We mustn’t leave Ireland out of the island-biking and
decided that doing an East coast island was the most practicable. Bull Island
is more commonly referred to as the ‘Bull Wall’ because the island grew up in front
of the wall. Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty proposed the building of the North Bull Wall which was completed in 1825. The other piece of interesting information, which is true
in spite of the disbelieving looks with which it was greeted in the Antiquary
by Roy and Bill D, is that a mouse (and presumably her family) developed sandy
colouring to blend in on the island. Bull Island was one place for the ‘Waxies’Dargle’ – a seaside outing for working class people, including ‘waxies’, candlemakers or those who waxed coats and boots, depending on your source. ‘Says my auld wan to your auld wan, will you come to the waxies’
dargle …’. 
Eilish and Marian did a lot of research (about the ride) and concluded that
we had to start in Howth, where we could hire bikes at the Bike Hub. We put the
word out to family and friends on Facebook and two of my lovely nieces joined
us oldies. Did I mention that I have the loveliest nieces in the world?
 |
| Starting with a coffee as usual |
The day dawned warm and sunny and we started with a coffee
(no change there then) sitting outside at Il Panorama. We made a start on the
emergency supplies; it reduced what we had to carry anyway. Bikes were
collected and I did my bossy safety checks with helmets and bikes. By now we
had agreed roles in the group – we had heads of navigation, catering, social
media and photography. Missing Bill Badger as always! After a few photoshoots, to the great
amusement of the bike shop staff, we set off in the traffic. Yes, there are
bike lanes on that road, but cars parked in them makes it more dangerous than
it needs to be. Travelling in a small group feels so much safer than a solo
trip. The path then went off-road and that was really nice.
At the causeway/Bull Wall cyclists were supposed to
dismount. Those of you who follow my biking adventures will know that such
restrictions have to be ignored if you are ever going to have any fun in life. How
many bridges could I have done if I had dismounted at every sign? So we biked
across the wooden causeway road, irritating the motorists coming the other way
when some of us didn’t quite make it across before the lights changed. After a
bit of fun on the wall, photoshoots of each other and of interesting scenes,
like the man fishing, we went onto the beach for our picnic. What a lovely area
this is! We had a very sandy picnic and shared stories from the 1970s when
Marian and I had a flat in Dublin together.
Lovely, less distracted, ride back to Howth where I bought
some cycling gloves and Ali bought a bike, as you do! I hope that was a good
recompense for the very reasonable rental rate we were charged by the Bike Hub. Then time
for afternoon tea/coffee and finishing off the emergency supplies. The
raspberry flapjack was probably the food highlight of the day, thanks to
Michelle Roche (Head of Catering and Hospitality).
Two more islands to go to meet my target of 21. I am not
sure I will make it but maybe. It’s all good fun anyway.
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