It was a fabulous riding day today. The weather was cool and gray to start, but it warmed up quickly and the sun actually stuck around for most of the day. The exception was the end of the day when some dark gray clouds made an appearance. No rain though; I've been lucky so far! And I didn't have to resort to the trailer clothes dryer today since I realized I had a hair dryer in my room last night - hair dryer, wet clothes, it always seems to help the drying along. That won't happen tonight though, so I'll have those damp clothes drying on the trailer tomorrow.
I'm staying at Moohan's Fiddlestone in Belleek tonight. The sign on the building says "bar, off-sales, and guest house". The B&B is upstairs, but I did need to walk into the smoky bar to ask about my room. When I walked in there was an older man sitting at the bar (smoking, of course) who asked me where I started today. When I said Rosses Point he said "oh, Sligo is about 26 miles from here". I'm sure that's true if I had taken a direct route (and Rosses Point is about 3 miles from Sligo), but like a typical touring cyclist I certainly didn't follow a direct route. I'd say my 47 mile day was a bit further than the straightest route between my starting and ending points today. Oh, and before I forget, my bike has a spot indoors tonight - but it's not in my room. It's locked in the betting office (the bookies?) next door! The B&B is right in the middle of town - a small town, only a few blocks of stores. My room is in the back of the building, so although there is some road noise, it's not too bad. And given the size of the town and its location off the main road, it should be relatively quiet overnight.
I meant to stay on route all day today, really I did! But guess what - I didn't. I know, I know, what else is new? That appears to be my normal behavior - at least it's repeating my cross-country trip last year when I just couldn't stick to the Adventure Cycling routes! I'll tell you about my switch later...
My ride today started out retracing part of yesterday's ride since Rosses Point is pretty much an out and back road from Sligo. I turned onto a back road before getting all of the way to Sligo, crossed N15 and wandered through some more back roads, then circled back to N15 again. Before I continued across the road to continue my wandering, I took a short side trip to see Drumcliffe, which is the site of St. Columbia's Church, and the grave of WB Yeats. A little bit of a contrast there - a monastery was founded on the site in 574 - and Yeats was buried there in 1948 (although he died in France in 1939). I don't know why this was chosen as his burial site - maybe because his great-grandfather was Rector at the church in the nineteenth century. The visible remains of the monastery are the Drumcliffe High Cross, and the remains of the round tower. And then there's the church on the site that was built in 1809. A nice stop, And as a plus there was a bathroom there! Important, since bathrooms seem to be few and far between on this trip, and side of the road (and out of sight) spots aren't readily available - remember, no shoulders, with fences and thorns everywhere!
I continued back up N15 to the spot where my route crossed, and headed back out toward the coast again. It was a beautiful road - but almost totally unmarked. And that goes for most of the roads I was on today. When I think about all my biking routes at home, most of them are also on roads that aren't marked - no road signs, no numbers. And I thought that was a Massachusetts problem! Not so - the back roads here are sparsely marked if at all. Today I saw the signs that Tony warned me about. There's a single pole, and fastened to the pole are individual signs that are meant to point in a certain direction. Unfortunately, they are fastened with a loop of metal that runs around the pole, so it is more than possible for the signs to be pointing in the wrong direction. Even I recognized some that were wrong today. What fun! Tony provided very explicit turn-by-turn directions along with a highlighted map segment for each day. But even so, I realized at one point this morning that I kept passing unmarked right turns, and my next direction said "at 5.5 miles from J7, keep right towards Grange". Hmm.... I had no idea where J7 was, and because of the placement of a town name on the map - don't you love it when the lines representing the road are obscured by printing? I always wish I could just move the printing! - I wasn't sure if the road just turned to the right or if I was missing my turn. I flagged down someone who was driving a piece of farm equipment to ask, but the driver turned out to be a very young person - possibly a teenager - who had no clue about directions. He told me that there was a man about a half a mile down the road who was building a wall and who could probably help. I stopped, and was able to verify that my right turn was still up ahead, I hadn't missed it at all. And surprise, surprise, it was also marked with the mileage to Grange, which was the next turn my route. I had a short conversation with the man who helped with directions, then continued on my way.
I stopped at a gas station convenience store in Grange - time to stop for a bathroom break and a lunchtime snack. And luckily, I was able to get some more of that blue Powerade, much better than that orange stuff I was forced to buy yesterday! Then back to those back, back, back roads. The roads were very tiny - very tight for more than one car. I rode for a while, then made a turn onto a really tiny road. I rode about a half mile out of the six I was supposted to spend on that road when I realized how desolate it seemed. It was very narrow (even more so than the roads I'd been on all day, although there was one earlier that I thought was a driveway). And there was a little bit of grass growing in what would be the center line of the road if there was one. I didn't see any cars on it, and I question how many drive down that road given the road conditions - mainly the grass in the middle.
