Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Day 1 - He's made it to Ireland

Well Dad left sunny Stoke for Crewe. Caught the 10.47 train out of Crewe heading for Holyhead. Another cyclist came and sat with Dad. It was his first trip on a train with his bike and he was heading for a couple of days in Rhyl.  He was quite envious of what Dad had planned.  His name was Paul - Dad said "he's got a Facebook page .... can you look him up?"  Had to try and explain to Dad I needed a little more information than Paul in order to find him on Facebook !

Dad had no problems in Holyhead getting off the train as this was the end of the line and so he was able to get off at his leisure and put everything back on his bike.  He then headed over to catch the ferry.  The ferry guys were really helpful and sent Dad right to the front of the ferry so that he'd be first off. He was the only cyclist on board.  Ferry crossing was fine and he arrived in Ireland just after 5.30 pm ... six hours after leaving Crewe Dad was in Dublin and it had cost only £28.50.

Once in Dublin Dad headed off to find somewhere to stay. He decided against heading into Dublin itself and sticking to his plan ... he turned left and pedalled.  He cycled for about 1 1/2 hours before he found a bed for the night. Well he had passed one but at 69 Euros and with no breakfast it was out of budget!  He headed on through Black Rock and is now in Dun Laoghaire in the Kingstone Hotel http://www.kingstonhotel.com/ . He's got a sea view, somewhere to store his bike and breakfast for 49 Euros - bargain.

Tomorrow he is heading off towards Wicklow.

4 comments:

  1. Great value for the train/ferry journey. The hotel looks good too - I hope he's negotiating discounts for o'night stays, based on the adverts on his blog. :) Look forward to reading more about his progress.

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  2. I was impressed with Dun Laourie (sp?) when we were heading back to Dublin for the ferry in 2006. It was really nice, helped by it being sunny the day we were there. I seemed to remember it looking terrible the brief time I was there on my first trip to Eire in 82.

    So get pedalling fella and have a good time.

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  3. hi jack it was nice meeting you on the train,you got me inspiredto do a bit more riding and camping,my music is on youtube [youtube-oiljass,s channel] the nane of the band is snakeoiljass.best wisher paul

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  4. Hi Paul, Thanks for getting in touch. Passed message onto Dad that you are following his blog. He sends his wishes.

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