Belfast HOG & BOG 2016 – Newcastle Co. Down, Northern Ireland 06/08/2016

As luck would have it I was fortunate enough to be in Newcastle on 6th August 2016 for the Festival of Flight (which I really should add was excellent!).  On the way into town I noticed a massive gathering of Harley Davidson Motorcycles at a local hotel.  It turns out it was their annual weekend meeting of the Belfast Chapter of the Harley Owner’s Group (HOG) and the Buell Owner’s Group (BOG) – See what they done there!

I was then fortunate enough to catch them leaving to go on their Saturday Run – what a turn out and what a noise!  Enjoy…

(I might need a Harley after this!)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xXmlAFJSvc]

Castles of Ireland 2016 : Ballinafad Castle, County Sligo, Republic of Ireland :

Introduction :

My Castles of Ireland 2016 Tour is part of a larger UK & Ireland run Challenge as can be found on Adventure Bike Rider.

I will add the add the castles to this blog along with a little bit of their history to wet your appetite as to just another thing that Ireland and Northern Ireland has to capture your imagination and set your sights on.  You can take in all of the castles on this island in on one trip of 676 miles, that according to Google will take you 14 hours 50 minutes.  Of course that means no stops, food, leg stretches, or photo ops.

Castles in Ireland / Northern Ireland - The Route
Castles in Ireland / Northern Ireland – The Route

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Thanks for joining me for the Live Coverage of the Ulster Grand Prix 2016

Thanks to everyone who joined me for my live Twitter Coverage of the 2016 Ulster Grand Prix. 

Seven races, a monster meeting for Hutchy, with 4 wins a great show from Bruce, with a win, a super looks and a number of podiums and an always keep going from M. Dunlop earning him a load more UGP Podiums. 

All of this covered live with hundreds of tweets, so if you were with me thanks. If not hopefully you can join in next time. 

Something must have been done right though…

Maria Costello MBE  Reweet
Maria Costello MBE Reweet
Maria Costello MBE   Likes Tweet
Maria Costello MBE Likes Tweet

If you missed the action you can catch it tonight 15/08/2016 @ 21:00 GMT on BBC 2 Northern Ireland and tomorrow, 16/08/2016 @ 21:00 GMT also on BBC 2 Northern Ireland and I’m sure the BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards. 

Castles of Ireland 2016 : Enniskillen Castle, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

My Castles of Ireland 2016 Tour is part of a larger UK & Ireland run Challenger as can be found on Adventure Bike Rider.

I will add the add the castles to this blog along with a little bit of their history to wet your appetite as to just another thing that Ireland and Northern Ireland has to capture your imagination and set your sights on.  You can take in all of the castles on this island in on one trip of 676 miles, that according to Google will take you 14 hours 50 minutes.  Of course that means no stops, food, leg stretches, or photo ops.

Castles in Ireland / Northern Ireland - The Route
Castles in Ireland / Northern Ireland – The Route

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Brexit : 24th June 2016 : The United Kingdom Votes to Leave the European Union

At around 5:20am this morning the result of the EU Referendum was declared as the United Kingdom had voted to leave the EU. 

52% of the entire United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. A majority of approximately 1.3 Million people. 

I am certainly not a political correspondent, there is a lot of information available on this subject across the Internet with much more insight than I have. However here are some facts. 

62% of Scotland voted to remain. 

55% of Northern Ireland voted to remain. 

England and Wales had a leave majority. 

David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister. 

The FTSE100 opened down almost 10%. 

The £ lost 10% overnight. 

Scotland now want a 2nd independence referendum. 

Northern Ireland nationalist politicians want a border poll. 

Labour call for leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign.

What is sure now is that history has been made and our elected representatives have a huge amount of work ahead of them to ensure the progression of the United Kingdom for the benefit of all citizens. 

A chaotic night. A completely unexpected result. The bookmakers had a leave vote at 7/1 last night which subsequently fell to 1/250 !

I have two questions in my head though. 

