Dublin // Liverpool - Manchester - Sheffield - Nottingham - Leicester - Bedford - Luton - London // Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Enghien
Bike: 579 mi / 926 km
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Monday, June 2, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Made it to England!
Dublin to Liverpool
Of course I missed my ferry to the UK. I thought I allotted enough time so that I would make it at least 45 minutes (including time in case I got lost) before the ferry was set to leave. Well, apparently not. I missed a turn or turned when I shouldn't have or something (the roads are sometimes odd), and somehow ended up in the middle of the city. And then suddenly BAM, I am at the cross section of the river and O'Connell! I tell you, that intersection is always popping up on me. So I made my way in the direction of the port, and once I got to the port area is where it took additional time that I was not expecting. Terminal 1, the terminal of my ferry, was pretty much the furthest point of the massive port area, so that was a few extra miles. So by the time I actually arrived, it was too late to board. Sigh.
But I was able to take the next ferry out, which was a few hours later.
Before I boarded the ferry, I stored my bike in the same area as the cars that are traveling, so seeing the car deck for the first time was kinda neat.
Oh, and during the ride, I went outside on the outer deck, and it was SOOOOOO WINDY!!!!!!
Anyway, so it was a smooth ferry ride, and the train ride was smooth too. (Ferry took me to Holyhead in Wales, the train took me to Liverpool in England.) I was able to arrive in Liverpool an hour earlier than I thought I would, because I was able to catch the Holyhead-Liverpool train an hour early. That was thanks in part to a quick transition between the ferry and the train. As a biker, this other biker dude and I were literally the first ones off the ferry. I was actually really glad he was there, because I was basically following his lead. The train station was probably a little over a mile away. (Regular foot passengers take a shuttle away from the port.) When I got there I asked about the train to Liverpool, and the guy told me it was about to leave. So I quickly made my way to the right platform and was able to get on the earlier train! YAY!!! Oh, and there is a reason people tell you if you're cycle touring make sure you can carry the weight of your bike with your bags on it. Because once again, I had to lift my bike up fully to get it onto the train. It's a wee bit more difficult when the weight isn't evenly distributed on the bike, and there's 40+ pounds on the back, while there's almost no weight on the front. It's a severe balance issue, haha.
But yes, nice train ride. Mostly the country side of Wales. I saw many cows, horses, and sheep. Also along the coast for a good while.
Oh, and in the United Kingdom, kids get into flour fights on trains. Yes, flour like the kind you use to make bread. The conductor came by and was like "be careful when you lean back. Kids got into a flour fight earlier." Then sure enough, when I looked at seats around mine, there was flour residue on a good number of seats. hahaha.
So I got to Liverpool. I started making my way towards (what I thought was, and told by a train station employee) the right way to Dara's place. OMG, A HUGE HILL. Just hoped I would not be dealing with hills throughout England. That would not be fun for me. But... what should have been a 2 mile trip, I of course turned into much longer. Google map directions really do not help at all when you can't locate the street signs to know where you are. Sometimes they're on the buildings, sometimes they're on a sign on the ground, sometimes there's nothing at all!! The people walking on the streets weren't always a big help. One time I was sent completely in the wrong direction. Completely. I'm sure it was not on purpose, but still. Other times they just didn't know. And other times, it was probably just because I missed the street they told me to turn at.
But of course, I eventually made it as I always do!!! I just like to give myself a more difficult time than I have to.
Bike around Dublin/Holyhead/Liverpool: 14 miles
Of course I missed my ferry to the UK. I thought I allotted enough time so that I would make it at least 45 minutes (including time in case I got lost) before the ferry was set to leave. Well, apparently not. I missed a turn or turned when I shouldn't have or something (the roads are sometimes odd), and somehow ended up in the middle of the city. And then suddenly BAM, I am at the cross section of the river and O'Connell! I tell you, that intersection is always popping up on me. So I made my way in the direction of the port, and once I got to the port area is where it took additional time that I was not expecting. Terminal 1, the terminal of my ferry, was pretty much the furthest point of the massive port area, so that was a few extra miles. So by the time I actually arrived, it was too late to board. Sigh.
But I was able to take the next ferry out, which was a few hours later.
Before I boarded the ferry, I stored my bike in the same area as the cars that are traveling, so seeing the car deck for the first time was kinda neat.
