United Kingdom 2006
  
 

Day 10

August 28

  
 

This is the day that we leave Scotland and head to Troon to catch the ferry to Ireland. I take a good look at the cabin that I have shared for the last three days. Bob is still occupying the tent just outside the door and there are strange noises coming from with in - something similar to a bear growling.

 
 
 
  Since this is traveling day, I get the ST1300 loaded back up with all of my gear and the old yellow riverbag. That bag has seen a lot of duty on the back of a motorcycle and has been in a lot of interesting places.  
 
 
  As I take a last look over Lock Leven, there is a lone sailboat slowing plying it's way. It's hard to imagine, but from the very spot that I stand I could take a boat and sail down this loch, out to Loch Linnhe, down the Firth of Lorne, across the Atlantic, straight to the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River at New Orleans, down the Ohio River, down the Cumberland and dock at the RiverFront Park in downtown Nashville.  
 
 
  Soon the group is ready to ride, and we gladly leave the midges behind in Kinlochleven. We make our way down the Scottish coast, traveling back over some of the roads like A828 and A85 on our way to Oban where I got my tires changed earlier. There's plenty of motorcycle parking right at the the seafront, so we make good use of it.  
 
 
 

It's lunch time, so we wander up the narrow George street looking for a interesting place to get some vittles. The McTavish's Kitchen catches our attention so we descend on it and grab some seats. The food is good and the view of the harbor is even better. The Oban harbor is very pretty and I can see the Victorian Columba Hotel just across the way. It would be a nice place to stay I'm sure with its location right on the water.

After the meal, Dave heads out for his home at Tayport. He, Moff and I have ridden quite a few miles together and I look forward to the time that we can ride again.

 
 
 
 

The rain starts coming down again as we leave Oban. As we are passing through one small village, I can't help but stop and take a picture of a rather unusual sign that I see.

  
 
 
  As we make our way south on our way to Dunoon, we go up by the Tighnabruaich viewpoint. From here I can overlook the beautiful Kyles of Bute that lead to the open sea.  
 
 
  We meander down the coast past Hunter's Quay to catch the ferry from Dunoon to Gourock. As we leave the port, Strone Point slowly recedes in the distance.  
 
 
  Bob and Peter are busy sorting out some matters as we ply our way past Holy Loch and the Firth of Clyde.  
 
 
 

From our landfall to Troon is a straight shot down A78 which pretty much shadows the coast all the way down. When we reach the ferry port at Troon, Bryan, a friend of Peter and Bob is waiting on his BMW GS. They know him from the Mayflower Motorcycle Club and he will be riding with us on our trip through Ireland. We talk about riding and what we think we will encounter, as the sun goes down. There are a lot of folks wanting to get on the ferry just like us when it starts boarding around 8:20 PM.

 
 
 
 

The sheer size of the ferry and the number of vehicles allowed on board is amazing. In our section, there's a younger riding on a HD 883 sportster. After we get our bikes strapped down, I walk over to him and strike up a conversation -

"How long you been riding?"

"Oh, only 2 years. But I really enjoy it. My dad rode for a long time" he tells me.

"Well, just remember to watch out around you and be careful and you can ride a real long time."

  
 
 
 

Soon we make our way up to the lounge area. It turns out to be pretty nice and has a neat gift shop and snack bar. I get a few munchies to tide me over for the 2 hour ride and settled into a comfortable chair. I notice that Miss Fi does not appear to being doing real well. The water does feel like it is quite rough out there tonight.

"Are you doing okay?" I ask her.

"Well, I have a little bit of motion sickness but I'll be all right" she tells me.

She's a real trooper and makes the long journey without a complaint. The rest of us talk about where we are heading and what we will see. But we are all glad when the announcement is finally made about landing. Folks quickly head for the exits, so we follow the hordes back down into the bowels of the ferry. Once we dock, it's a quick untethering, then we are directed to a place in the outgoing traffic line by one of the crew members. I'm still a little cautious about ferries and decks being slippery, so I take extra care as I disembark the ship. Once we are all off and back together again, we make the quick 17 mile dash just north of Belfast to the Chimney Corner Hotel in Newtonabbey. I am now officially in Ireland and ready to see what the Land of Ire is like. I soon find that it sleeps just about like anywhere else.