It was another wonderful day of riding today, and I'm really glad that Tony suggested taking the train out of Derry. No riding in city traffic, which I really dislike, and it gave me a jump out to the coast. A good way to start a good day...
Remember my complaining of a queasy stomach two days ago and blaming it on the food? Well, it wasn't the food. I think I had some sort of 48-hour intestinal bug - which thankfully seems to be totally gone today. Last night I realized I was feeling both nauseous and achy - and the aches weren't biking muscle kind of aches. At that point I also realized that I'd been feeling kind of draggy all day. (And thanks for reminding me Mom - I did use both the Pepto and the Imodium!) I went to sleep at 9, which is early even for me, and slept until 7 this morning. Having a room near the entry to the B&B didn't keep me awake, and when I got up this morning I felt like a new woman.
The morning greeted me with bright blue skies, but very cool temperatures. I needed both my wind vest and arm warmers for the short ride to the train station. I rode along the river on a bike path and then continued on the lower deck of a double-decked bridge across the river which dumped me onto another bike path. That path ended at the train station. It was a short bike ride to a relatively short train ride. I bought 2 tickets for the train - one for me, and one for my bike. The ticket for the bike says "BIKE DOG". They must use the same ticket designation for people who are traveling with a dog - I thought it was very strange.
I rolled the bike and trailer into a car that had an attendant in it, then sat in the next compartment. I looked at the schedule before I got onto the train, so I thought I knew the stop that was right before mine. It turns out I had the right name of the stop before mine, but the train ride was a bit disconcerting. There were no station announcements, and some of the stops were very, very short. I started to worry about getting off the train and having time to retrieve my bike before it took off again. That's not a nice worry to have! (Yeah Steve, I know, just in time worry...) One of the other people sitting near me must have noticed my worry, because he asked where I was going and told me he'd let me know before we got to that stop. And shortly after that the attendant who was sitting with my bike came through the train, and I told him where I would be disembarking. When we reached the stop he rolled my bike and trailer off of the train for me - a quick and easy exit. At least it was an easy exit for the bike. For me, it was a different story, because I had to figure out how to open the train door. It took me a minute to see the directions posted above the door. They went something like this:
>>> This door cannot be unlatched from the inside.No lie - I am not making this up! It's a good thing I speak and read English well. I can imagine that a non-English speaker might have had a little problem with that door! I saw another passenger getting up to help just as I figured out how to get the door opened. Safety? Do you think a door that opens only from the outside is a safe design? Oh well, at least I'll know how to get out of the train the next time!
>>> Do not open door while train is moving.
>>> Press window bar in and push down to open window
>>> Reach to the outside of the door for the handle, and turn the handle
>>> Open the door.
I left the train station, and rode some nice back roads into Coleraine. At that point I could head east to my final destination, or I could add on an out-and-back ride to the west. I chose to head west first, although I didn't go as far as I'd planned. I was following the Sustrans cycle route 93, and as I was riding I stopped several times to try to get a photo of a very hazy rainbow. It never occurred to me - rainbows show up when it rains! I continued down the road, fighting with a pretty intense headwind. Actually I didn't realize how strong it was until I turned around to head back and got a nice push from the wind. I got as far as Castlerock and turned around. My original plan was to continue on for a couple more miles, but when it started raining I decided to stop fighting the wind. I headed back in light rain, still wearing my wind vest but with bare arms and legs. On and on, and all of a sudden I realized it was raining pretty hard! At that point another cyclist came up next to me and we started chatting. He was planning to take a ferry to Donegal for the afternoon, but he turned back because of the rain too - mainly because he left home without a jacket. About that point I decided I'd better put mine on. This time I put it on top of the vest - it was chilly enough that I figured the extra layer wouldn't hurt. Soon after I put the rain jacket on it stopped raining, but I kept the jacket on until I was warm and the jacket was dry. Then it jumped back in the trailer.
