour to get in so back we went onto the main road to leave mcgilligan point so let's talk about the weather we had been exceptionally lucky so far the rain forecast kept moving out to the Future and I was loving these clear skies and cool weather our next city was Coline I actually don't know I don't know that's kilometers and miles so yeah at the time I was really confused if the sign distances were in kilomet or miles I looked up later and realized of course we were in the UK so the signs would be in miles if we had been in Ireland all the signs would be in kilomet so do you remember the shortcut that takes you on a busy road but avoids the hill yep that's what we're on right now tons of traffic but turns out this is what the hill look like still can't decide if he made the right choice or not but both routes eventually converged here at the beach I want to go down the beach it go down there cars in the beach what what kind of beach is this bikes down there we were at downhill Beach and I guess you could drive your car on here I had never seen this before but it looks like it was possible to get stuck judging by the towing service sign so downhill Beach was a Game of Thrones filming site it was used to film the scene where the seven Idols of Westeros were burned if you don't remember here's a refresher take them and cast your light upon us for the night is dark and full of [Music] Terrors after a quick lunch at the cafe across from the beach we soon found ourselves in a super busy uphill I'm definitely using the ebike Boost at this moment to catch up to everyone else this was just a short but painful climb to get up to the Madan Temple but despite the pain my son did make it you collapsed we were walking up to the Bader estate which was built in the 18th century by the noox family the estate was abandoned in the early 20th century and over time nature claimed the land leaving Behind These ruins from the estate we could see Madan temple in the distance this classical round Temple was built to be a summer Library this Library would have had the most amazing views from here we can see views in the northern Irish and donogal Coast we had a nice downhill after our stop much of our bike touring involves figuring out where to have lunch that day but also where to stop for our afternoon ice cream break as that was a required for the kids I had marked Coline as our next rest stop but we could actually see our destination city of Port Stewart in the distance as we entered colorine the main order of business was looking for ice cream but it was completely residential for a long while sometimes it takes us forever to get through the route mostly because of the number of stops we make depending how we feel we will lean toward just cranking through to the end if we're getting close so this poor kid desire for an ice cream break may just get ignored okay oops the path we were following didn't take us into the Town Center so no ice cream break but luckily for him it didn't take us much longer to reach the outskirts of Port Stewart but then suddenly my daughter's bike got a flat uh something probably my tire oh your tire I don't know why it took so long for us to realize it was flat what happened flat tire uh we got to fix it some TI it happens getting a flat was actually not that common for us you got to fix itce I should some duct tape on it one fixed Tire later uh we're finally back on our way Port Stewart is a popular Seaside destination judging for the number of cars and people people our B&B was located past the main strip in a more residential area we got a little lost at first but eventually found it Cole ERG house okay the first order of business is always to put the bikes away you take your bikes right in the top okay and then I meet you see where the trailer is yes here's our garage and then we put your bikes in the garage this is the garage they said you'll meet us here in a few minutes okay this B&B had one of the best breakfast on this tour they also had a water bottle refilling station which was super helpful today's route was the whole reason why I booked this tour we would be passing epic sites like dunlo Castle Giants Causeway and the Carrick AR Reed rope Bridge it was only 27 miles but I knew if all the stops we would have to be lucky to get to all of them I was enjoying the beautiful Coastal views despite the gray weather when I suddenly got a flat and then of course it started to rain on us as it rained so often here rain was not a big deal at all to the locals everyone was still out jogging and the golfers continued to golf along the Route we breeed by Port Rush which had an amusement park in the distance of course the kids wanted to visit but it just wasn't the plan for today the rain had cleared earlier like it often did around here and I was still hopeful that we could take a break and visit Del Castle but then the rain started and continued and didn't stop unfortunately my husband and daughter got pretty far ahead and didn't know my intention to visit this Castle when we got to the castle we realized they hadn't gone the same way I don't know where they went are they not here ice cream my belly hurts I need ice cream even when completely soaked this child always wants ice cream but we took our photo to the castle to record the moment and continued along the way so back into the rain we went not that we ever left the rain at this point my son was starting to complain about the cold but you know on the plus side an occasional Hill Climb does help warm you up not sure this kid appreciate it though I honestly don't think I had ever been a Sweatman cycling before he had reached the hail portion of the day well maybe it wasn't hail but these are some of the biggest drops of water i' ever experienced and it was just pting us in the face my son was being tortured beyond belief at this point though I'm not sure if it was from the rain or the climb maybe both almost there almost at the top okay when the