Oh, and during the ride, I went outside on the outer deck, and it was SOOOOOO WINDY!!!!!!
Anyway, so it was a smooth ferry ride, and the train ride was smooth too. (Ferry took me to Holyhead in Wales, the train took me to Liverpool in England.) I was able to arrive in Liverpool an hour earlier than I thought I would, because I was able to catch the Holyhead-Liverpool train an hour early. That was thanks in part to a quick transition between the ferry and the train. As a biker, this other biker dude and I were literally the first ones off the ferry. I was actually really glad he was there, because I was basically following his lead. The train station was probably a little over a mile away. (Regular foot passengers take a shuttle away from the port.) When I got there I asked about the train to Liverpool, and the guy told me it was about to leave. So I quickly made my way to the right platform and was able to get on the earlier train! YAY!!! Oh, and there is a reason people tell you if you're cycle touring make sure you can carry the weight of your bike with your bags on it. Because once again, I had to lift my bike up fully to get it onto the train. It's a wee bit more difficult when the weight isn't evenly distributed on the bike, and there's 40+ pounds on the back, while there's almost no weight on the front. It's a severe balance issue, haha.
But yes, nice train ride. Mostly the country side of Wales. I saw many cows, horses, and sheep. Also along the coast for a good while.
Oh, and in the United Kingdom, kids get into flour fights on trains. Yes, flour like the kind you use to make bread. The conductor came by and was like "be careful when you lean back. Kids got into a flour fight earlier." Then sure enough, when I looked at seats around mine, there was flour residue on a good number of seats. hahaha.
So I got to Liverpool. I started making my way towards (what I thought was, and told by a train station employee) the right way to Dara's place. OMG, A HUGE HILL. Just hoped I would not be dealing with hills throughout England. That would not be fun for me. But... what should have been a 2 mile trip, I of course turned into much longer. Google map directions really do not help at all when you can't locate the street signs to know where you are. Sometimes they're on the buildings, sometimes they're on a sign on the ground, sometimes there's nothing at all!! The people walking on the streets weren't always a big help. One time I was sent completely in the wrong direction. Completely. I'm sure it was not on purpose, but still. Other times they just didn't know. And other times, it was probably just because I missed the street they told me to turn at.
But of course, I eventually made it as I always do!!! I just like to give myself a more difficult time than I have to.
Bike around Dublin/Holyhead/Liverpool: 14 miles
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Bike still not fixed...
Dublin
Went to check back on my bike, the guy referred me to a bike shop down the street, dunno why he couldn't fix it (I guess he didn't know how?), but there was a problem with the spokes of the front wheel. Didn't get to the second bike shop with enough time to spare before closing time, so the guy there suggested I go to another bike shop the next day that'll be closer to where I was staying, since I was going to be moving on to stay with another couchsurfer.
Finding my way to Renee's place actually was a breeze. (WOW!) Anthony lives in Dublin 3, which is like northeast Dublin, and Renee lives in Dublin 2, south part of Dublin. It was around 5 miles, and my bike was in good enough shape to ride. One of the things I have been heavily depending on is my little mini-Dublin map that my couchsurfer had given me when I was in Wisconsin! It has really saved me while I've been here in Dublin!! My mini-compass has also tremendously saved me!!
One thing that HAS gone my way however, is the WEATHER! The three days I've been here it's been nothing but good weather. Sunny and good temperature. Gets chilly towards the evening, but during the day is ideal. I'm told by the locals that this isn't normal and that I've been really lucky, haha. But since the weather was nice, after I booked my ticket, I still had a couple hours until Renee returned to her apartment, so I decided to go to Phoenix Park and chilled out there.
The next day, I still hadn't gotten it completely fixed, but it's rideable, so I'm just hoping no catastrophes will occur. I went to the bike shop the lady at the Tourism Centre recommended, but they said the soonest they'd be able to get around to it was the following week. So I decided I would just continue to ride in the current condition. The spokes on the front wheel need adjustments... can that turn into a really bad situation?
The two parts of Dublin I have come to known well (or started to anyway): O'Connell Street and River Liffey. Point me in the direction of the river or O'Connell Street, and I will be able to find the rest of my way!! (well, maybe if you give me a compass and a map it'll help, haha.) Actually, there were a lot of times when I thought I didn't know where I was going, and then BAM, there's the river! And then I could figure out how to get where I wanted to.