I haven't seen as many cyclists here as I expected to - and one thing I've noticed is how few cyclists are wearing helmets. The other Americans I met were wearing helmets, and a couple of the other folks were too, but I'd have to say the helmet-wearers are definitely in the minority. I find that very odd. I've been wearing a helmet for years, and I wouldn't think of riding without one. I know someone who fell years ago and ended up with a concussion - and he was told if he wasn't wearing a helmet he most likely would have had a skull fracture.
I stopped at a small grocery shop to pick up a sandwich for lunch, and as is my usual habit, I wandered around a bit. I can't find energy bars here, but I found pancakes in the bakery section! Yes, baked and packaged pancakes... That doesn't sound like a food that would react well to reheating, but I guess they're not much different from other bread products. Not something that I think I'll try on this trip though.
After I got back to Coleraine, I continued following the Sustrans (national biking route) 93 to the east. It is a signed bike route, sometimes on road-side paths, sometimes with on-road bike path markings, sometimes just on the road. I was planning on following it as far as Portrush where I was going to switch back to the Coast Road. I actually switched to the Coast Road a few miles early - got tired of following the twists and turns of the bike route! I'm following the Atlantic Ocean across the top of Northern Ireland. What beautiful scenery! It was one of those take a picture, ride a little further, take another picture days. Spectacular.
At one point I passed a field that had the funniest looking birds in it. They were chasing around on foot, and they had long red beaks. I don't have a clue what they were, even though I was able to check a bird book when I got to my home for the night. Maybe they were oystercatchers, but maybe not.
[Update on September 14th: Yes, they were oystercatchers! I found a description and a photo on the Birds of Britain website. Very cool.I stopped at Dunluce Castle late in the afternoon. It's the ruins of what must have been a pretty spectacular castle right on the coast - built on top of coastal rocks. There's a sea cave under the structure, but the path down to it was closed because of rock fall near the entrance. That would have been interesting, but wandering around the ruins was interesting too. Apparently one of the ladies of the house didn't like the sound of the sea. That's a bad place to live if you don't like listening to the ocean! And to top it off, a wall in the kitchen was undermined and fell into the sea while the kitchen was in use. The plaque in the kitchen area said that 3 servants were lost in that accident, and that the lady of the house refused to set foot in the place again. I don't remember the date it was built, but there's a brochure in my room that says that the castle was restored in 1588.
As I arrived in Bushmills this afternoon, I saw a sign for Ballymoney - the town where I started riding this morning - saying that it was 10 miles away. I rode 43 miles today. Do you think I took the long road?
I arrived at the B&B at close to 5, which is later than usual for me on this trip. I've been finishing between 3 and 4 - except for yesterday which was a pretty short day. I had a bit of a scare - no one home... First I passed a B&B with no name, and turned into the Ballyness Caravan Park. Since my reservation was at the Ballyness B&B I thought maybe it was on the grounds of the camp site. The office was closed, so I wandered over to a trailer to ask someone. The woman who came out pointed out the B&B, which was the one I had ridden by. I headed back to the B&B and rang the bell. No answer, no cars around, no note. Hmm... I'll admit I was a little freaked by that. But - no problem. I headed back into the village and tried to call. The pay phone didn't like my coins, and it didn't like my credit card. I walked into the shop next to the phone booth, and the woman there made the call for me after saying "how odd, someone should be at Ballyness". She got an answering machine. At this point it was a little after 5, and I asked if there were other places to stay in town. It turned out that there was a hostel just down the street, so I headed there. They had room, but I decided to try to call the B&B one more time. And - Helen was home, so I headed back out. When I arrived she apologized for not being here when I arrived the first time. She works until 5, and comes straight home from work. I must have just missed her - guess I should have sat on the front steps and soaked in the sun for a while... Helen said that she told Tony she wouldn't be home until after 5, but somehow I missed that. As I think back, I think he might have told me and I just spaced it - if you remember, I was pretty much sleepwalking when he was going over the route with me. Oops! It all worked out though, and I'm here for the next two nights. Helen provided a home in the shed for my bike - inside again. And she offered, and I accepted, tea or coffee when I got here. A pot of tea, scones, and pastries. It was a nice greeting for a hungry cyclist - but as it turns out an appetite suppressant when it came to dinner!
