I woke up to a very wet and gray day today. I didn't hear the rain, so I was hopeful as I pulled the curtains back. It's wet out there, a very heavy mist that is visible, and that absolutely soaks everything. It appeared that today would be a lazy day...
I headed down to breakfast, and Maureen checked the forecast for me. It called for the day to "lighten up". Didn't look like it at the time, but after my leisurely breakfast of cereal, fruit, toast, and tea, the mist appeared to stop, and there were lighter patches of clouds. Oh look - even though there are still dark gray clouds over the house, I see some rays of sunlight peeking out! My plans right now are to sit and relax and read this morning, and give the roads a chance to dry out. Then, hopefully, a ride this afternoon. Maureen told me to feel free to use their sitting room, so I have a comfortable place to sit. It looks like accepting that I would be having a quiet day was a good thing - even though there is a small blue patch of sky, it just started raining again. It's very nice that the weather has turned wet on a day when I actually have a choice on whether to ride or not! I saw some Riverdance pictures on the wall in the dining room, and when I asked Maureen about it she said one of her daughters danced for (in) the Riverdance traveling company. She's currently finishing up university. What a cool thing to have done!
This is definitely a place where the ocean has a large influence on the weather. Although Ireland is very far north, the winter temperatures rarely go below 4 or 5 degrees (Celsius). Maureen confirmed that the rain is typically of the heavy mist variety, but she did say that there were quite a few gales last winter with high winds and driving rains.
I asked Maureen about the presence of sheep and cows in what appears to be people's yards. And I also commented that I expected to see more sheep. It turns out that a lot of the farm land extends quite a ways to the back of the farm house, and that the older habit was to treat all of the land around the house as part of the farm. More recently, people have started reserving the land immediately around the house for gardens - and the gardens that are there are beautiful - and moving the animals back from the house. As for the sheep, this time of year they are up in the high mountains where the fields are more lush. They are moved back to the lower areas for the winters. I also asked about the spray paint blotches (spots) on all of the sheep. The paint is used by farmers to identify their sheep. She thought I was asking about the twice yearly sheep dips too - turns out that the sheep are dipped in the summer to protect them from insects, and in the winter to add some oils to their fleece to help protect them from the cold.
How very odd. I'm in the sitting room, and the television is on. It's tuned to a station called SkyNews, and they're currently showing a reenactment of the Hutton inquiry (Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, the related suicide in the UK) with a banner across the screen saying "reenactment by actors". I've never seen anything like that before - especially on a current inquiry. Although I'm not sure it's any worse than what we get at home with the inane commentary on some of the news programs.
When I was talking to Maureen about my route yesterday she told me that I made the right choice by staying on N56. They've recently chip-sealed the road I was supposed to take up from Inver, and she said it's very nasty to drive on it right now. I hate riding on chip-seal, so now I'm even happier that I took the route I did!
Almost noon, and I've managed to laze away the morning. It's no longer raining, but it's quite cool and very, very gray, and I'm still feeling pretty lazy. I'll get up and move soon...
Patrick just stopped by the house to talk. He's a Belgian cyclist who has been in Ardara exploring for 6 weeks now. He is fascinated with this area, and said that he's been able to see different places almost every day - although he has some favorite places that he's visited more than once. I can see that there are a lot of little roads up here to follow for day rides, but I'm amazed by his 6 weeks in such a small area. It is absolutely beautiful though... He recommended the same route that I had planned for today as a very scenic one, but given the time and the threatening look to the sky I'll probably do a shorter ride. Patrick's cycling so far has all been in Europe - Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and now Ireland. He's been camping at a farm up the road. He started in his tent, but the farmer asked him to move into a shed since he wanted to do something with the spot where Patrick had his tent. So for a good part of his time here Patrick has had indoor shelter as his base. He'll be in Ardara for just 3 more days, then he's headed further north in Donegal for another week or two. At that point he'll head to the Causeway and Antrim Coast, and then to Dublin where he'll fly home. He plans to stay home for a few weeks to visit with relatives and get his pictures developed. Then he said if the weather is gray that he'll head south for a bit, probably for some riding in Italy. Patrick said that he was encouraged to start touring by bike (instead of by public transportation) by an American woman who he met in Turkey.
