DIARY continued from page 12
equipped with hard bags and a top box which gave us plenty of room for items we needed for the next 11 days on the road. After packing the bikes and having our GPS unit
installed, we left Belfast and started heading north up the Antrim Coast towards Ballymoney. Once we were on the motorway, riding on the left side of the road didn’t seem too bad. I was a little worried how I was going to handle this,
but once you’re out on the road it becomes fairly easy and quite normal. We got off the motorway, or four-lane highway, and started up the coast. I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the scenery was.
As we continued up the coast towards Giant Causeway, the weather cleared and the scenery continued to amaze us. We rode into Bush Mills to see Ireland’s largest whisky distillery, but unfortunately we couldn’t get in as they were preparing for a three-day music festival. After a good day’s ride along the coast, we spent the
first night in Ballymoney. Now if you have ever followed Irish Road Racing or the Isle of Man TT events, you would have heard of Joey Dunlop. Dunlop was a world champion motorcyclist from
Ballymoney. In 2005 he was voted the fifth greatest motorcycling racer ever. His achievements include three hat-tricks at the Isle of Man TT events (1985, 1988 and 2000), where he won a record 26 races in total. During his career he won the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times. In 1986 he won a fifth consecutive TT Formula One world title. Joey died in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2000 while leading
a 125cc race. He had already won the 750cc and 600cc events. We visited the memorial that is erected in his honour in Ballymoney, and spent time at Joey’s Bar. (Joey’s Bar was owned by Joey Dunlop, and now his wife and family continue to operate the pub.) Some of his race bikes are displayed in the bar along
with other articles from his racing career. Joey’s son, Gary, spent time with us talking about his father, Uncle Robert (another Irish road racer), along with his cousins, Michael and William, who now race at the Isle of Man TT and Irish Road Races. Everyone in the pub was talking about bikes and
motorcycle racing and asked us what it’s like to ride in Canada. Later, while visiting another pub, we heard the patrons discussing motorcycle racing, sponsors, manufacturers and Irish road racing events. In Ballymoney and Ireland, Irish road racing is like hockey to Canadians. They know the races, racers, bikes and their sponsors, and talk about it the way we discuss the NHL during playoffs. The next day we continued along the northern coast to
Malin Head, the most northern point of Ireland, in County Donegal. From Malin Head we picked up the Wild Atlantic Way
28 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
(WAW). The Wild Atlantic Way is a road full of adventure that runs along the west coast of Ireland – a 2,500 km
www.bounder.ca
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