Category Archives: Hobbies

It’s all Mountain Biking…🚵‍♂️

Lot of Mountain Biking happening this summer, it’s taking over the Motorbiking… We’ve been to the GAP a number of times, as well as a trip to Ballinastoe track, it’s been great…!

The kids are loving it (especially when we get the uplift service in the GAP…), not that they don’t like cycling uphill… who doesn’t…🤷‍♂️.

Summer, Bobby, Skye and Angel, all doing great. I think some of them might need some new/better bikes soon, with the jumps and tricks they are doing… there’s even been some trips over the handlebars once or twice (Summer and Bobby…😉).

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Sugarloaf Time…🌋

They say it’s extinct, but we could have sworn we felt and heard it rumbling during the climb…!

Just look at Bobby, his face says it all…

Fairy Castle… Again…!

Really…?

Yes, only 1 week later, but this time we took a straggler… look who came with us. No, your eyes are not lying, that is Alice you see…!

Imagine that…

But, will she make it back down…🤔

Marley to Fairy Castle in under 3hrs…🤔

Who said it couldn’t be done… well it just was, by 7 year old Bobby and Glenn…🥾🚶‍♂️

And in the lashing rain no doubt…🌧

Been a while since we did this one, and I seem to remember it took over 4 hours the last time with the girls… and this being only Bobby’s 2nd hike this year…

Big things lie ahead for him…!

We did get drenched though…☔️

We’re back Baby…⛰️

Back hiking that is…

Well over a year now since the last one, but we’re back with a bang…💣💥

Bobby wants to train to try get ready for the epic 6 hour hike that Tori, Casy and Glenn did a few years back. Not sure if he’d be able for that, but we’ll see how his training goes…

Tenere Heaven

Yamaha Off Road Experience in Wales was a must for this year, and what an Experience is was…!

2 days of Tenere Bliss over the Welsh mountains. Great bikes, great food, and great bunch of lads…

Really enjoyed this trip, will definitely be planning a trip back in the future for the next level up in riding ability.

Camping 2015 – 2nd Trip

After only camping for 1 night on the annual camping trip this year, we decided we would have to do another night. We had a great idea of finding a new spot, one close to a river so the kids could jump in for a swim and we wouldn’t have an 8k hike back to the camp site.

Well it sounded like a good idea at the time, unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. After heading to a spot we know where the kids could jump into the water, we couldn’t find an appropriate spot to pitch the tents there. Then it started to get late and driving somewhere else to look for another spot just wasn’t going to happen, so we decided to head back to the the regular spot.

Thankfully that spot was ready and waiting for us to arrive. However, when we did arrive we got some news regarding the area, we were told that this bit of forest had been given to an archery club and soon it would not be available for us to camp there again 🙁

So next year we really will have to look for another spot, we’d better start early!

Anyway, the 2nd trip was another bit of fun for the kids, we made them sling-shots and let them practice on the trees and beer cans. Some good shots they had! They might need is because one day we might make them hunt for their dinner!

They are getting that bit older now though so I don’t know how many more years they will want to keep coming camping. We’re going to have to work on getting some new kids aren’t we, it’s just as well Alice is pregnant isn’t it!

Some pics of this trip

 

Camping – 2015

So after being infected with a nasty flu for over a week, the annual camping trip was approaching fast, and Tori wasn’t going to take no for an answer! We decided to leave it this year until Saturday to go instead of Friday night. Anyway, we got ready and headed down on Sat.

This year we did the compulsory hike in the opposite direction, we headed from the campsite over the mountain to Loch Tay. We even managed to see the set for the show Vikings! The weather turned then though and we had to call in the emergency services to come and collect us (Philip in Dermot’s 7-seater!). That was going to be the sing of things for the night, nothing but wind and rain all night!

This year we also got a new axe, deadly 🙂 Check out some of the pictures and you’ll see Tori swinging it.

Anyway, seeing as though we only camped for one night, we’ll have to plan for another trip before the end of summer.

Watch this space…

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More pics…

Camping 2014

Another Great Camping Trip done for 2014…

Didn’t seem to be as many people this year, however still a great Trip. All the usual activities like Hiking, Swimming, the kids collecting firewood, Midnight Walks, cooking Bears for dinner, all the usual stuff. This year we also brought the mountain bikes so the kids had something extra to do during the day. Not that they would be board though, there’s always plenty of great things for them to do like collecting firewood, sawing the logs, cleaning the camp, all that exciting stuff!