I was just outside watching the swallows. I've been told that they spend the winter near Table Mountain, close to Capetown, South Africa. That's a long way to migrate. Makes my short two-week bike trip seem even smaller! But the hummingbirds go that far too, don't they?
I wandered into the village to get some food, then changed and headed out on my bike. It was still gray and cool, so I started with arm warmers, leg warmers, and my wind vest. The warmers came off pretty quickly, but the vest stayed on for quite a while. After I warmed up I passed through some of those lingering mist showers. Then the sun came out, and I finished my ride to a beautiful blue sky. Because I started so late, I just did a short ride around Ardara instead of my planned loop over a couple of mountain passes. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to ride the loop because it's supposed to be beautiful. But I'm not sorry I made the decision not to ride in the rain this morning! Remember, no regrets! I rode out to Loughros Point, then came back to the main road, went south a bit, and headed out one of the roads leading up into the mountains to the west of here. The road was on the other side of the water (inlet) that I'd followed out to the point. Another beautiful and enjoyable ride, and my bike felt like it was flying since I was riding it without the trailer! Riding unloaded like that really makes me realize how much my gear slows me down on the uphills. Of course it also reminded me of the cyclist I met last summer in Yellowstone who pointed out that the weight slows all of us down, not just me!
I spent a lot of time traveling a pretty short distance. I took quite a few stops to soak in the scenery, take pictures, and laugh at the animals.
After I got back to the B&B I figured I'd better check out the picture situation. I keep seeing more beautiful scenes and taking more pictures, and I didn't know if I needed to worry about having enough storage space. I didn't bring my digital wallet because I figured the CompactFlash cards I brought would be enough. But there was a niggling little worry there... I have 3 CompactFlash cards with me. Shooting at 4 megapixels, the 512 megabyte card can hold 440 pictures, and the 128 megabyte cards can hold 110 each, for a total of 660 pictures. That sounds like a big number - but I just found out that I've already taken 314 pictures. Not a problem though - if I take 50 pictures a day, I still have enough space for seven more days, and that's what I have remaining. Wow. I'm really glad I'm not going to have to pay for processing all of my photos - digital cameras rock! Of course it's the digital camera that allows me to keep taking lots of pictures. I don't remember taking this many when I was using a film camera.
Back to the village for food again. It was a fish and chips night for me. As I expected in these small villages, they don't seem to have figured out that vegetarian food should consist of more than vegetables - or vegetables smothered in cheese. I haven't seen anything like beans or tofu since I've been here. I guess it's a good thing that I eat fish too! It's really no different than my cross-country trip last summer, and the food here has been pretty much what I expected. I still have some more nights in small towns coming up, but I also have nights in three larger cities too - Derry (or Londonderry), Belfast, and Dublin. It will be interesting to see what kind of restaurant choices I have in the cities. And by the way, whether people call the city Derry or Londonderry appears to be based on either where they are from (Northern Ireland vs. ROI), or whether they are Protestant or Catholic. I can't figure that one out, so I guess I'd better call it something else (or nothing at all) so I don't offend anyone inadvertently!
Tomorrow I head east to Castlederg - a pretty small town that you probably won't find on the map. Next stop after that is Derry (or Londonderry, depending on where you live or what your religion is...). The Blue Stack Mountains will be to my south as I ride east, and hopefully the sky conditions will allow me to see them! I'll be crossing back into Northern Ireland for the night, then I'll be back in the Republic of Ireland for most of the next day's ride (Sunday, I think) before crossing back to the north for the next few days.
Wait - I think I hear rain again. I do - I just looked out the window. It's just dark out, but there's still enough light for me to see a big dark cloud right over this house, and light spots not too far off. Hopefully this is just a passing dark cloud and not a sign for the morning. I have to admit I've been pretty lucky weather-wise so far.
