Very recently I took a rush of blood to the head and purchased another Circe Helios Tandem. The idea is to do a 10 day family holiday in July then sell the 2nd one on. Whilst we have it, I thought we should at least use it as much as we can. The children were off school last Thursday due to their school being used as a polling station and helpfully the school brought forward a teacher training day to the Friday to give them a long weekend. Long weekends here = go somewhere!
Thursday morning we Seasucker'd the bikes to the roof and heading off to the train station about an hours drive away. The train station lift was able to fit in a tandem so two lift rides later we boarded the train from Portadown to Newry. Once off at Newry we rolled down a really steep hill, rode through the town centre and on to the Newry to Victoria Lock greenway. It is only around 5 miles long but is easily the most scenic traffic free cycle route in Northern Ireland.
At Victoria Lock we were kicked out on to the main road for another 4 miles to Omeath, crossing the border only noticeable by the changes to the road markings and a line where each respective roads division surface to. The new bike is pictured below with my wife as pilot and our eldest daughter as the stoker. I don't know how they managed to escape carrying any of the bags!
Once in Omeath we joined a gravel surfaced greenway to Carlingford, running alongside the lough. Again, beautiful and much quieter than this fantastic route deserves to be. This particular section has a few 90 degree bends up short sharp inclines and has a few gates to keep sheep and the like in their respective fields but a greenway with no kissing gates or pinch points is just lovely. After a short stop in Carlingford, which for some reason the American tourists seem to love, we rolled another few miles, well now officially kilometers to the Greenore to Greencastle ferry. The ferry takes around 20 minutes to cross the Lough bringing us back into Northern Ireland after only an hour or so in the South. Dolphins were spotted on the way over which was exciting for all.
Back on dry land, we boarded our bikes again meandering down little country roads towards our Airbnb'd static caravan in Cranfield. We let ourselves in, made ourselves comfy before I headed up the road to a supermarket to buy our grub for the next 48 hours. I bought too much and ended up with jammed packed panniers, a full bar bag and a carrier bag stuffed with crisps and a loaf strapped on top.
There was no where to store the bikes at the caravan but after removing the 4 seat posts of the bikes, i was able to hide them two thirds of the way under a table on the decking, covering the other third with an emergency poncho that I keep in the panniers. That poncho has paid it's £1 over and over again let me tell you! We didn't plan much in the day in the middle and that was just as well as the skies opened and didn't stop til the evening time. A short ride to get ice cream was as far as we went. After packing up and a bite of lunch on the Saturday we said goodbye to the caravan and rolled around the corner and spent 2 hours walking Alpaca's on the beach and around country lanes. This was a bit hit with the kids obviously.
We said our goodbye to Midnight and Coco and rode back to catch the 4pm ferry back to Greenore. Although we didnt' spend that long in the south, I have to say I love that most of their roads have big broad shoulders to ride in as below. The only section with no shoulder or cycle way was between Omeath and Victoria Lock but I believe a section of greenway is in the pipeline but as it crosses the border goodness knows who pays and when.
A load of ducklings, herons and swans later, we were back in Newry. Our plan B was to ride the massive hill back to the train station but thankfully the little shuttle bus from the bus station allowed us on with the two bikes. The bus driver obviously had questions as we rolled towards her bus but I said that as long as she lets us on, I'll figure out how to get them on. After removing the two pilot seat posts the bikes fitted on with relative ease. Unfortunately the Newry train station lifts aren't big enough for tandems but thankfully an employee of the station helped me down with my fully loaded bike and I was able to lift the non laden bike on my own. Below are the bikes pictured on the cycle priority area on the translink train back to Portadown.
All in all, short but very sweet and no complaints from either stoker or pilot. There were a few bits and pieces of equipment that we were trailing for our bigger trip like seats and pedals which are very much a personal preference. I have now ordered a front rack for my wife's tandem so she can help out with what will be a bigger load for our England trip in July. No doubt we'll have a few more overnighters between now and then.
Thursday morning we Seasucker'd the bikes to the roof and heading off to the train station about an hours drive away. The train station lift was able to fit in a tandem so two lift rides later we boarded the train from Portadown to Newry. Once off at Newry we rolled down a really steep hill, rode through the town centre and on to the Newry to Victoria Lock greenway. It is only around 5 miles long but is easily the most scenic traffic free cycle route in Northern Ireland.
At Victoria Lock we were kicked out on to the main road for another 4 miles to Omeath, crossing the border only noticeable by the changes to the road markings and a line where each respective roads division surface to. The new bike is pictured below with my wife as pilot and our eldest daughter as the stoker. I don't know how they managed to escape carrying any of the bags!
Once in Omeath we joined a gravel surfaced greenway to Carlingford, running alongside the lough. Again, beautiful and much quieter than this fantastic route deserves to be. This particular section has a few 90 degree bends up short sharp inclines and has a few gates to keep sheep and the like in their respective fields but a greenway with no kissing gates or pinch points is just lovely. After a short stop in Carlingford, which for some reason the American tourists seem to love, we rolled another few miles, well now officially kilometers to the Greenore to Greencastle ferry. The ferry takes around 20 minutes to cross the Lough bringing us back into Northern Ireland after only an hour or so in the South. Dolphins were spotted on the way over which was exciting for all.
Back on dry land, we boarded our bikes again meandering down little country roads towards our Airbnb'd static caravan in Cranfield. We let ourselves in, made ourselves comfy before I headed up the road to a supermarket to buy our grub for the next 48 hours. I bought too much and ended up with jammed packed panniers, a full bar bag and a carrier bag stuffed with crisps and a loaf strapped on top.
There was no where to store the bikes at the caravan but after removing the 4 seat posts of the bikes, i was able to hide them two thirds of the way under a table on the decking, covering the other third with an emergency poncho that I keep in the panniers. That poncho has paid it's £1 over and over again let me tell you! We didn't plan much in the day in the middle and that was just as well as the skies opened and didn't stop til the evening time. A short ride to get ice cream was as far as we went. After packing up and a bite of lunch on the Saturday we said goodbye to the caravan and rolled around the corner and spent 2 hours walking Alpaca's on the beach and around country lanes. This was a bit hit with the kids obviously.
We said our goodbye to Midnight and Coco and rode back to catch the 4pm ferry back to Greenore. Although we didnt' spend that long in the south, I have to say I love that most of their roads have big broad shoulders to ride in as below. The only section with no shoulder or cycle way was between Omeath and Victoria Lock but I believe a section of greenway is in the pipeline but as it crosses the border goodness knows who pays and when.
A load of ducklings, herons and swans later, we were back in Newry. Our plan B was to ride the massive hill back to the train station but thankfully the little shuttle bus from the bus station allowed us on with the two bikes. The bus driver obviously had questions as we rolled towards her bus but I said that as long as she lets us on, I'll figure out how to get them on. After removing the two pilot seat posts the bikes fitted on with relative ease. Unfortunately the Newry train station lifts aren't big enough for tandems but thankfully an employee of the station helped me down with my fully loaded bike and I was able to lift the non laden bike on my own. Below are the bikes pictured on the cycle priority area on the translink train back to Portadown.
All in all, short but very sweet and no complaints from either stoker or pilot. There were a few bits and pieces of equipment that we were trailing for our bigger trip like seats and pedals which are very much a personal preference. I have now ordered a front rack for my wife's tandem so she can help out with what will be a bigger load for our England trip in July. No doubt we'll have a few more overnighters between now and then.