We did get some nice weather for it though, luckily!

I have put some pictures up in the usual place, link on here.

Oh, and I’m always telling the kids that there is Vampires and Wolves our there in the forest, but for some reason they never believe me. Well now we have proof, see the pictures below we managed to get.

Blood Sucking Vampire

There’s Vampires out there…

Sneaky Wolf

I can’t believe no one noticed this!

Mountain Biking 2014 – The Start…

Well we took up mountain biking as a hobby this year, always wanted to give it a try and I’m glad we did. Great fun. Helps if you have experience on bikes in general and with the MotoCross experience we have this makes it that bit more suitable.

So far we’ve only being getting to the Ballinastoe track, and maybe an outing or two in the Phoenix park, but Ballinastoe is a great track. Some really nice fast-flowing bits as well as a few technical bits also. Some great little jumps round the course too.

The kids have also liked getting out. Casey, Tori and Jordan M also got new mountain bikes this year, plus all the gear to go with them for safety, you have to be safe doing this!

Well here’s looking forward to some great outings this year on the mountain bikes. Won’t be forgetting about the MotoX though, will try to get a bit of this done this year also.

See below some vids of the latest outing in Ballinastoe –

Italy Snowbaording/Skiing 2014 & Nicole’s Birthday…

Finally, we got back on the slopes this year!

After a three-to-four year break we finally managed to hit the slopes again this year, and boy did we hit them 🙂 what a trip. Italy, La Thuile was the location, a nice little resort with everything very close by. It snowed every day with great dumps of fresh powder. Great Snowboarding conditions, not so great for skiers. But considering most of our group were Snowboarding (except for Alice & Jordan L), that was fine by us!

Casey and Tori decided to learn to Snowboard this year and they were actually really good at it. Plenty of falls, trips and bumps, but that’s all part of the fun 🙂

It’s amazing how quick it comes back to you after not doing it for three or four years, it was like we never missed a year. Some great areas covered and some great speeds reached. The GPS was tracking us at up to 60kph, and 1km done in 1min & 37secs!

Below are some links to some of the runs we did, and some pics & videos. Looking forward to the next Snow trip already…

Pictures –

On Pics page under 2014 – Italy Ski 2014 – La Thuile

We also celebrated Nicole’s 35th birthday while we were there, Happy Birthday Nic…!

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Maps –

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884521

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884614

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884318

Videos –

Kids:

Adults:

Silverstone 2013

MotoGP:

What else can I say except for “Excellent”…

First GP I’ve been to and what a race. This actually turned out to be the best and closest race of the season so far! With the Pole going between Lorenzo and Marquez a number of times on the Saturday, eventually going to Marquez. What a Sunday it then turned out to be.

Marquez goes out in practice and crashes, dislocating his shoulder before the race. That didn’t stop him in the race though, it was close at the front for the whole race between Lorenzo, Marquez and Dani. With only a lap to go Marq takes the lead and the battle between him and Lor begins. Lor retakes and so does Marq. Then, on the final corner, Lor gives one final move to make it stick and takes the win by hundreds of a second to Marq, and Dani only 1 sec behind also…!

A little further back Rossi was having his own little battle with Bautista, swapping places a number of times on the last few laps, but with Vale finishing the victor of that battle for 4th. This has been the case for the last few races with Vale fighting it out for 4th with Alvaro, each time winning the battle. If he can just get a bit further up the field now earlier in the race, maybe these can be battles for the podium.

Anyway, all in all it was a great weekend’s racing, can’t wait to go again. Alice also really enjoyed the weekend of racing just as much as I did. I never seen her so interested in a race 🙂

Snowboarding:

As well as racing we also managed to get an hour on the slopes at Xscape in Milton Keynes. Or at least I did anyway, Alice just watched! It felt good to get back on the board and with some fresh snow underneath. Can’t wait to get away to the slopes again soon…

Thanks for a great weekend Alice, looking forward to the next one… 😉

Some pics posted here under “Summer 2013 – Silverstone MotoGP 2013”

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Camping 2013 (Trip)

Well there goes another year of Camping done and dusted, and another great trip…! And compared to the wash-out we had last year, we were blessed with the weather 🙂

It all started on Friday (as per normal) and lasted until Sunday afternoon. The kids all had a great time as usual, we brought them to do the annual swim in the “freezing cold” stream. We also did the “compulsory” hike back from the swim to the campsite, well most of us did 😉

So that wraps up this year’s camping trip again, I hopefully won’t have to sleep rough and kill my back for a couple of nights again until next year…!

