Breakfast at 8, on the road at 9:30 - a little later than planned, but it really didn't matter. My first traveling day (by bike, that is) was a wonderful day. And hey, that trailer feels pretty normal! The official route for the day was a bit longer than I wanted for the first day - so, map in hand, I changed it. Half the day was on a Denise route, and half on a Tony route. Both were more than acceptable.
Last night I spent a bit of time reviewing the route that Tony put together, looking at the overall mileage, and comparing the day's snapshot of a map with the bigger map that he supplied. When we talked originally I had set my target daily mileage at 50 miles (obviously to be less on hard terrain days), but we talked and adjusted some things last week, including revising my mileage target to about 40 miles to give me more time to wander and soak in the sights. I was a little surprised when I realized the total mileage today was 51 miles. I thought about just doing it for a while because I'm more than capable of riding that distance, but I really didn't want a 50 mile day as my first loaded day since my Hawaii trip back in May. I'm not one of those people who trains for a trip like this by riding a loaded bike as a training technique - I just ride my bike and try to put in a reasonable amount of training miles. And remember, I'm dangerous with a map in my hands! I quickly realized that there was a fair amount of backtracking on what probably were some very pretty backroads. I also realized that there was a more direct route if I rode on what was classified as a national primary road (one of the N roads) for a bit. So - I changed my route for the day. I cut off a bit more than I'd initially planned, but it still made for a nice biking day. I did my own thing for a bit, then I rode on Tony's route for the rest of the time. Nothing like arranging for someone to find nice back roads and then doing my own thing. But both routes were fine. OK, I probably just don't know what I missed by doing my short stretch on N16, but I thought it was a perfectly reasonable two-lane road. (Other than the fact that there are no shoulders on most of the roads here. And by no shoulders, I mean that there is pavement up to a little bit of green that typically ends in a fence covered with thorn-bearing plants. Note to self - remember not to lean the bike up against one of these fences!) Remember, I do spend a fair amount of riding time at home riding in traffic, especially my commuting time. And in spite of this road's classification, it carried very little traffic. Then of course there was the time that I was sure I was on route that I probably wasn't. I was supposed to be riding on R286 in to Sligo, and I know I turned onto it at one point, but when I arrived at the outskirts of Sligo it appeared I came in on a different road. Lost, and I didn't even know it! I still got there, so I guess it doesn't really matter what road I was on! It was a good riding day, and a pretty scenery day. I'm afraid today's pictures may be a bit drab because of the gray skies, but the green of the hills was amazing.
The roads were flat to rolling for most of the day. There were a couple of longer hills - and by longer I only mean a couple of miles - but there was nothing that needed anything other than the middle chain ring, and nothing so steep that I couldn't get going easily from a dead stop. That is, I could stop whenever the spirit moved me!
I talked to a few people during the day today, and attempted to talk with a bunch of cows and sheep. Unlike the cows in Kansas, these are pretty spooked by people (or maybe just by bicycles). There were a couple of horses who came right up to the edge of their field to check me out, and there were a few dogs who let their displeasure with my passage through their territory be known. Only a couple of the dogs were loose though, and they were quickly controlled by their owners who were always nearby. Here's hoping that's how the dog situation remains here - I hate getting chased by dogs when I'm riding!
I met a very friendly white-haired woman who was standing in her yard waiting for the post. I pulled up just after the postman left, said hello, and we started talking. Before I left she asked if I'd like some coffee or tea. I turned down the offer only because I was two thirds of the way up a decent sized hill and I didn't want to stop for a chunk of time - which would likely have given me complaining legs on the rest of the way up the hill. It was a nice short stop though, and good conversation.
I came in through the edge of Sligo, but opted not to stop. I just kept right on riding to Rosses Point, a small village on the coast. And I got my first glimpse of Sligo Bay and the North Atlantic. Hard to believe that just over a week ago I was standing on the other coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
I stopped at the top of a hill right on the coast to take a picture of a beautiful statue of a woman with her arms held out to the sea - in memory of all who were lost at sea and all of the people waiting for them.
As I was standing there soaking in the beautiful view, a man stopped his car and came over to ask about my bike. He had just returned from a tour of Brittany on a more standard touring bike. He also has a Dahon folding bike that he uses for tooling around home, but he was fascinated by my Bike Friday and trailer. I really think it's the trailer that caught his eye more than the bike - especially since he was already familiar with folding bikes. We talked about touring for a bit, and then he was able to give me an idea of how to find my B&B without backtracking - the road was so beautiful I blew right by the village of Rosses Point. I kind of figured that I was supposed to bear right onto a different road, but I didn't!
