If I had been even slightly considering riding all of the way to Belfast the headwinds would have convinced me the train was the better end to my journey. And timing is everything - just as I pulled into the train station it started raining. I started in the mist this morning, but this was real rain.
I went to sleep at 9:30 last night, and the combination of a shorter riding day and a good night's sleep worked wonders - I feel much better today, no more exhaustion. I did feel a bit like the princess and the pea last night though. There were two beds in my room, a double and a twin. I was going to use the double bed, but it felt very lumpy to me. The twin had a good mattress on it, so that won!
It rained overnight again. That seems to be an every night occurrence. I was happy to see that while the ground was still wet when I woke up, the rain had stopped. A good sign.
I shared the breakfast room with a German couple who are driving around Ireland. They did the southern part of the island on a previous trip, so this time they flew into Dublin, drove immediately to Galway, and started wandering from there. I asked it they'd stopped at Giant's Causeway, and they had. She told me she was disappointed, because although she had seen pictures before, she believed the legend of the giant building stepping stones all the way to Scotland. The causeway stones continue into the ocean, but she thought there would be more going out into the water. Guess that's what happens when you imagine a legend to be true. We had a good laugh about it. They drove over Torr Head yesterday - the scenic route that I skipped because of the 15% grades. They said it was beautiful, but a challenging drive even in a car!
I headed out into a very heavy mist. As usual, I was wearing my wind vest, no rain jacket needed. The worst part about the mist this morning was the difficulty I had seeing through the water drops on my sunglasses! And of course, the low clouds and mist made it difficult to capture the scenery with my camera. I tried, but I won't know how good the attempt was until I see the pictures on a full-sized screen. It was really beautiful, with craggy hills emerging from the mist. The headwinds started immediately, so between stopping to take pictures (fog or no fog!) and my slow pace because of the winds, I was making forward progress pretty slowly. Then I thought I saw some cyclists coming toward me. No mirage - it was Michelle and Peter from near London. We stopped, leaned our bikes against the stone wall on the side of the road, and just stood and talked. They flew into Belfast yesterday, and are planning to spend two weeks in Ireland. They are heading for Ballintoy today, Giant's Causeway tomorrow, and then they're off to Donegal. They are staying in B&Bs too - they said they wouldn't consider camping in Ireland because it's just too wet. We were talking about traveling with bikes - packed and unpacked - and as it turns out they just hand the airlines their bicycles, totally unpackaged. They remove the pedals, and I believe they have to turn the handlebars, and then they just hope the bike doesn't get damaged. I'm not even sure that US airlines would accept a bike like that, but Michelle and Peter said that all of the UK touring cyclists that they know check their bikes on planes unpacked. They had an interesting setup - it looked like they were traveling with a single set of panniers. Peter was riding with rear panniers only, and Michelle was riding with front panniers only. And she had them mounted on the front rack. That's only the second time I've ever seen someone riding with 2 panniers on the front. Most people I've seen riding with two use the rear rack. It sounds like Michelle and Peter have done a lot of touring - including a 6-month trip to New Zealand that made me (and all of their friends) jealous.
Good conversation break over, and I headed south again into that wind. I noticed a change though - the mist had stopped, and it was getting brighter. The clouds seemed to be lifting, but the sky stayed gray. I saw one other touring cyclist heading north who waved but didn't stop. He was very heavily loaded with 4 big panniers plus stuff strapped on top. His must be a camping trip. I kept cycling into the wind, thinking of other things - and the sun came out! Wonderful warmth... I was just about to stop for some more clothing layers, but instead I stopped to get rid of my wind vest!
As I was riding through a small town I stopped in a parking area to take a picture. A man who was working across the street called out to me and asked if I'd lost my car. Of course not - this is my preferred mode of transportation!
As I wandered down the road, I began to see more and more shore birds, including quite a few herons and egrets. I thought I might be able to pull off a picture of one of these magnificent birds, but they must have sensed me coming - they took off before I could pull the camera out.
