Summer Contemplation

I needed head space, and the road is the best place to get it. Just you and the bike with clear blue skies and everything else just simply melts away and zones out. I had previously found myself on the road for such little trips, to the Giant’s Ring in Belfast and also further afield. But this time I simply had no destination in mind, the roads would take me where they wanted to take me. And that, in itself, is rather freeing. As I left the urban environment, the smell of what I thought was Honeysuckle in the air wafted in my nostrils and mixed with the sea breeze was quite a refreshing tonic for body and soul. I had the visor fully retracted and was riding half-face as the heat was almost stifling. Any stop, at a set of lights or behind slower traffic was frustrating as the air circulating was a requirement, not only for my cooling, but also for the bike as well. I soon found myself on the back roads past Clea Lough that I have blogged about before, but I knew I wouldn’t be doubling back, so I pressed on. I took the turn off for Strangford and the ‘Sunday Driver’ traffic cleared. 

Audley's Castle

The road sweeps left and right with bends that you can really get a lot of lean angle, but also keep the power on, I felt a sense of calm come over me, and I entered that zone where the bike and I become one, the movement is almost sub conscious and everything flows so well and so effortlessly. At time the hedging closes in the road to a tunnel and the greenery flicks past your head, when the hedges thin out, the heat assaults all your senses as you feel the warm air on your face, as well as smell it. It smells of warm tarmac and ‘green’ I know that might sound weird, verging on synaesthesia, but I can remember now looking back on childhood as ‘smelling like the taste of’ and I don’t think I am anyway unique in that. Trees hang over the road casting their shadows like some sort of protective hands arching over your path but the series of shaded parts give light relief from the strong UV beating down from the sun. Not that I’m complaining! All too often the weather is overcast and miserable! Whilst heading towards Strangford, I saw a sign for Audley’s Castle....somewhere I had studied but never actually been. The monument is a towerhouse, perched on a drumlin overlooking Strangford Lough and would have, I think, been one of the earlier structures associated with Castle Ward.....with it constructed in the 15th Century. But the main manor is what everyone thinks about when you mention the place.

The Tiger parked on the quiet wooded trackway

The buildings at the lower end of the Castle Ward Estate being late 16th / 17th Century and then the more famous country residence superseding all of these. I took the ‘green lane’ route towards the shore line and Audley’s, the road having exceptionally pleasing undulations and twists, before hitting a stoney ‘off road’ turnoff to actually get towards the castle. The bike squirmed at times, trying to find grip in the loose surface, the tyre would find it and bite and the throttle control had to be spot on to stop a tank slapper. But it was some of the most enjoyable riding I have yet done. The area around Audley’s is quite heavily wooded, but the light shone through the leaves and the sound of the trees gentle rustling every time there was a slight breeze from the Lough shore was calming and Zen-like. I sat on a fallen tree stump, alone, but not lonely....I sat and contemplated things, my mind clear and free from distraction. I think this is as close to meditation as I’m ever going to get. At times, I’m not necessarily concentrating on something, or mulling over a particular issue, rather I am simply sitting there and ‘being’. Might sound a bit hippy-ish, but it works for me, and that’s all that matters. After chatting to a family who had shown up to have a picnic, I decided it was time to get back on the road. I travelled back the way I had came to go to Strangford town....once there, as ever, it is picturesque. However, the heat was genuinely stifling, and moving at such a slow pace in the leathers was starting to have [sweaty] consequences. I had to get air moving around me. So I decided to travel back up to Saul and Downpatrick, and then the Killyleagh route back to the urban sprawl. The thought of it filled me with dread, and I seem to want to escape it more and more these days. I have never needed company, and I think these little excursions will become frequent.

The next day, after purhasing an 'as new' second hand Givi topbox, we headed down on the bike to Castle Ward for a picnic. The panniers and topbox were loaded with shorts, blankets and everything to make the picnic comfortable. We entered the grounds by, what I think, is the southern entrance, next to the Strangford shoreline. I enjoyed strolling round the grounds, little paths and nooks everywhere you went. The weather helps, of course, but I find myself gravitating towards these sorts of activities nowadays, rather than partying. Getting older.....certainly, but it's not something I feel any need to hide. I had my wild days, believe me, I did, so a bit of peace and quiet now is to be craved, rather than shunned.