I'm staying at Kilvarnet House tonight, another B&B with very friendly hosts. I was offered coffee or tea when I arrived, and this time I accepted. My nice hot mug of tea was accompanied by cookies and a chocolate bar. Happy stomach - until dinner, that is - it still wants more food, no surprise! My room here is tiny but effective. I have a bed with a duvet for a chilly night, a wonderful hot shower, just barely enough room for my trailer (but it does fit - here's hoping I don't trip on it on my way into the bathroom in the middle of the night). And my bike is out in the back yard, leaning up against my windows. I'm told (and I believe it) that this is a very safe neighborhood and the bike will be fine. My only regret is that I didn't bring my bike cover on this trip. I don't know what I was thinking of, because I knew there was a good chance that the bike would be outside on some nights. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine.
My timing on getting here this afternoon was really good. I arrived fairly early since I'd shortened my route, just before 3pm. And just after I arrived it started heavily misting. I was glad I was done at that point. It was mostly a gray day today with some occasional patches of blue sky. I hit a little bit of drizzle, but no real rain - certainly nothing that made me reach for rain gear. It was cool all day today. I started out wearing my knee warmers and wind vest. They both came off after a very short time, but I can't tell you how many times I stopped to put the wind vest on, ride a bit, take it off, ride a bit, put it back on again. For a last minute addition to my packing list, that vest is worth it's weight in gold. Oh right, it doesn't weigh that much!
The mist that greeted my arrival quickly stopped, so I headed into the village to pick up some stuff at the shop - snack food for tomorrow. I had a conversation with the shop keeper about the money - I'm so much happier now that I have my coins separated by currency - and he was telling me about the four to five week period during the conversion from Irish pounds to Euros when they had to be set up to take both currencies. That sounded difficult, although it was probably necessary.
I came back to Kilvarnet House, showered, and washed my biking clothes (we'll see how the trailer dryer works tomorrow since there is little chance that they'll dry overnight!), and now the mist has rolled back in. Hopefully it will stop again before I head down the hill to find some dinner.
Snack food has been interesting. I'm so used to finding Power Bars or Luna Bars or some variation of energy bars in all sorts of stores - including gas station convenience stores - that I only brought a small stash with me. Surprise, surprise - they are not easily found here. And neither is Gatorade, although I do find Powerade a reasonable alternative. And, at first I couldn't find peanuts either! I'm sure I would (and possibly will later on this trip) have more choice in larger towns, but so far I've been in very small places. On the energy bar front, sometimes I can find Nutrigrain bars or some other variation of cereal bars. I can find raisins, and I finally asked about peanuts. Turned out that they are stashed behind the counter at stores so you have to ask for them. The candy bars are out where you can grab them, but the healthier alternatives are hidden. Go figure! There are all sorts of candy bars and cookies available, but somehow I feel that I do better with a better balance - having some protein thrown in with all of those sugars does me some good! I'm OK on that front now that I've found the peanuts, and most of the little shops have bananas.
The Gatorade / Powerade story is different though. I discovered on my cross country trip last summer that I have a strong preference for Gatorade, and that there are some flavors of energy drinks that I really can't stand. I haven't seen Gatorade here at all which surprises me because it is owned by Pepsi - and I have seen other Pepsi products. Powerade (which if you're interested, is owned by CocaCola) is my second choice, and over the last two days I've discovered that the blue Powerade (with a name of Ice Storm, which means absolutely nothing from a flavor standpoint) is very acceptable. So, I thought I was all set. Nope! The little shop here in Rosses Point only had something called Club Energizer, and they only had it in orange flavor - which was one of the flavors I found I didn't like last year. (For some reason the orange and lemon-lime flavors taste more like powder-based drinks to me, kind of like bad Kool-Aid.) I bought it anyway - hopefully I can make do with it until I find another store. Although I'm not worried about dehydration this trip, given the cool weather, I do find that the extra sugar in the energy drinks helps me. It's easier for me to just keep drinking than it is to remember to stop to eat (more often).
It looks like it's time for me to wander off in the mist and find some dinner...
There are two restaurants in town, and I ended up at The Waterfront, which was recommended by my hosts. I ordered dinner and was sitting and waiting when Tony came in. He swung by on his way back to Belfast from starting a group of 4 on a tour in the southwest. It was nice to chat with him, and particularly nice that he stopped by to see how I'm doing - especially since I didn't really expect to see him again on this trip! He had some coffee then took off; he still has another three hour drive ahead of him tonight.
Dinner was a very nice vegetable lasagna, accompanied by a salad and a baked potato. I thought the potato was a bit of an odd accompaniment for pasta, but the lasagna was heavy on the veggies rather than on the pasta, and the potato tasted great. Maybe my dire prediction last night about two weeks of overcooked vegetables isn't going to be true. The lasagne was excellent! It took me a while to find it on the menu, mainly because they handed me two menus when I walked in. There was a little bit of overlap, but not much. Seems odd for a restaurant to have two separate menus, unless I walked in at an in between time when they serve from both an afternoon and an evening menu. They weren't marked that way, but it's possible. No complaints though, since I had a very nice meal! I stopped at the little shop in town and picked up some chocolate as an after-dinner treat. I love bike tours - I can eat anything I want!