It seemed to take me forever to get to Larne, probably because the wind was keeping my speed down to 8 to 9 miles per hour, pretty slow considering that the road was flat. I pulled into the train station and bought tickets for me and my bike (or my BIKE DOG according to the ticket). One of the NI Rail folks offered to watch my bike so I could run out to the store and pick up some food. Just as I got back, the rain started. I really timed that well. My ride went from mist to chilly and gray, to sunny, to gray again - and I just missed riding in what would have been a pretty unpleasant rain. Instead I got to sit in a heated waiting room and wait for my train to Belfast. After I got on the train the conductor sat with me and chatted for a while. He told me that the train with the outside handle only is an older train, and he said that the train we were on today was also pretty old - but this one has doors that open from the inside. He said that the other doors are actually considered safer because they can always be opened by a passenger, while the doors on today's train have to be released first by the engineer before the "Open" and "Close" buttons work. He said that the train I'll be on to Dublin is much more modern. And it sounds like almost all of the older trains are going to be replaced in the next year or two. That sounds like a pretty big project.
I was a lot more comfortable on this train than on the last one because even though my bike was in a separate compartment it was in the same car with me. I pulled the bike and trailer up close to the door as we left Belfast Central station since I knew my stop was the next one. I wanted to be sure to have both pieces off of train before it took off again. I know that the conductor was signaling the engineer when it was clear to leave the station, but since the conductor was at the middle of the train and I was in the back it still made me a bit nervous. I just had images of half of my stuff continuing to the next station! Of course that didn't happen.
I got directions from the station to Malone Road and headed to the Malone Guest House. When Ruby opened the door, the first thing she asked was if I wanted to put my bike in the garage. I told her that I needed to pack it, and she opened the garage door so I could work in there. After my visions of having to pack the bike in the rain, I had a nice inside spot. Very nice. And the rain had stopped again anyway - it was bright and sunny when I arrived in Belfast! A quick half hour later, the bike was all packed, and I headed to my room for a shower. Then I went wandering through Belfast. As I was walking around wearing a skirt and a sleeveless shirt, I noticed most of the people around me were wearing coats. Am I fighting the change of seasons? I was warm enough without any extra layers, but then again I was moving.
The guest house is about a half a mile past Queen's University. I walked back to the university, then continued on to the center of town. I had two things I was looking for - a bookstore to pick up reading material for the plane, and some interesting food. I found both easily, even though it involved a good two hours of walking! I found a Waterstones Books, which when they were in Boston was my all time favorite bookstore. I browsed there for a while, and picked up a mystery for airplane reading. I'd passed quite a few restaurants on my travels, and one of them caught my eye, so I stopped there on the way back for some dinner. I ate at an Indian restaurant called Monsoon. The food was very good, and a nice change for what I've been eating. Having a variety of good foods to choose from is definitely a positive thing about being in a city instead of in a little town!
I'm actually amazed that I found my way back to the guest house with no false turns. I pretty much followed a straight line into the town center, but coming back the streets kept angling off. Hmm...which street did I come down? And you know what - I've found a place that's worse than Boston from a road sign standpoint. I haven't seen any road signs since I've arrived in Belfast. They must be there, right? Could I be looking in the wrong place?
I found the answer to my question about where apples in Europe generally come from. I've seen some from New Zealand, but it looks like the local crop comes from France and Spain. I should have guessed that, but it took labels in the stores to clue me in.
Tony just called to check on me. He's in Connemara with a group that he's guiding, but he wanted to make sure that I'd made it to Belfast and that I'd had a good tour. That was a nice touch.
Tomorrow - Dublin. I'll be taking a train in the morning that should get me there at about 12:30. There's an earlier train, but I decided I didn't want to make myself crazy with rushing around early in the morning. This one will allow me to have a leisurely breakfast before I head to the train station. I'll have a half a day to wander around Dublin, then Saturday morning I head back to Boston. It's hard to believe this trip is coming to an end. Well, then again, it's easy to believe since my bike is securely packed in its case!
