TUESDAY. After a great overnight crossing from Rotterdam we arrived in Hull at 7am in the morning. Bang on time. But (and there’s usually a but…) there were around 200 motorbikes onboard so the bikers weren’t called forward to the vehicle deck until 0745. There had been a chopper rally in Holland that weekend and most of the bikes were choppers of every shape and form. There was more chrome and custom paint jobs than a flight full of social influencers coming back from Turkey on an Easyjet flight.
I counted three other normal bikes but I still felt very much like the odd man out. When the deckhand gave the notification that we could go, the noise from all the bikes starting was something out of this world, especially as most of the bikes were Harleys with straight-through exhaust pipes.
Once we got off there was a huge queue of bikes at the border post for passport checks, but to be honest, they did a great job and they got everyone through quickly. I was on the road heading out of the port by 8.30 and I made my first mistake by making a turn into a junction onto the wrong side of the road. I am so used to riding on the right-hand side that it seems natural to me now. Out of the terminal, I headed to a nearby Maccy D’s to meet my mate Daz for a coffee and a catch-up, as he lives nearby, and by 10am I was on the road heading towards Manchester.
The M62 from Leeds to Manchester was horrible. Trucks in the first two lanes and everyone else in the outside lane. It was slow and frustrating. I got to Manchester around 12 where I am going to see family for a few days, catch-up, and eat some proper food…
THURSDAY. After a few days catching up with family I hit the road at 7am heading for Birkenhead to catch a ferry over to Belfast. It was dry and it wasn’t too cold, and half-way there I had to stop to remove my fleece and winter gloves. My satnav decided that it wanted to go into the centre of Liverpool and go through the Mersey Tunnel, which was fine, but on the Birkenhead side I got completely lost. Thanks, Satnav.
I got to the Stenna Terminal at 9 am and only had to wait 30 minutes before we started boarding. I booked my ticket the evening before. Usually I book a ferry using directferries.com but with their booking fee it was around £85, so booking direct on the Stenna website was nearly £10 cheaper. Sorted. Boarding was quick and easy and before long I had found a comfy seat, bought a coffee and was reading my kindle while waiting for the 1030 departure.
After nodding off and sleeping for most of the way – I must have been tired. At 6pm, and as we were coming into Belfast, they opened the door onto the car-deck which was immediately followed by a stampede of people rushing to their cars – and we hadn’t even got alongside. We got alongside at 6.15 so I walked down to the bike and by the time I had removed the ratchet strap, got my helmet and gloves on then sat astride the bike – it was 6.30, which is when they started calling the vehicles forward. Lots of bored looking motorists….
I am staying in Belfast for a short break for some personal business. It only took ten minutes to ride to where I am staying, so pretty soon I had the bike unpacked, locked away and was enjoying a cup of tea. It had been a long day. I am staying here for a week, and then I may either head back to Scotland or do a quick blast down the west coast of Ireland. I’ll make a decision a day or two beforehand depending on the weather. If the weather is going to be poor then home, but if it looks good – I may just seek out the West Ireland Way.
Home – almost… but I still cant believe that just a few days before I was in Stockholm and that I had ridden well over a thousand miles in just a few days. I must have a screw loose…
