motoring offences

[tony]

here in ireland the fines for speeding & other related offences are to double.
for example. the fine for speeding will increase to160 euro while the fine for no seat belts go up to120 euro plus you will get penalty points.
tony

 

[Robmac]

Well everything else is going up so we might as well get stitched up with fines as well!

(Well, those that speed and don't wear seatbelts, not me )

 

[trevskoda]

At a local shop a passenger male got in to a BMW with a small girl about 1/2 ish, no belt and the girl driver sped of, very common in the north as the police are in hiding.

 

[Robmac]

At a local shop a passenger male got in to a BMW with a small girl about 1/2 ish, no belt and the girl driver sped of, very common in the north as the police are in hiding.

I don't really understand your portrayal of Northern Ireland Trev, it's rated as the safest region in the UK.

My mate who recently moved back here from Larne reckoned it was a fantastic place to live with very nice people?

 

[trevskoda]

I don't really understand your portrayal of Northern Ireland Trev, it's rated as the safest region in the UK.

My mate who recently moved back here from Larne reckoned it was a fantastic place to live with very nice people?

Yes he is correct, and what would you expect with nice folk like me living here LOL, when are you moving over Rob to try our nice roads on the bike.

 

[mark61]

Had a fantastic long weekend in Belfast few years ago, can't wait for another visit.

 

[Robmac]

Yes he is correct, and what would you expect with nice folk like me living here LOL, when are you moving over Rob to try our nice roads on the bike.

His wife was born and bred Larne Trev, sadly she died last year.

I've been there many times, roads are great for biking, to be sure.

 

[Robmac]

Had a fantastic long weekend in Belfast few years ago, can't wait for another visit.

Belfast is a great place these days Mark, I prefer it to Dublin.

 

[barryd]

I don't really understand your portrayal of Northern Ireland Trev, it's rated as the safest region in the UK.

My mate who recently moved back here from Larne reckoned it was a fantastic place to live with very nice people?

I used to go over a fair bit to Belfast in the early to mid 90s with work. Always had a great time. We were young then though and probably oblivious. There used to be a great pub in the centre of Belfast, really old and still lit by gaslight I think. Never had any bother although I did see a building get stormed and the Europa Hotel we used to stay at got blown up the day after we left.

 

[Robmac]

I used to go over a fair bit to Belfast in the early to mid 90s with work. Always had a great time. We were young then though and probably oblivious. There used to be a great pub in the centre of Belfast, really old and still lit by gaslight I think. Never had any bother although I did see a building get stormed and the Europa Hotel we used to stay at got blown up the day after we left.

The only trouble I had was in the South in the 80's. We heard machine gun fire in the distance and then down the road we came to a roadblock manned by 4 blokes with hoods on and carrying machine guns. I didn't know what to do, but they beckoned us towards them and then waved us through, much to our relief.

Back at the guesthouse where we were staying we asked the landlady about it, she explained that it was the 'lads from the North'. Apparently they did a lot of training down there (around Cappoquin). She said that they would never hurt anybody in the South as it would destroy the tourist industry and it would be more trouble for them than it was worth.

 

[barryd]

The only trouble I had was in the South in the 80's. We heard machine gun fire in the distance and then down the road we came to a roadblock manned by 4 blokes with hoods on and carrying machine guns. I didn't know what to do, but they beckoned us towards them and then waved us through, much to our relief.

Back at the guesthouse where we were staying we asked the landlady about it, she explained that it was the 'lads from the North'. Apparently they did a lot of training down there (around Cappoquin). She said that they would never hurt anybody in the South as it would destroy the tourist industry and it would be more trouble for them than it was worth.

In my late teens and early twenties nine or ten of us would go across to Ireland for the May fly for a couple of weeks in a Commer Caravanette and we would rent a large cruiser on Lough Derg and the Shannon for a fortnight. Those trips hold many legendary stories now of course and us youngun didnt do much fishing, well not for fish anyway. Back then there was a disproportionate amount of young girls to boys for some reason so they kept us busy and they were all as hot as mustard.

We befriended a group that went to the local convent school and hung around the pub where we were based a lot of the time on Lough Derg and one of them invited us to her house in the country for lunch one afternoon. So in we rolled in the old Commer and had a great time in what was a very large country house. Her parents were away and I remember making a comment to her asking if they would approve of a load of English lads alone in her house with them and I also asked what her father did. It was like one of those scenes in a western where someone walks into a bar and everything stops. "Oh" she said "Daddy would probably reach for his 12 bore, he imports stuff from America and Africa and ships it over the border to Northern Ireland".

Could have been Kitchen sinks or African Carvings of course but we assumed not and never went back

 

[Robmac]

In my late teens and early twenties nine or ten of us would go across to Ireland for the May fly for a couple of weeks in a Commer Caravanette and we would rent a large cruiser on Lough Derg and the Shannon for a fortnight. Those trips hold many legendary stories now of course and us youngun didnt do much fishing, well not for fish anyway. Back then there was a disproportionate amount of young girls to boys for some reason so they kept us busy and they were all as hot as mustard.

We befriended a group that went to the local convent school and hung around the pub where we were based a lot of the time on Lough Derg and one of them invited us to her house in the country for lunch one afternoon. So in we rolled in the old Commer and had a great time in what was a very large country house. Her parents were away and I remember making a comment to her asking if they would approve of a load of English lads alone in her house with them and I also asked what her father did. It was like one of those scenes in a western where someone walks into a bar and everything stops. "Oh" she said "Daddy would probably reach for his 12 bore, he imports stuff from America and Africa and ships it over the border to Northern Ireland".

Could have been Kitchen sinks or African Carvings of course but we assumed not and never went back

I've done the Shannon Erne waterway on a replica Dutch barge a few years back - loved it.

Although I don't have any stories like that to tell as Julie and the kids would probably have objected but I did get drunk with the landlord of a pub and a load of farmers in the middle of nowhere a couple of nights.

 

[trevskoda]

I went into Belfast for the first time in a few decades, jes man I did not know the place, im not a townie so escaped back to the woods intact.

 

[tony]

Yes he is correct, and what would you expect with nice folk like me living here LOL, when are you moving over Rob to try our nice roads on the bike.

i agree there are some great biking & camper roads in n ireland.

tony