Some pictures in the gallery. Go to the gallery links page here and under “June 2013 – Camping 2013” click on the link to the gallery.

Camping 2013 (Preparations)

This has been a much anticipated trip, seems to be all the kids can talk about for the last few weeks! With the disappointment of the weather last year – remember here – we are all hoping for a much nicer time this year. Checking the forcast and it does seem like it will be a little better anyway 🙂

Either way we are ready to go now (see below), so we’ll just hope for the best. Will post an update after the trip…

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MotoCross and MotoGP 2013

The MotoCross season kicked off last week (our MotoCross season that is), and it just so happened that it started the same day as the MotoGP. Two of my my favorite sports starting on the same day, what’s the chances!

So after a great day out MotoCrossing with the girls at the private track, it was then home to watch the MotoGP. And the first race of the season surely didn’t disappoint! Who said Rossi was finished? I have been saying for the last two years that it was the bike, it has to be the bike… And what happens as soon as he gets back on the Yamaha, he blows away the competition. Had he not had that run-on in turn one he would have surely won the race. After getting back into the grove after that mistake he had to then chase down the leaders from 7th place, nearly 8 seconds behind! But that didn’t stop The Doctor, he was lapping a second a lap quicker than Lorenzo who was leading the race! Roll on two weeks time and the COTA!

So back to MotoCross, we must try to get the girls out a bit more this year. They really enjoy getting out on the bikes. Plus, we now have a CR125 to use as well, so no reason not to be getting out.

Will hopefully add some nice pictures of MotoCrossing this year…

Camping 2012

Camping is now done and dusted for 2012…

Another great year, however the weather wasn’t so on the first night :(. The rain was torrential, setting up camp in that was no fun. Luckily enough we got one tent up quick enough and kept it dry for the girls to stay in that night. But we did wake up Saturday morning to nice sunny weather so it was all good from there on in.

That made it good for the annual swimming venture as well. Although the water was still freezzzzzing…!

The regulars still did the walk back to the camp-site, with the same sissy regulars, no names (“Hem Jordan Hem”)… And what a great afternoon it was as well for the hike.

I think all had a good time, here’s looking forward to next year.

Some pics here, under Summer 2012 see Camping 2012.

And some video below.

Dublin City Racing

Well there wasn’t too much actual racing on the day, but still it was a good show, apart from the weather that is…!

The noise from the F1 cars is just deafening, you can feel it right through your body as the car goes past. Some other good displays with the motorbike and little cars with motorbike engines. There was one crazy guy that got out of the car as it was still power-spinning, and then had to get back into it…

All in all it was a good day.

See below some of the videos we took on the day.

MotoCross 2012

It’s been all go with MotoCrossing for the last few weeks, with new clubs (Leinster Offraod Club), new tracks (Kilcullen and Broadford MX tracks), Tori getting a new bike (see pics below), and the girls really getting into the spirit of it! Now Casey and Tori have the same bikes, KX65s…

Tori got her new KX65 a few weeks ago, see video of her surprised –

 

The lads haven’t been getting to do much though, it won’t be long before the girls are faster than they are…:wink:

Billy and Jordan (Wade) competed in the MX race at Broadford in the Leinster Offraod Club race series last Sunday and didn’t do too bad. Jordan on his new YZF250 and Billy on his YZ125, both in the same class. They finished about mid-field or better in both races, well done lads…! There is some video footage of the races below.

The girls need to get as much practice as they can over the next couple of months if they want to be ready for the grass-track races that Leinster Offroad Club have planned for later in the summer.

Come on girls…:thumbup:

Here are the kids races:

And Jordan & Billy’s races:

The rest of Billy and Jordan’s races are here:

New indoor BMX Track – Dublin

Well a new BMX track has opened in Dublin and the girls love it!