Bike around Dublin: 21 miles
Went to check back on my bike, the guy referred me to a bike shop down the street, dunno why he couldn't fix it (I guess he didn't know how?), but there was a problem with the spokes of the front wheel. Didn't get to the second bike shop with enough time to spare before closing time, so the guy there suggested I go to another bike shop the next day that'll be closer to where I was staying, since I was going to be moving on to stay with another couchsurfer.
Finding my way to Renee's place actually was a breeze. (WOW!) Anthony lives in Dublin 3, which is like northeast Dublin, and Renee lives in Dublin 2, south part of Dublin. It was around 5 miles, and my bike was in good enough shape to ride. One of the things I have been heavily depending on is my little mini-Dublin map that my couchsurfer had given me when I was in Wisconsin! It has really saved me while I've been here in Dublin!! My mini-compass has also tremendously saved me!!
One thing that HAS gone my way however, is the WEATHER! The three days I've been here it's been nothing but good weather. Sunny and good temperature. Gets chilly towards the evening, but during the day is ideal. I'm told by the locals that this isn't normal and that I've been really lucky, haha. But since the weather was nice, after I booked my ticket, I still had a couple hours until Renee returned to her apartment, so I decided to go to Phoenix Park and chilled out there.
The next day, I still hadn't gotten it completely fixed, but it's rideable, so I'm just hoping no catastrophes will occur. I went to the bike shop the lady at the Tourism Centre recommended, but they said the soonest they'd be able to get around to it was the following week. So I decided I would just continue to ride in the current condition. The spokes on the front wheel need adjustments... can that turn into a really bad situation?
The two parts of Dublin I have come to known well (or started to anyway): O'Connell Street and River Liffey. Point me in the direction of the river or O'Connell Street, and I will be able to find the rest of my way!! (well, maybe if you give me a compass and a map it'll help, haha.) Actually, there were a lot of times when I thought I didn't know where I was going, and then BAM, there's the river! And then I could figure out how to get where I wanted to.
Bike around Dublin: 21 miles
Monday, May 5, 2008
Mess of a mess
Dublin
omg what a mess. Really. So I reassembled my bike at the airport. The front brake/wheel/something got misaligned in transit, and it just looked deformed. So the front wheel wouldn't roll smoothly. Then as I'm rolling the bike along on just the back wheel, I feel resistance there. I check the back brakes, and that one of the back brake was rubbing against the wheel, although at first I just sighed and just left it at that. I took a taxi to the place I was staying, because buses don't allow bikes. And apparently it's against the law for taxis to carry bikes as well. Liability for if the passenger gets hurt by the bicycle?! Anyway, so during the taxi ride, I was able to fix the back brake, because I realize there was a piece that was out of place. Then miraculously, when the taxi driver took the bike out of the van, the front wheel rolled incredibly smoothly, with no apparent problems with the brake. So strange. Maybe the misalignment of the back brake had something to do with the misalignment of the front brake?! Clearly I do not know bikes. So just when the brake problem is fixed (I hope), I then realize there's a problem with the gears!!! SIGH. Seriously. That should be able to be easily fixed, because it's similar to what's happened before, but I really didn't feel like dealing with it
So unfortunately, it wasn't the best first few hours in Dublin......
omg what a mess. Really. So I reassembled my bike at the airport. The front brake/wheel/something got misaligned in transit, and it just looked deformed. So the front wheel wouldn't roll smoothly. Then as I'm rolling the bike along on just the back wheel, I feel resistance there. I check the back brakes, and that one of the back brake was rubbing against the wheel, although at first I just sighed and just left it at that. I took a taxi to the place I was staying, because buses don't allow bikes. And apparently it's against the law for taxis to carry bikes as well. Liability for if the passenger gets hurt by the bicycle?! Anyway, so during the taxi ride, I was able to fix the back brake, because I realize there was a piece that was out of place. Then miraculously, when the taxi driver took the bike out of the van, the front wheel rolled incredibly smoothly, with no apparent problems with the brake. So strange. Maybe the misalignment of the back brake had something to do with the misalignment of the front brake?! Clearly I do not know bikes. So just when the brake problem is fixed (I hope), I then realize there's a problem with the gears!!! SIGH. Seriously. That should be able to be easily fixed, because it's similar to what's happened before, but I really didn't feel like dealing with it
So unfortunately, it wasn't the best first few hours in Dublin......
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