Breakfast was a couple of bowls of cornflakes before facing the decidedly damp outdoors. What ho! My front tyre had gone flat during the night- a phantom puncture pain in the a*rse had chosen to strike…
Cue 15 mins of faffing…
Was away into it (after stopping at a Centra to get water and a sandwich to continue fuelling) and slavishly followed the route that I’d ‘planned’ a month or so ago: no improvisation today, no bonus miles thanks all the same. I know, no sense of adventure…certainly not when the weather is grim. My sources told me that it was gonna improve. Honest!
Lads- you got to let this go!
That’s as good as it got until maybe 1000?
Mind you…this’ll do nicely!
Most agreeable. Poor sod in the boat probably disagrees, hah-hah!
Another day, another bridge. Them’s the rules!
After lunch I was left with just under 50 miles, starting at 12.30pm. Not a disasterama, given the delayed start.
Old Skool Garmin.
I didn’t eat all of it. Not until later, at least! #heft
Ballydehob’s finest: book him Danno…Murder One!
The signs were there all along. Okay, I’ll get me coat…
The hoped-for Hollywood moment for today was to reach Mizen Head, which is the most southerly point on the mainland, especially if you tilt the map. Nah, it might be a dead-heat with some also ran along the coast but MH gets my vote!
Fine place for a Saga Stop: well it is a bog, right?
Is the sky breaking un peu?
Aye aye Captain…blue skies!
Unbelievably, as I got to within fifteen miles of Mizen Head, the weather dramatically improved…sure there was a decent south-westerly breeze but this was probably as kind as it gets! It was a fantastic ride up to it, made more so because I ditched my panniers behind a wall…hoping they’d still be there in 90 mins or so. They were. Thank Gawd!
Laugh out loud beautiful. Photos will not suffice!
A decent spot for a spin…
After that, next stop is er…
I could spent longer there but there was the small matter of getting to Bantry.
Was there. Without panniers. Lightweight, hah-hah!
Basically it was then a 180 degree turn and backtrack until I retrieved my stash, and then only 15 miles north. Direction of travel is pretty key: this meant that breeze was gonna be helping push me to tonight’s acco. Who knew what delights that would entail?
Hello Bantry!
The ‘Live Laugh Love’ cobblers almost had me outta there pronto, hah-hah!
My hostess for tonight is Peggie: the lady was putting a wash on and had no issues with adding my minging Lycra to the mix. Result! I haven’t dared look at tomorrow’s weather forecast yet… we’ll give it a good go regardless. Like I have a choice, hah-hah!
Today’s tune gets the nod because Geoff, Stuart, Alex, Jonesy and the two Steves shared a house in Whitstable about 35 years ago. When I’d wind-up with them, invariably I’d crash on the settee hence Geoff christening me the ‘Bed and Breakfast Man’…happy with that as we all loved Two Tone. Dear me but Madness had some bangers though…
As unconventional as last night’s tented insanity was, and despite the temperature dropping in a Baltic fashion, it was an okay night. Aided with two duvets, mind!
No breakfast was a given, so it was up and away into downtown New Ross (a decent looking small town…way too obvious to stay there, hah-hah!) to find something. A petrol station fitted the bill and it was then game on, staying on main roads for probably 60 miles. The wide shoulder and gentle drags are all good!
My neighbours came to see me off the premises.
A decent starter for ten!
JFK not forgotten.
Some recent build around Waterford. Never saw another cyclist on it…
No charge pour moi!
Long old descents which need to be paid for by long old drags!
There was a run down to Dungarvan which looks like a terrific spot: if time wasn’t an issue, you’d definitely wanna tarry for a while. Next time, defo…
A muriel on the side of a 7-11. Provider of excellent bananas. Bueno!
Dungarvan. Another time, right?
You cannot whack some span-action!
Up to this point the weather had been benign: a south/south-westerly wind mainly and only the very odd drop of rain. After lunch, Ireland introduced itself properly, hah-hah!
By 5pm I was drenched: the wind got up plenty and I reckon this was a warm-up for what might well be heading my way! On the plus side, I got my first shout-out: a transit van driver in the opposite direction beeped and shouted some encouragement. Nice one!
Horizontal dreich. Dunno if that’s a phrase in currency but it oughta be!
More spannage ahoy…
Okay, *now* the tour begins?
As previously, the final ten miles took too long but I found tonight’s acco with no drama. The hostess is a bit of a character: an Italian lady with her own way of doing things. I bribed her 10 Euros to (hopefully) wash and dry my *slightly* grubby Lycra. Who knows what size kit I’ll be in tomorrow…
Saturated.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that tonight’s acco favours the more traditional walls, windows, doors and ceiling arrangement, hah-hah!
Different kind of saturation. Just the one. Loadsa folks from the USA about- loving the Guinness too!
Today’s stats. No trees uprooted, hah-hah!
It is so wonderful to see the total edge closer to £8,500: writing ‘thank you’ doesn’t really cover it, I know. Tune in tomorrow and we’ll see where we have gotten to…cheers!
I so did not want to leave my bed, let alone the acco this morning…not least because the bed was beyond comfy, but there was a decent south/south-westerly making its presence known. My hostess, Mai, was cool with me settling amongst the breakfast buffet at 0615: she even offered scrambled eggs, when she appeared not long after!
I declined but the lady insisted on making me a doorstep ham sandwich for later…just the best!
Headwind and cold. My favourite!
Good luck folks!
Lads- you’re not even trying!
No.2 in an occasional series: where I’ve had a Saga Stop!
Fight, fight!
I won’t pretend this was anything other than a slog: progress was glacial, scenery was meh until later and nobody seemed to be happy to be out and about! To be filed under ‘Get it done’!
Lovely…
Er, how’s that work then?
Good work!
It was a case of eating and drinking regularly and not worrying about stopping for a few minutes along the way…it ain’t gonna matter in the grand scheme. There were a couple of curveballs, route-wise…but we’d expect nothing less, hah-hah!
Gary Garmin said go right ahead. Didn’t look quite right…
Deserted or work-in-progress? Bit odd…
Civilisation just outside, hurrah!
As enjoyed a few hours later!
As I said, this was a day to gain more yards, however slowly. All I wanted to do was roll into my acco for tonight. More on that in a minute…
The real inspiration!
Listen here Mr Garmin- you 100% on this?
Hello sunshine!
One more mile and my lovely acco awaits!
After 10 hours and 110 slow miles, I roll into tonight’s address. No host, nobody. I do see three Wig Wams pitched, as well as farm buildings. I message the host and she says mine is tent two. She ain’t on site to meet and greet and answer my daft questions. One is not amused! Mind you, there are a couple of cool horses in the neighbourhood!
After choosing this, I can no longer be assumed to be of sound mind. #scenes
Even they’re disgusted, hah-hah!
Normal service resumed…cheers!
Thanks for sticking with this so far…there’s more nonsense imminent. Goodnight all!
