A Ride around Wicklow

We went for a ride yesterday around Wicklow, but I forgot to pack the Satalite tracker. I suppose it was the fact I was riding with a group of friends, so felt safe in not having it with me. I forgot that it is also tracking the routes I take, building the history of my motorbike trips, never mind.

There was a break in the weather so we decided to head off towards the Wicklow Mountains and stop off for brunch at a biker restaurant called the Wicklow Heather. The weather was so nice I even put on sunglasses, but chilly enough to keep my waterproof outer layer on.

We set off and headed South out of Bray taking the side roads and headed to the Sally Gap, a pass through the Wicklow Mountains with spectacular views of the surrounding bog (big open grassy muddy sort of thing, not a small porcelain thing) and the Wicklow Mountains. Sally Gap is one of two east-to-west passes across the Wicklow Mountains. A bit like "What ever did the Romans do for us"?, the Sally Gap road was built by the British after the Irish rebellion of 1798. It was built by British Army forces looking to flush rebels from the hills, and to this day is known as the Military Road. Highlights of this winding, twisting feat of engineering include the Glencree valley, the dark waters of Lough Tay, Kippure Mountain, and Glenmacnass Waterfall, which was amazing to see due to the torrential rain that had been happening for the last few days.

The riding was great but challenging. The challenging bit was staying focused on the roads when the views were so great. If I had been riding alone I would have stopped for a few photos, but hunger was driving us forward.

Amusingly we saw the opposite of a Ruined Castel. This was a Part-Compleated Castle. Obviously, a film prop as it was made from wood sheets and scaffold poles. Perched high up it will probably look quite impressive when finished, we will have to see what film it appears in.

More great riding through tough narrow wet roads with greasy slippery leaves and mud kept us alert.

We went in a big loop around the Wicklow Mountains National Park and finally stopped off at Laragh for lunch at the famous biker restaurant. Except we were the only bikers there. Earlier that morning Ireland had lost to Japan in the Rugby World Cup, so I assume they were all far too depressed and crying into their Guinness to venture out. Apart from the persistent Wasps, we had a nice brunch.

We then set off South East to pick up the coast road at Arklow (sounds like an industrial cleaner) and one of the chaps wanted to stop off at Avoca where there apparently is a famous poem, by a famous chap about where two rivers join.



Really quite a nice spot, so I took a picture of one of the rivers, but I have no idea which one.





We then set off along more country roads through Wooden Bridge that were virtually empty of other traffic so we were able to really indulge in the twisting roads.

North out of Arklow the coast road is so close to the coast it was covered in sand in places, not deep, but enough there for you to be wary of. Then we shot past Wicklow, Newtown and Greystone and headed to our final destination, the new Distillery at Powerscourt for coffee and a few very, very, very, small samples (yes, so small they bearly coated the tongue).

They had three whiskeys on sale, none made there as the spirit needs to have been stored for a minimum of 3 years (I think) for it to be called a Whiskey. So what they have done is being in another Irish whiskey that is supplied exclusively to them. The cheapest was a blended whiskey that was quite light and very aggressive. The mid-price one was a 10 year, pleasant, but lacking in depth. The top of the range was the 14 years old and exceptionally nice. Like all Irish Whiskey, it is not smokey and quite soft with deep rich complex flavors that are best "opened" with the smallest hint of water and a wonderful rich finish (the label goes on and on about hints of chocolate oysters, citrus, spices, larks tongue, ok I lied about the last one, but you get the idea, well they have to write something. The 14 year old was so nice we bought a bottle to drink later. It's a nice little distillery and well worth stopping off at.