A Dragon in the Emerald Isle - Versys touring in Ireland

Dragon Moto-Tours run accompanied touring events across the UK and Europe. They have chosen the Versys 1000  as their lead bike, Kawasaki News UK caught up with them after their most recent event in Ireland.
 

Since buying the Versys 1000 in August 2012 it has now covered in excess of 12,000 miles and just over 1,000 of these have been over a recent 6 day tour to Ireland and if you want a few days away this is a great part of the world to visit on two wheels, offering you a good mix of roads, routes and scenery.

Our visit to Ireland took us first over to Dun Laoghaire and then a ride north to pay a visit to Phillip McCallen motorcycles in Lisburn where he sells Kawasaki’s as well as other machines.  We got a great welcome from Sam McClure the General Manager and Phillip was also on site and we had a photo taken alongside some of his racing leathers which are now on display in his shop. 

 

Just some of Phillip McCallen's mementos

 

From here we rode onto watch practice for the Cookstown 100 road race which proved to be an exciting afternoon, first time we’ve experienced any road racing and will certainly not be the last.  Our ride to east of Belfast to our hotel from Cookstown was an interesting one in torrential rain and a howling gale – at one point the bikes were blown sideways by the gusts of wind but even fully luggaged, the Versys handled extremely well.

On the Saturday we rode on a 200 mile route around Strangford Loch and the stunning scenery of the Mourne Mountains before heading towards Larne and inland through the Bann Valley.  There were several changes of terrain for our route this particular day, we had motorway, single carriageway, some gravel tracks, country roads and coastal routes – the Versys is a perfect all-rounder for this variety of roads and extremely comfortable.

 

A quiet moment by Strangford Loch

  After a couple of days in Northern Ireland we rode across to Enniskillen and onto the West Coast and the stunning scenery of County Clare which was to be our base for the next two nights.  We had a 285 mile ride on the Sunday to our hotel in some very blustery and wet conditions so when 35mph winds were forecast for the following day, Jan decided to ride pillion and use the opportunity to take some photos “on the move”. 

We rode to the Cliffs of Moher which are just awesome and well worth a visit (so good we are taking a tour there in May 2014!). 

Now that's what you call cliffs !

The promised high winds came in but they were fortunately devoid of much rain and any dark clouds that rolled in over the sea soon passed by.  We continued to ride around the spectacular coast line (*photo4) and over The Burren which is the largest karst landscape in Europe – a very eerie rock formed area with spectacular riding roads and scenery. 

Spectacular coast roads beckon

We then rode alongside the Shannon Estuary before a final photo opportunity by the coast  and back to our hotel for our final night before returning to Holyhead on the Tuesday.

This was a short trip with not only a mix of roads and terrain but varying weather conditions.  The performance of the Versys 1000 was never in doubt and the fuel range is excellent when on the ride to County Clare the 240 mile range was tested and proved correct!!! 

The trusty Versys 1000

Since August 2012 the Versys has covered over 12,000 miles and continues to make us smile.

 

To find out more, go to: www.dragonmototours.co.uk