Five of us actually managed to get away from the madness of everyday life and took our bikes to Southern Ireland for a few days.

Generally the weather in early September is good, or it has been for the last 20 years apparently. This year was different as we were on the tail end of hurricane George or Betty or something similar.

I'm not allowed to say where we rode, because the few that ride there know only too well that if there's an increase in use, it will all get stopped.

There are a few vague trails that seem to start and stop in the middle of huge peat bogs, and ( grant aided ) fences in the daftest places. We sometimes had to lift out sections, ride over the laid flat fence, then stand it all up again so that it looked undisturbed ! We spent hours up on mountain ridges travelling through an incredible variation of terrain ranging from uphill bogs to downhill bogs ( oh and some rocky stuff ). At one point we were fighting our way up through some very difficult bog and then were suddenly on the edge of a 1000ft drop with the most amazing view, a heart-stopping moment for those of us that were carrying enough speed to get through the gloop.

There are huge areas of mountain that seem to be empty, and the attitude of the people there seems to be a bit like it was in Mid Wales about 25 years ago. When we got a bit lost and found ourselves in a farmyard, an old lady seemingly from the 19th century, was really friendly and as helpful as she could be. This allowed us to get onto yet another mountain ridge and stand on a rock leaning at about 45deg into the wind. We could almost freefall the wind was so strong.

On a couple of occasions riders got into difficulty going down, as they found themselves at the top of a nasty drop and no way to turn back. I usually anticipated them and worked around them, allowing me to feel a bit smug and assist from below. However I was able to give myself an O.B.E. ( over the bars experience) when I got too close to an edge, and dropped my front wheel into a - yes you've guessed it - peat bog. A painless experience that got a few laughs and a lovely wet feeling in those places that had remained dry till then.

On one occasion we were pinned down for about an hour by ferocious winds, rain and low cloud, at the top of the highest mountain pass we did that week. We just parked the bikes tail into wind and laid down on the ground helmet into wind.

It was impossible to stand, never mind ride! Then when the wind dropped a bit and the cloud lifted we found ourselves looking at a very severe drop, generally too steep to clamber down, never mind get a bike down.
Olly our guide seemed a bit uncertain of the route, and a couple of us scouted along the ridge looking for a possible route down.

I found one and shouted to the others that it was possible. I thought Olly suggested I could give it a try, although communication was difficult with the wind roaring, so I rode down this incredibly steep gully sat on the bike ( to make it look easy and encourage the others ? ). It was probably the hairyest 200 ft I have ever done. I had to release the front brake on two occasions to drop down some nearly vert bits, but I made it. 

Two in the group walked their bikes down the optimal route, which I was able to pick out from below, and got down easily, but the two others decided to go back the way we had come up. Our route continued down steeply for about half a mile, then levelled off for another mile of peat bog, which was fairly easy to ride and took us to a hard track, which then led to a road and the pub where we had planned to have lunch. We got to this pub at 4.45 and eventually one of the riders who had backtracked, rejoined us at 6.15. The other one rode back to the digs too cold and tired to continue. 

For the last mountain pass of our planned route, we started off riding into a huge glacier type valley that looked like a dead end. When we got near the apparent end, a secondary valley appeared on the left. It was a very steep sided V shaped valley and we had to zig-zag up a goat track to climb up its flank. As we started up the steep bit, the borrowed TTR Raid with road gearing just couldn't cope, and while we discussed what to do, the clutch cable inner that had been unravelling all day on an XR400 also gave out ( as we took up the final few turns on the adjusters ). It was too late to attempt repairs, so the XR4 and TTR riders opted to go back down the valley, to ride the long way round by road back to the digs. 

Olly, our guide was happy that one of them knew the way, so the remaining two of us continued up the goat track to cross the stream at the top of a big waterfall and then ride across the head of the main valley at a height of probably 1000 ft above the valley floor. This track was about 18" wide with the odd set of rocks that could easily send you off into oblivion or just derail your chain. I absolutely love this kind of riding and was quite dissappointed when we finally turned left, onto some high level peat bogs.

Once we crossed these bogs I realised that we had got to a place we rode at the start of the day and we were only about 20 minutes from our digs. As we rode down the mountain I found my arms starting to give out, and nearly chinned myself on some steep rock steps. We got back in heavy rain when it was just starting to get dark at about 7.15pm.

At 8.30pm Olly went off once more into the darkness and heavy rain with the van in search of the two missing riders !

He found the first lost rider at the start of our big glacier valley, shivering beside his friends dead TTR ( water in the carb) and eventually found the other trailrider miles from the digs having ridden several wrong turns in the dusk and heavy rain, then run out of fuel. 

It was still raining hard when all got back at 11pm. Too late to go to the pub for food, so it was really good of our hosts at the digs to organise a hot soup and sandwich supper for us all.

Needless to say the next day ( our last day) we had an easy morning and did some sight-seeing. We only started riding at about 3pm and were able to take the bikes onto a beach that is about 10 miles long with dunes at the back of the beach.

The wind was blowing dry sand along at about the same speed we were riding. It was like 'spindrift' snow and the bikes looked like they were hovering above the beach, mindblowing. When we got about a mile or so beyond the last of the parked vehicles ( yes it seems ok in Ireland to take vehicles on to the beach! ) we let rip and just carved up the sand with circles and figs of 8. Sit back? Sit forwards? I still don't know. I do know that sand is very testing and will catch you out, but at least it doesn't hurt when you hit it, and its a brilliant experience. We rode back kissing the waters edge and felt like film stars. The few people there just gawped at us as we rode by. Then we headed for the hills and rode up a mountain.

CONCLUSIONS 

None of us were prepared for the extreme weather conditions, we had no space blankets nor high mountain / bad weather survival equipment. If we had needed serious help up in the mountains a GPS would have been essential.

We had assumed that the group would stay together and were sharing equipment, fine when you stay as a group but not good when the group splits up.

No one was carrying a map, apart from our guide who was carrying fairly detailed maps, not so good for the other riders trying to find the route home in the dark!

LESSONS 

Phones -
Take mobile phones that a) have credit b) are set for international roaming c) have the phone number of the digs and other riders in the group in the phones. 

I also reckon that if the cloud comes down and the wind is blowing hard, then the 'see you at the top' approach could cause major difficulties for a group, as visual and audio communication is lost, and individuals try to sort themselves out, all possibly making slightly different decisions. So at least with mobiles it might be possible to send a text message to each other.

Prep bikes for the task -
When told to fit the knarliest knobbly available, do not fit a worn out enduro tyre. ( my mistake ! ). Extreme trail riding on mountains is very difficult using road gearing. If you suspect your clutch cable is stretching get a spare and carry it with you.

FINALLY

Writing about the adventure has helped me to get my head around what we achieved, and made me realise just how fine the line is between a fantastic riding adventure and a nightmare. Because when we were all cold wet and tired, we all felt good about just lying on wet rocks in 90mph winds and would have been happy just to go to sleep there. None of us really recognised the first symptoms of exposure/hypothermia, nor did we appreciate the fact that in that state, the quality of decisions is degraded.

This could have been fatal, but fortunately this time we were all lucky!