the tour company recommended rain booties for the shoes I think I should have taken that suggestion more seriously when we reached the town of bush Mills we made a detour in hopes of lunch and somewhere to dry off Bush Mills is actually the home of the world's oldest licensed whiskey Distillery wow some Irish whiskey would have been really the thing to warm us up from the inside but the first priority here was food oh there's food here at this ice cream shop yeah okay luckily after lunch of sandwiches it had stopped raining pH this next section of biking was probably my most favorite part of the day it was a great bike trail with some puddles but beautiful views we were soon coming up to Giant's Causeway where we stopped for a walk this this is one of the most famous landmarks in the area and is declared a UNESCO world heritage site it is surprisingly free to visit Giant's Causeway to get down to Giant's Causeway it was about A8 mile downhill walk Giant's Causeway was formed by volcanic activity where the cooling lava cracked and contracted forming a hexagonal pattern this was also the first place we were encountering a lot of tourists which was a super strange feeling by the time we left the site it was already midafternoon and then chances that we can make it to Carrick or Reed rope Bridge were pretty slim we were only halfway and still had 13 miles to go and I wasn't sure how long the weather would hold we were incredibly lucky that stopped raining long enough for us to even visit Giant's Causeway the kids at this point just wanted to get to the hotel because we were still all kind of soggy I made sure not to tell them that the second half of this route was going to be even hiler you would think after the third day of biking I would know to stay on the left but no at least the cars were kind of scared of [Music] me I can never tell if it's better to have the kid in front of me or behind if he's behind me I know he won't make a wrong turn but I have to keep checking to make sure he doesn't get dropped if he's in front of me I'm worry he will cross an intersection without me there's a car coming right yeah no it's not it's flat it's okay maybe he's right maybe it's not flat we are finally done with the Rolling Hills and our last downhill stretch to our destination at belly Castle unfortunately it has started to rain again but our B&B host had messaged me saying they were ready and waiting for us to arrive and they would dry all our wet gear for us that was amazing so shout out to Berkeley at kav house apologies if I'm butchering the pronunciation he was an amazing host and having the option to get everything dried was priceless apparently had a slow leak in my rear tire I still made it so that's good it's I did look at it and I was like wow it must be really heavy it's all flattened on a wet day the best feeling is when we finally arrive at the hotel now that we were all dried off we were Keen to get through today's route quickly before the rain was projected a hit in the afternoon Unfortunately today was also the hilliest day 2500 ft of climbing over 18.5 miles so did I tell the kids what they were in for for today no I just told them it was only 18 miles and they were super excited for a short day I didn't show much of B castle but it is a cute little town with a Seaside playground and the coastal views were stunning as we biked out today so this is not even tour road yet but the climbing had already started oh my goodness I think the kids will have to walk are you turbo no I'm Eco why turbo I'm trying to get a workout my heart rate is 155 after some Meandering through some side streets we finally were on the infamous tour Road Tor Road has gained a reputation as one of the most challenging roads to cycle in all of Ireland how do I get that how do I get on my bike uh you have to get some momentum run from my research it seems that this climb is hugely popular with sport tees and clubs but most of those rides come up from the South toward balet Castle which might be the steeper Direction our B&B host in B castle was surprised we were planning to bik tour Road and suggested a more Inland direct option instead but I knew that route would be super busy as all the tour buses took it and I knew this route would have fewer cars and be a lot more Scenic if we had taken the left turn here just would have taken us down to torhead this Headland area is the island of Ireland's closest point to Scotland of just 12 miles in between our route didn't take us down there and it was a detour I would have been interested to explore but I assumed that since he had a bike downhill to get there D's added uphill to rejoin the route which would be a really hard sell to the kids this is the highest point we' reach for the day so definitely the climbing was more gradual coming from Bley Castle this also meant it was now time for a spectacular downhill I could see torad in the distance and I definitely felt Pains of regret for not taking the detour but the feeds from here were also something I would not have wanted to miss out out on so we probably made the right choice we occasionally had had a car go past us today but the scariest section we encountered was his hairpin turn which we were not expecting I actually think it would have been super scary to drive too so I imagine the cars were also as scared of us as we were of them oh this is really [Music] treacherous super treacherous cuz we should go now there not many cars that was super dangerous so many cars going up and down as you can see our climb so far had been pretty gradual but we're heading up a steeper but shorter Hill the kids end up having to walk the hill and I must admit I boosted up the hill past them which they didn't appreciate even after I passed them there was still much more to this climb but this really was the top of the climb for now and it would be all downhill to the next town of kushon but take a look at these [Music] views this is our fourth day of