Casey and Tori got to try it out last week and had a great time, I even had a go myself. It hard work. There was a few falls with grazes and bumps, but not enough to stop our girls, they will definitely be going back again during the Easter holidays.

Forgot to bring the Camera this time but will bring it next time and will post some pics & vids up when I do.

Rock on girls, you show them boys how to do it…!

Masters Of Dirt – Dublin

Masters Of What??? – MOD – that was the response…

Great show, would recommend anyone to go and see it. Loads of action all the way through. MotoX Bikes Flipping, Whipping and Tricking, BMX bikes doing the same, Quad Bike Jumping and Flipping, and even a Skidoo Backflipping :-o (I know!).

Alice got us great seats, well done ALice. Great views of all the tricks (and the fuel girls blowing fire…:shh:)

Will definitely be going next year when it comes back, great way to spend a Saturday night.

Some vids below…

 

 

Camping 2011

Another year of camping now over and done and all went great again! Not as many came along this year, but it was still a great trip. Although a few more did arrive on day two. The weather could have been a little better but that didn’t stop our kids wanting to go swimming :crazy:.

The kids really enjoyed all the activities and they really loved collecting the firewood, 5 times a day :lolno:. There was trips, falls, tears and feasts, best camping trip so far…! The Bear Beef went down a treat with most.

Here are some pics, see under 2011, Camping 2011. and here’s a short video below.

Lapland Trip 2010

What a great trip…!

Would recommend anyone thinking of going to definitely do it. Well worth every penny. I think we might even go back again some time in the next couple of years. Great to bring Tori to see the big man in his home town.

Action-packed trip from the time you arrive until you go home. From snowmobiling to husky sleigh rides to reindeer rides to ice slides and quad bikes, just brilliant…!

See some pictures of this trip here, see under December 2010, Lapland 2010.

Fairy Castle Hike – “Girl Grills” got a new member!

Jessy-Jordan…!

Well Jordan joined us this week, much to our supprise, and he didn’t even moan (that much) about the hike. I think he actually even enjoyed it.

See pictures below of the kids having a rest on the Wicklow Way on a Troll Bridge. Jordan is in the background trying to get a drink from the stream. Pitty he didn’t see the dead dear floating just up streem, he he he…:shh:

3-Rock Hiking with “Girl Grills”

Well it has been a while since we were hiking but at the weekend we got back to the lovely dirt! Tori, Casey and myself done one of our favourite hikes, 3-Rock. Tori and Casey got a chance to try out the new hiking poles, they worked a treat! The girls think they are the business with them. No fear even going through the Dark and Scary Forest of Murderers… M:14

We then moved on to the Forest of Fairies, but that was a walk in the park for the girls with their new hiking poles. There was also lots of climbing on the rocks of course…!

Maybe we’ll try to get out again this weekend.

Another MotoCross Post!

It seems to be all we are doing lately, but the kids are really enjoying it. With the girls getting to go out the last two times, it was the boys turn this time, but the girls came along too and enjoyed getting a lift. The boys are getting better and better, with the odd mishap that is. See below pictures to see what I mean…:lolno:

Our nice little “Private” track is coming along great. It got a little tore up yesterday with the help of a certain KX250…:twisted: We will have to be getting the boys to the proper tracks though if we ever want them to place anywhere in the races, but for the girls this track is perfect. And during the winter while all tracks are closed, I’m sure we will use this a lot. Just as long as we keep it hush hush..:shh:

Girls MotoCross

Well until now its always been the boys that got to do the biking, but not any longer! The girls have been getting time on the bikes and are now into it, full swing…!

With Tori getting here new 50cc and Casey using the 65, they are really enjoying it. We will have to see if any other girls in the family are brave enough to give it a try… :shifty:

MotoCross 2010

We’ll I warned that we were going to make a come-back, and last weekend we did! We got the kids warmed up two weekends ago at an “un-disclosed” location, just to give them the feel for the bikes again after been off them for a while. Then over the weekend we got them to the brand new Dublin City Motocross Track…

Fathers Day 2010 Rally Driving…!

With thanks to the girls it was off to Monaghan again this year to brush up on our rally driving skills. Last year seemed like a distant memory. But once back in the driving seat it was back into action again. This year saw the addition of the Porsche 911 Carrera s – What a great day…!