Across the Kingdom

It was, as our chic friend might say, a fab start to the trip. As ever we met fellow bikers as we waited to board. This is a feature of ferry travel with a bike that I like. They line us all up in the one lane so you get a chance to meet and chat with a group of like minded souls and to hear about the plans or adventures depending on whether they are coming or going. Most we going that morning. One lad was there wondering if his companions would arrive, they had a ‘sort of a, you know, loose arrrangment to meet hereabouts around now to go to, well Wales I think’. He had no maps they had no plan….how do you do that ?? He was still on his own as we boarded.


It’s a steep ramp on the Ulysses. Just so you know. Not one on which to get nervous or hesitate, or certainly not stop. You probalbly heard about the lorry driver who missed the ferry. Rang back to base and they were not too concerned. ‘No you don’t understand, he explained, I MISSED the ferry. Lorry was in the water. Swear it’s a true story. Anyway we had better luck and the officer guiding us on knew her bikes. She made sure the ramp was clear before signalling us to give it a clear run to the top. Done. In the dry. We’re on.

And Irish Ferries had clean tie downs for the bikes and even a bit of carpet to protect the saddle and a chock for the wheel. This was our type of ferry. Ulysses, the boat not the book, is the biggest car ferry in the world. In March 2001, a huge crowd turned out to watch her sail into Dublin Port for the first time. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group http://www.iwdg.ie/ report views from the top of her 12 stories as dizzying and add that sightings on this route range from the humble porpoise to the gigantic fin whale. Maybe we would see our whale today. I had, in truth, been looking forward to a trip on this ferry ever since I&R sailed across in it a while back and they felt it was as good as a cruise: "you’ve got to try it", they enthused "even if its only a day trip - give it a go!". Well here we were.

Each biker has his own routine for lashing his vehicle to the deck while the newcomers watch, listen and learn. Mind you you could write a thesis on all the contradictory advice you get on the web on this subject. Some tie the bike sdwon while its on its centre stand: this gives a good firm stand but the bike can rock front to back and slide along the deck if you are unlucky. Lashing it down tight against its side stand gives three points of contact with the deck buts it’s a lot of pressure on the side stand. Anyway the engineers among you will not doubt advise.

We had a wonderful crossing: a unique experience. The ferry was all that I&R had promised. Irish Ferries made up for any dissapointment about the fact that we could not use the fast ferry. We watched from the bridge as we slipped almost silently from our home port. And then suddenly we were on the dockside in Holyhead. We had had a whale of a time although we saw none. Oh and our friend from the Dublin dockside had met his friends. They were late joining the boat as they had been waiting for him ‘around the corner, as agreed’

We now faced a ‘commute’ across Wales and England to York. Along motorways for the most part, fast for the most part, alert all the time. Nothing concentrates the mind like watching for a junction while switching lanes in heavy traffic at speed. We sampled the delights of Little Chef in Wales and then crossed into our third country that day to have coffee in England and press on for York. Suddenly we were off the motorway and along a few miles of quiet country road into York. We got there a little before 17:00.

York advertises itself as one of the most intriguing cities in England: layered with history, beauty and variety. We were many hours later arriving here than we had originally intended when thinking of using the fast ferry (the Plan again!!) so we had to whistle stop around the attractions. It was certainly well preserved and its cobbled pedestrianised streets made it an ideal place to explore on foot as we did. Plus, although it was still open York Minster had closed the ticket office so we got to explore it without charge. Every cloud and all that. The downside was that we could not access the Undercroft, Treasury and Crypts nor climb the 275 steps of the tower. However York Minster is the largest medieval gothic cathedral in northern Europe, built between the 13th and 15th centuries and houses magnificent stained glass. It seemed right that on this first evening we had a link back to the 1995 trip which hopped from one gothic cathedral to another in mainland (sic) Europe. We had enough time to get a taster of York and enough to encourage a return visit. Then we treated ourselves to a fine dinner in “Michael’s Brasserie” before retiring to the Ibis hotel, which was under renovation and under whelming (see I can be charitable too!!). Day one and 325 kilometres done.

That reminds me of Dolls Houses in a previous life!

Next morning we were up and at it early. Quick breakfast, no inducements to linger over it and we were off. Into traffic jams. Eventually though we were back on main roads, then (quieter) motorways and motoring. We stopped for a snack at Scots Corner and then we whizzed on in North Shields more than an hour ahead of our planned time and into the DFDS terminal with not a car in sight. Decided to get petrol to save hassle finding it in Norway. Good idea. Not easy to do! Who keeps closing all the petrol stations??? We had to interrogate the locals to get directions to the nearest petrol pump. It all took 45 minutes. Then we were back to the DFDS terminal where we could see the ferry at the head of the long queue of cars. The scene at Dublin Ferryport the day before was repeated. We relaxed and chatted. Day 2 and another 166 kilometres done. The weather was beautiful: although we all realised that it would be very wet in Bergen when we arrived. It had been a quick and pleasant commute across the UK. We took that for granted. Mistake. The UK would bite back … but that, my friends, is a story for another day.