Firstly, this was a democratic vote. The majority have spoken, regardless of personal opinion surely that’s what democracy is? 
Surely then Scotland and Northern Ireland politicians saying they want out goes against the democratic process. It screams of ‘democracy – only if we get our way!’

Secondly every one is saying this is a decisive vote. Is it though?  52 % v 48%. 17 million v 16 million.  To me that is not decisive. But it is democratic. See point one. 

Finally after seeing this morning’s developments is there an aura of regret? If not regret absolute worry. 

The battle cry of the Leave Camp this morning was :

’23rd June 2016 The United Kingdom’s Independence Day.’

Could it be more of ‘Judgement Day?’

Changes ahead…

Coming Soon : The Game of Thrones Locations : Motorcycle Tour

With the pretty huge success my WAWIn1Week posts received and the great feedback that came with it I just thought I would let you know that I have another dedicated motorcycle post coming soon.

With the massive current popularity of Game of Thrones, and the fact that I live in the country where so much filming of it happens I took the opportunity this summer to follow the Northern Ireland Tourist’s Board Map of Game of Thrones Filming Locations.

From this I have put together some nice photographs of the locations themselves and then for the bike fans, some pics of these locations with my bike, combining scenery and machinery!

I will post up the Galleries in the coming weeks so please feel free to subscribe to this blog, or follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@TomBoyNI) for regular updates.

For further information on the locations themselves here is a handy link :

https://www.discovernorthernireland.com/gameofthrones/

(There are plenty of Tours in action in relation to these locations, however if an organised Tour isn’t your thing, just remember this.  Northern Ireland is in itself a small country.  Nothing is too hard to find or too far away, a good sat nav will easily take you to all of these locations, I will add specific addresses etc to each posting to make it even easier).  Half the fun is exploring yourself so don’t be afraid to take yourself, in fact I recommend it!  And even if you do get lost you are never to far away from a pub, or local shop to stop in for a coffee and some sound free local advice!)

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Game of Thrones Filming Locations – Northern Ireland

Happy Back to the Future Day – 21st October 2015!

What a momentous day to be alive. 21st October 2015. The day Marty McFly, Doc and Jennifer visited in Back to the Future 2.

The precise time being 4:29pm. PT.

Anyway, it’s here. Although commerially viable hover-boards and self tying shoes aren’t!

Happy #backtothefutureday

#delorean #belfast

It’s also a great time to be from Nortern Ireland after all the most famous time machine in the world was built in #Belfast

Have a great #BackToTheFutureDay and here is just a couple of interesting links to browse. If you live in the US and want to get me a bottle of Pepsi Perfect it would be massively appreciated. Of course I will reimburse you.

Pepsi releasing 6500 bottles of Pepsi Perfect

Happy Back to the Future Day - 21 October 2015 - Pepsi Perfect
Happy Back to the Future Day – 21 October 2015 – Pepsi Perfect

Ford actually offering a Flux Capacitor Addon for Fiesta Focus models order this week!

Happy Back to the Future Day - 21 October 2015 - Flux Capacitor
Happy Back to the Future Day – 21 October 2015 – Flux Capacitor

Lyft offering some lucky New Yorkers a ride in a DeLorean

Happy Back to the Future Day - 21 October 2015 - DeLorean
Happy Back to the Future Day – 21 October 2015 – DeLorean

2015 Airwaves Portrush : NI International Air Show – Gallery

2015 marks the second year of Air Waves, the rebranded Northern Ireland International Air Show.  2014 was an excellent year for this show with quality aircraft and outstanding displays so this year has a lot to live up to.  With in my opinion even more pressure on its shoulders because of a rather disappointing airshow earlier this year in Newcastle, Co. Down.

So Airwaves 2015 can you do it?

Yes you can.  Everything was in favour of the airshow this year most importantly the weather, over the weekend we experienced a little wind on the Saturday but it settled itself, Sunday started off a little wet and grey but as you will see from the gallery as the day went on, the weather also started to thankfully behave itself!

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