Freedom on Three Wheels in Tipperary

You’re getting ready for the road in County Tipperary, checking the bike, sorting your gear and making sure Bernie, your Saint Bernard, is comfortable in the sidecar. His harness is clipped in securely, his goggles are on, and he already seems to know that today is going to be different.

The engine starts, Bernie settles beside you, and you pull away towards Cashel. The Rock of Cashel rises above the town as you pass, but today is less about sightseeing and more about the feeling of being out on the road together.

For you, that freedom comes from the bike, the open road and the steady hum of the engine. For Bernie, it is something different. Every stop brings a completely new environment. New grass, new trees, different people, different dogs and hundreds of smells he has never investigated before.

From Cashel, you ride towards Cahir, the roads opening through green countryside and quiet stretches of Tipperary. When you stop to give Bernie a break, he climbs out of the sidecar and immediately gets to work. Nose down, moving from one smell to another, checking every hedge, tree and patch of grass as though he has been given an entirely new world to explore.

That is his version of the adventure.

Back in the sidecar, Bernie watches the countryside go past while the wind moves through his fur. You catch people looking as you ride through town. A Saint Bernard sitting proudly in a sidecar is not exactly something you see every day. Some smile, some wave, and a few turn around for another look.

Then it is on towards Clonmel. The engine settles into its rhythm again and you keep moving, with Bernie beside you for every mile. There is no rush and no real destination you have to reach at a particular time. You are just riding, taking the long way and enjoying the fact that your dog is part of it rather than waiting at home.

Clonmel becomes your final stop before heading back. You pull in, switch off the bike and help Bernie out for another stretch. He gets a bowl of water and another chance to sniff around somewhere completely new while you grab a coffee and enjoy a few quiet minutes off the bike.

Then Bernie goes back into the sidecar, the harness is clipped in again and you start the engine for the journey home.

Three towns, plenty of open road, a coffee stop and more new smells than Bernie could possibly count.

That is the freedom of a sidecar adventure. You get the road, Bernie gets the world, and neither of you has to leave the other behind.