I rode down a very desolate stretch of road in British Columbia on my first solo tour, and I promised myself I wouldn't do that again. If I was riding with another person I would have continued down the road I was on this afternoon, but when I'm alone I'd rather not have that feeling of being on a really desolate road. It could be that this road would have changed in another half a mile (or not), but I didn't give it a chance. I retraced the half mile and headed toward N15 and the coast on the road I'd just turned off of. I figured I'd ride the extra option to Mullaghmore Head, then ride on N15 into Bundoran, then I'd head south on R280 until I intersected with my route again. A good plan that held together until Bundoran. But I was really enjoying not having to navigate, and somehow the bike just kept heading straight for Ballyshannon and then Belleek. I missed riding by the edge of Lough Melvin, which was probably beautiful, but instead I spent some time along Donegal Bay, which I wouldn't have done if I hadn't taken my little detour. I always forget how much easier it is to ride on signed roads. Riding back roads can be very pleasant, but navigating those roads can be a bit tedious. Ride a mile, turn, ride another mile, turn, etc. - you really need to pay attention! But with my combination of back roads and straight non-back roads, it was a very good riding day...
While I was in Bundoran I got off the bike for a few minutes to take some pictures. An old man walked right up to me, looked at my trailer, and said "is that heavy?". When I told him it was (isn't the stuff we carry always heavier than we'd like?), he said "bet that slows you down going up hills", then laughed! Of course I told him he was right, and then we talked for a bit. He gave me the current weather forecast, said it's supposed to get warmer. We'll see.
Another thing about the road signs here: the newer signs on the roads are in kilometers, but it appears that the old signs - the ones that are sometimes pointing in the wrong directions - are in miles. I keep forgetting which is which. Luckily when I forget it's usually in my favor - thinking that the sign is in miles means I get to the next point much faster when the sign was really in kilometers.
When I started my trip I thought I'd be spending the first half of my trip in the Republic of Ireland and the second half (except for that last night in Dublin) in Northern Ireland. That assumption was definitely wrong! I started in Belcoo, in Northern Ireland. I rode to Rosses Point, in the Republic of Ireland, then on to Belleek, in Northern Ireland. Tomorrow I head back into the ROI, to Donegal. The way I've been meandering between these two countries I'm very glad there aren't any border controls any more. In fact, there aren't even signs notifying you of the switch. The most obvious difference (to an outsider, that is) is the switch in currency. Tonight I'm in Northern Ireland, so I'll pay for my dinner with pounds sterling. Last night I was in the Republic, so I paid for my dinner in Euros. I'm really glad that all 50 states at home share a currency. I guess that's how the folks in the parts of the EU that use Euros must feel - it's much easier always having a familiar form of money!
After I had found my room and had a nice hot shower, I wandered over to Belleek Pottery. Hey, I'm in Belleek, I thought I'd take a look. Hopefully no one at home wanted me to buy anything for them - no purchases today! It turns out that after the discovery of a local source for the components of porcelain, the company that became Belleek Pottery originally made porcelain "sanitary items" - like sinks and bedpans (or toilets).! I had to laugh! Then apparently they made porcelain insulators for telegraph poles. Somehow along the line they morphed into the fine porcelain they produce today. Their product doesn't match my taste - I'm more likely to buy thrown or hand-built pieces directly from an artist - but it was interesting to look through the Belleek showroom and museum. There were actually some old tea sets that caught my eye, and they currently make some woven porcelain baskets that I thought were fascinating. How's that for a non-biking stop for the day?
I've noticed that there are beautiful flowers all over here - both in people's yards, and in planters in many of the towns. I saw part of the secret as I was eating dinner tonight. Two people were wheeling a large container (of water, I assume) around with a hose and pump attached to it, and they were watering all of the flowers along the street. I guess even in a place where it rains a lot they don't leave the watering of the flowers to chance.
For dinner tonight I had three choices - a hotel restaurant, a pub, and a Chinese restaurant. You guessed it - I chose the Chinese place where I had a very good King Prawn Chow Mein. Hey Dad, you're right, chow mein is really good. It's not usually a choice I make at home, but here it just looked right - noodles, veggies, and prawns in a light sauce.Yum! And again, I stopped to pick up some chocolate for my after dinner treat. (Yes, I'm sharing the chocolate with Rover. He says to thank you for asking about him!)
As I expected, I've had no access to telephones, so I haven't been able to upload any of my journal entries. Rich gave me a link to a site that lists Internet cafes all over the world, and so far I haven't been in a town that had one. But - I think there may be an Intenet cafe in Donegal Town. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. If I find an Internet cafe I'll probably just put some short notes in my journal - I'll upload the full entries later. I just can't face typing them in twice!
And here's are two more sayings (?) I found around the edges of one pound coins. One says "PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD", and the second says "NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT". I still have no clue. Language? Meaning?
Update on September 14th: Brian Huntley provided translations for these sayings: "Pleidiol Wyf I'm Gwkad" is Welsh, and means "True am I to my Country." It should be on the "Welsh Dragon" pound coin. "Nemo me impune Lacessit" is Latin, and means "No One Provokes me with Impunity" - the motto of the order of the Thistle. A Scottish Thistle is on the coin. Thanks for the translation Brian!
Internet cafes? Maybe tomorrow...
