It has, with the benefit of hindsight, been quite a year; I find myself looking back on the previous 12 months with more alarming frequency these days as each year seems to roll by quicker and quicker, even looking at videos from on board the bike I realise that some are from 2012 and 2013 and I can still feel the sun on my face from some of the journeys. There have been (as ever) inexorable highs and personal inescapable lows, some of which continue to affect me profoundly, but I try to be sanguine whenever possible.
We have travelled quite a bit on the bikes around Ireland to places that we had never been to before, as well as experimenting and, indeed, succeeding with new tech[y] pieces of equipment. This is already being progressed and 2016 promises to be even more exploitative and technological. The highlight was, undoubtedly, the week long trip round Galway and Clare, taking in parts of the Wild Atlantic Way and The Burren. I hope another similar trip can be undertaken in late Spring and I would moot Co. Kilkenny and Co. Wicklow as potential destinations. My love of research has manifested itself in the completion of a three part booklet detailing the GPS coordinates of just about every site of interest (many would call it 'sad', but to me it is fulfilling!). The new Explorer has proved itself to be a phenomenal machine and I can't wait to rack up more miles in the saddle, but more than that she is increasingly a source of succour.
I will be continuing to attempt to get my second, much larger, book published - Hibernia: Journals from a Motorcycle. Although book sales are, generally, receding and publishers are increasingly looking for the 'big buck', therefore it makes the whole process a tougher challenge.
The winter months are usually quite quiet for me, the Irish winters are harsh; even as I write this the now seemingly annual battering by Atlantic storms continues with 'Storm Frank' still in the death throws - not great motorbike weather. I am, though, contemplating solo trips / weekends away in 2016 as I think they might be good for my soul. I have been asked to again write article for the Ulster Grand Prix, which I will also post here. Look out for more, and hopefully better edited and visually stunning, trips, videos and trip reports in 2016!
Whomever you are, and wherever you are I hope this little blog and outreach into cyberspace has been, if even a little, entertaining and informative.
