Northern Ireland Adventure (Brexit holidays)

We’re thinking of doing a club trip to Northern Ireland  next year.  To make it worth getting the ferry across (which is about £200-220 for a car) we would be looking at making a long weekend of it.  Think of it as a mini-holiday rather than a weekend trip. Brexit holidays are the future anyway!

So I’m proposing we go on the Thursday night (7.30pm ferry from Cairnryan) and come back on the Sunday night (3.30pm or 8pm ferry) which would give us three full days of riding. Probably staying at camping pods at Rostrevor to keep costs down, or there is a hostel near there too.

It would be good to get a rough idea of numbers so that we can think about options like hiring a van to make it cheaper (fewer vehicles on the ferry) and suchlike. So if you are interested, let me know your preferred date. Or just say if you can do any dates or want to make it a longer / shorter trip or whatever.

Easter is the 16/17 April and Will is already planning a trip away then so we thought a few weeks before that might be good – hopefully the weather won’t be too terrible!

Check out some ideas for the riding round there.

Fill out the poll or comment on your thoughts on dates, duration etc.

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15th November – Innerleithen uplift day

A few of us have booked onto the Uplift day at Innerleithen. Book a place here: http://www.upliftscotland.com/

They normally manage to fit 9 runs into the day, on the Innerleithen Enduro trails (I suppose you could also do the dh trails too).  To give you an idea of how hard they are, I am pretty rubbish on descents but appear not to have died yet and have done a few of them on my hardtail.  That said, I will be riding a full suss,  wearing a full face helmet and body armour and will probably still walk bits of them!  I’m sure most of you would be better at them than I am, they are just steep, fast, natural, rooty. Fun though!

So far it’s me, Luke, Jonathan, Richard Hb and possibly Gary.

Glengarr loop on Sunday 16th November

Is anyone up for riding the Glengarr route- meeting at  bankfoot up to Birnam Woods then rumbling bridge and back through Glengarr?  Wet feet are (very) likely but it’s not a super long ride (25km 3hr or so I think). Big, beautiful open country, only an hour from Glasgow. I would like to leave Glasgow at 8.30am, to be ready to ride just after 9.30am. If you’d like a lift just let me know.

Mabie weekend 28th to 30th November

Staying at Mathrown of Mabie and riding at Mabie on the saturday then probably Dalbeattie or Kirroughtree on Sunday. Day trippers also welcome and all speeds/ abilities welcome.

I’m already looking forward to the dinner….They have a massive dining table so hopefully we can organise some sort of pot luck. Who is making the venison stew this year?

And the bunkhouse has a hot tub.

£17.50 pp per night – please let me know how many nights you want to stay and can you give me cash –

at the film night at dales

-or can anyone leading the rides next week collect some cash and do a bank transfer. I can’t ride due to nasty bike thieves.

-Or you can email me to get bank details. Elizabeth_a_odonnell@hotmail.com

An event link with more detail can be found here http://www.gmbc.org.uk/event/club-away-trip-marthrown-of-mabie-fri-28th-to-sun-30th-nov/

Campbeltown trip 16th/17th May

Me and Tom have been hatching a plan for a West-coast adventure next weekend.  It involves an evening ferry (18.40) from Ardrossan to Campbelltown on the Friday night (16th May) then an overnight stay in the backpacker place in Campbeltown.  With an early start on the Saturday, we’ll follow the kintyre way up to Claonaig then get the 16.20 ferry to Lochranza, 20mile cycle over a hill to Brodick, last ferry (19.20) back to Ardrossan for chips and medals.   I should probably point out that neither of us have done this trip before so have no idea what it will be like or if the timings are feasible or whether we’ll end up missing ferries, getting stranded etc. So we take no responsibility if it all goes pear-shaped!! The makings of a true adventure!

If anyone else wants to come, you are more than welcome. Let me know as soon as possible as I’ll be booking the backpackers tomorrow.  I haven’t got a precise distance for how far the kintyre way is between campbelltown and Claonaig. It’s 35miles on road so probably more like 45-50 on a mixture of trails, minor roads and fire roads as well as some open moorland. It wiggles across the peninsula and is supposed to have some amazing views.  A cross bike is probably the best option if possible. Anyone keen for a trip somewhere new?

 

Sunday 3rd March – away ride?

Does anyone fancy an away ride this Sunday?  I don’t mind where we go – maybe weather depending could go to Kirroughtree or Auchendrain (has anyone been there recently and know what it’s like with all the tree planting and felling?).  I can drive and have space in the car for two others.