Spent half the morning watching rainfall forecast on computer and looking out window to find when big heavy rain front would pass. Five minutes after rain stopped I started loading up bike and getting gear on, then we headed off for a couple of hours of damp roads, rain and spray.
After lunch at Telford motorway services things dried up but was still grey until cake stop at Bala.
Was glad I took the more scenic and quiet route to Anglesey and even stopped to take layers off as was getting too warm.
After checking into digs at seaside town near Holyhead, we had a couple of beers then went off to find food. Unfortunately of the 5 places to eat, three were shut on Tuesdays, including both takeaways, and the other places were booked up. So evening meal was prepacked sandwiches from convenience store. At least we had somewhere pleasant to sit and eat them
So, as is traditional for postcards, they are slow to arrive and often people get them after you’ve returned home ;-) So in an effort to get more up to date I’m going to start posting again whilst still actually in Ireland…
Our ferry was set to depart at 9am so we had to leave the motel too early for breakfast so we did a trip to a supermarket for prepacked sandwiches and the like, we also got similar for lunch rather than pay ferry prices for something that probably wouldn’t be much different.
Seas were calm and we arrived at Dublin container port at lunch. (Well, that’s what it looked like).
Getting out of Dublin was a bit of a nightmare, not helped by satnav wanting to send me down roads I wasn’t allowed down. But after what felt like an hour getting hot and bothered in congested traffic we got to the Wicklow Mountains.
We traveled along the military road (R115) which, like a lot of roads here I was to discover, is so bumpy and undulating that it’s difficult to keep up a speed of 30 mph in comfort. Scenery was great though and we arrived at our planned cafe stop. Some of us weren’t impressed with the choice of food…
From there we still had a couple of hours riding to get to our B&B and just before we got there the plan was to get food at a pizza ‘restaurant’. Unfortunately, this turned out to be just a takeaway so we were eating pizza at 7pm on a park bench. (Getting meals is the hardest thing about this touring lark).
The final 15 minutes to the B&B was the only rain we got that day.
Day 3 I got bitten half to death by midges when loading up bike before breakfast, after which we had a couple of hours cross country riding to get to Gougane Barra National Forest Park.
Despite the warm day, walking in the shade of the forest was comfortable enough in bike gear and the excercise worked up an appetite for lunch at the cafe.
Continuing on our travels we came to the main reason we were heading though this area, namely to get to the Healy Pass.
Day 4 was forecast to be drizzle and light rain all day so a good excuse for a day off the bike, which we both welcomed after three long riding days.
As our B&B turned out to have stopped doing breakfasts a few years ago we did the 10 minutes walk into town to get a nice breakfast at the Curious Cat Cafe before heading to Tesco for the necessary prepacked sandwiches for lunch.
We spent half the day walking through the woods and parkland down to the lake and Ross Castle.
It was the sort of damp humid weather where you can’t decide if you’re more comfortable with a waterproof jacket on or just in a t-shirt. At least we came across a cafe with something to cool off with.
Arriving back in town mid afternoon we were at a bit of a loss what to do so decided to take the opportunity to go to a launderette and do some essential clothes washing, before heading for evening drinks and food.
Day 5 I had promised Mrs Mouse a beach for a swim so after breakfast we headed off west. The forecast for Killarney was for cloudy but dry all day but we soon found out that was because the rain was going to be dumped on the mountains we we riding through. :-(
We did luck out though as things cleared up considerably when we got to Derrynane Beach :-)
I had foolishly trusted that my satnavs ‘fastest route’ setting would follow the more major routes as it does in the UK but I’ve found that in Ireland it just seems to go the shortest route down rough single-track roads with grass growing down the middle and populated by locals driving round bends like they’re not going to meet oncoming traffic
Anyway, we made it back in one piece, though shook up by the rough roads. Alcohol was soon in order, though after I pointed out to Mrs Mouse that a double G&T cost 16 Euro, she joined me in drinking pints that were a third of that.
Day 6 was a travelling day and we needed to set off before breakfast places were open, so yet another prepacked sandwich for breakfast. At least the overnight heavy rain had passed and we had perfect weather for the ride up to Tarbert to catch the first ferry of the day.
Fortunately, by the time we left the cafe things had brightened up again.
I had planned on visiting the Cliffs of Moher but as I was pulling into the carpark I saw they wanted 24 euro for the privilege so aborted entry by going between some bollards and headed on our way.
Following the rather nice coast road we came to Fanore beach which seemed like a nice spot to have a break.
Sitting on the wet sand there I discovered that the Oxford Modial trousers I bought with this tour in mind were not waterproof and the moisture had soaked through the fabric leaving me with damp underpants :-( (I had ended up with a wet crotch on day one which I put down to water coming through the seams but this sand episode showed it was just the material itself.)
We were still only half way to our destination so I headed off with more determination to make progress but was hampered somewhat by tourists wanting to travel half the speed limit, guess they were enjoying the coast view :-)
Once north of Galway and heading up our final set of valleys I couldn’t resist stopping for a photo or two.
We got hit by some rain on our final few miles but after checking into our hotel things were looking nice again from our balcony view across the fjord.
