Stage twelve: Moville to Cushendall…Do The Strand!

The hosts were good enough to let me set about their breakfast supplies way before their cafe opened, so they may be needing to replenish their Weetabix and Cheerios stocks quicker than they anticipated, hah-hah! The weather was as advertised: showery bs but blue skies and winds outta the north. Out of the sun, it was not warm…

Moville sits on the Foyle estuary…gotta be teeming with all sorts.

I appreciated the occasional cycle path to Derry probably more than I did the fantastic rainbow: the road was busy with everything steaming into the city.

Snigger.

Wait..wut…where you going? Don’t panic- there’s a chance of some scenery…

I had zero time to spend in D/LD, but it is also on the list to revisit slow-time. Until then, the mission was to get through Coleraine and then to Portstewart and all stations east…

Crossing the bridge north of D/LD.

The dyansty, hah-hah!

Plenty of rollers until Coleraine. Character building, apparently. I don’t want a character!

Eventually made Portstewart and there was indeed some scenery…blimey! Zero apologies for the slew of similar photos, but it was all too wonderful!

Portrush east strand…

You best believe it!

It was 12 years since I’d been this way and the flawless air (albeit moving swiftly) meant everything looked a little more special. I could barely pedal 300 yards without stopping for another photo. At this rate I wouldn’t see Cushendall by midnight, hah-hah! Tactical decision made: take your time mate, you don’t see this nonsense everyday. So what if you’re an hour later than usual?

Dunluce Castle is as good a spot for a tube replacement: tiny wire had embedded itself…

Stopped by, but no time for tours etc..

See above.

Best thing about Bushmills? Chips avec le sauce du curry. Bon!

Time was ticking and there was a big ticket item on today’s list: The Giant’s Causeway. It was gonna take some time, which was evaporating pronto. So I headed there…blimey but their visitor’s centre was doing brisk business. Depending on who you asked, you got a different answer as to whether you could cycle down to the stones. In the event, some friendly guide said no drama, follow one of the transit buses down because they cut a swathe through all the punters walking the Kilometre to the stones. Genius!

Carry on follow that bus!

They really are all that and a bag of (curry) chips: would be special to be there early on a winter’s morning…anyway, it was now a case of making as much haste as the remaining 20 lumpy miles would allow, all the way to Cushendall.

I call BS! Can still see it.

No drama and I rolled into Cushendall just before 6pm, very much looking forward to dinner. My B&B owner recommended strongly booking for the restaurant a few doors down, such was the demand in the small town. He wasn’t wrong!

Looks even more violent than hockey!

Tonight’s acco.

Was ready for both of these brews.

So it was a fantastic day, complete with some challenging weather and a fair whack of climbing. As ever, let’s make with the numbers…

And the tune of the day still sounds as though it could be released last week and it would still sound dynamite!