cycling and surprisingly we had only seen one or two other cyclist entire time imagine our surprise when we saw a family of four on this crazy route with fully loaded peners Doos to them I can't imagine how heavy that would have been so I had seen so many cheap on these Farms but surprisingly we never saw lamb listed as a dish at any of the restaurants we went to I asked the local and they said lamb is mostly exported and quite expensive for the locals which was surprising but later research revealed that lamb is from young sheep less than 1 years old and mutton is from older sheep so maybe it wasn't quite the season for lamb I guess I was wrong about it being all downhill to the next town oops we were heading into cushen which was also our planned lunch stop but we were also carefully watching the weather as rain was supposed to set in this afternoon from kushon we would only have five more miles to go so it was pretty tempting to just take a super short break for a snack and Power on we were pretty traumatized from the downpour from the previous day of biking which really made us not want to linger unnecessarily which was a shame because kushen had many charms it is a Harbor Town and has a nice beach with caves that were used as a Game of Thrones filming site but we saw the dark clouds looming and after a quick snack we got a move on and headed up the hill to continue on to kushel this was the last Hill for the day and the nice thing about all the towns we had stayed in so far was that was always downhill to the very end go downhill we're here we had done a bike tour years ago in embria where it was full of Hilltop towns so we always dreaded the end of the day we're headed to Kendal which is known for being the capital of the glands of antrum we did encounter a cyclist on day two who grew up in this area and was super puzzled while we were headed there as he didn't think there was much to be found in these towns our bike tours take us to small towns which as is always part of the charm of traveling this way unfortunately when I Googled what there was to do in cushendall all the major sites were places we had already biked through but surprisingly as we rolled into town we arrived in the middle of the hearts of the Glen Festival this is a week in August where the village is a buzz of concerts workshops and dance at first we were super confused what was going on because a bunch of trucks were just honking and driving through town but this was a Lori parade which was just part of the festival we did get a little trapped in the traffic though but did figure out how to escape the main Center so overall we did get very lucky with all the timing we got to the BMB earlier than check-in and the owner was about to head out to the festival but let us into our rooms early if we had gotten there just 10 minutes later we' have been stuck outside waiting when the downpour started instead we were situated cozily in our rooms enjoying the sounds of rain cush doll was our final destination but our tour wasn't quite over we were booked for two nights here which is a bit unusual for the last day of a bike tour it meant today was an optional Loop day but of course the kids did not want to bike I actually was thinking of getting them to go on a coastal Cliff hike but the B&B host assumed we'd be biking and brought our bikes out of storage for us so back on the bikes we went I had made a modified route that took us just to the Glen arff waterfall and back unfortunately just 2 miles in the rain started coming down but we slogged on we did make it to the waterfall Park but there was not much hiking to be done instead we sat in the cafe and had lunch while waiting to see if the rain would stop it didn't I mean this is why everything is so beat up fall and green here unlike the brown Hills we were used to it made everything seem magical and otherworldly unfortunately our bad luck with Flats was not over why why am I getting bumps I don't know are you getting like bumps no what kind of bumps are you getting you might have a flat in the front oh yeah I am I yeah it is right I can't tell yeah you have a flat want just walk of course we would get a flat 1 mile from the hotel it did turn out we had a pump in our bag but our attempts to inflate were unsuccessful the tube couldn't hold air but luckily we got rescued soda's Bike Tour did end in an exciting fashion but thankfully all our Flats didn't happen during torrential downpours so that's been lucky now is for the final recap of this tour when I think about how to rate bike tours I'd like to judge it on a few factors first of all routes and bike infrastructure the routes took us on Lower traffic Country Roads and I felt like cars gave us a decent margin space when passing there weren't always bike Lanes but it didn't feel unsafe we're not quite sure why we got so many flats we ended up going through every spare tube that was given to us and had to patch them unfortunately there weren't any bike shops along the way so I would say this route required a bit more bike handiness than others still I would give this four out of five next is hotels every place we stayed at was B&B which is quite different but also very cozy I think overall the quality and service felt quite high I would give this four out of five points of interest when the kids were younger having playgrounds along the Route were a must have but even at their current ages they would probably still enjoy an occasional place playround stop this was a zero playground tour but I rate the views and stops a five out of [Music] five overall this tour was excellent and the only request I got from the kids for the next Bike Tour was for it to not be so cold and wet but I know that's Ireland and the UK in a nutshell if you made it all the way here thanks for watching and we love to hear suggestions of where else we should explore be sure to like And subscribe

2024-11-22 04:30

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