My room has a drying rack hanging from the radiator. It was stone cold when I left for dinner, but I hung my laundry there anyway - and it was giving off heat when I came back. So far I've only needed to use the trailer drying rack one day. I've either had access to a hair dryer, or the heat was turned on in my room at some point in the night. That's a good thing - I was afraid that it would be so damp here that nothing would dry! And as it turns out, most of my hosts hang their clothes out to dry. The B&B in Derry last night was the first one I saw with a clothes dryer.
I walked back into the village (about 3/4 of a mile from the B&B) and went into The Distillers Arms for dinner. It turned out to be a very nice restaurant, one that I'm sure would meet with both my sister's and my father's approval. There's a lounge area in the front with some low tables and comfortable chairs. They have you sit in the lounge with the menu and a drink of your choice, and they move you to a table just before your food is ready. A very relaxing atmosphere. Of course after downing tea and a scone and a piece of chocolate pastry at just before 6, I wasn't prepared for a big dinner - so I ordered 2 starters again. The soup of the day was wonderful. It was a very spicy soup made of red peppers, red onions, and aubergine, and probably some other stuff I didn't catch when it was described. Very nice, and accompanied by some excellent bread. My second starter was prawns with a Thai dipping sauce, a side salad, and cucumbers that had been sitting in some kind of sweet sauce. Yum! There were a couple of interesting looking entrees, so I may have to go back there again tomorrow. Actually, I'm sure there were more than a couple of interesting entrees if you are a meat eater, but I'm still looking for veggies and fish...
At dinner I was seated at a table between two couples. I believe the couple on my right was from Germany, and I know that the couple on my left was from England because we ended up talking together for quite a while after we finished eating. They live about 18 miles from London, near Windsor. They came to Ireland for a 3-day oyster festival which they described as a 3-day party, and extended their stay for a few more days to travel around the country. They drove 220 miles today, and it took them over 5 hours, mainly because the roads here are all small - except for the motorways around the major cities (Belfast & Dublin) and all go through instead of around towns. They also commented on the lack of places to pull off of the road to rest or soak in the scenery. That never really hit home to me until they said it, because I've been able to stop by pulling as far to the left as possible - but still on the road because there's no where else to go. I don't like standing in the road, but there hasn't been any other choice. That certainly wouldn't be possible in a car. I was assuming that these conditions were similar to those in England, but they said not.
When I pulled out a 20 pound note to pay for dinner, they said "look at that note". It was from the Bank of Ireland, and they'd never seen one before. They told me that you used to have to be careful about accepting bills because it used to be that notes from the Bank of Scotland weren't accepted in England in shops and had to be exchanged in banks. It's not like that now, but talk about a pain! I asked them about the writing on the edges of the 1 and 2 pound coins, and their initial reaction was that the sayings were in English. Nope, they're not. The sayings on the 2 pound coin is English, but the others aren't. I handed over some of my change, and they were able to recognize Scottish vs. Welsh coins. The back side of the coins are different, but you'd have to recognize the symbols to tell which country they were from - it's not like the "state" quarters that include the name of the state right on the coin. We talked about the pound sterling vs. Euro issue too. They said that before they left their B&B tonight they asked their hosts if the money here was Euros or "proper money"! They agreed with me that it would be much simpler if the UK switched to Euros. But I can't even imagine what that conversion would be like. But, most of the other EU countries managed to make the switch...
We were talking about bikes, and when they heard that I was riding a folding bike they told me that their neighbors just bought folding bikes from a shop in Bath. I wonder if they bought Bike Fridays. And my tablemates bought their neighbors gifts for their bikes that made them laugh - bells! It's funny, people riding tandems seem to have bells, but I haven't seen too many on single bikes.
Tomorrow - a day of riding without gear. I'm headed to Giant's Causeway, which is only a couple of miles from here. Then I'll probably head down the road a ways, just to enjoy unloaded riding for a while.
