And yet another wonderful day...
It was a short ride, and despite my late and lazy start this morning I arrived in Derry by 2.
I continued with my choice of a simple breakfast before I was on my way. Cereal and toast definitely works better than eggs for me - but boy, I'd love some French toast or pancakes right about now! That will have to wait until I get home. I guess I've just proven I prefer a good American breakfast! I was the only one in the dining room this morning (other than the guest house owner, of course) and as it turns out that was a very good thing. When I walked through the dining room to get to the back door to retrieve my bike, the other folks who stayed there last night were waiting for their breakfast - and they were smoking up a storm. I'm certainly glad they weren't there while I was eating. I may be a bit picky, but I like my air clean.
I paid my phone bill before I left - for my connection to the Internet last night. I thought I was using a toll-free number, but who knows since I know nothing about the phone system here. I had my fingers crossed, and whew - the number I used was definitely toll-free. I still had to pay 2 and a half pounds for using the phone, but that wasn't too bad! Of course the connection time is more expensive when I'm using a toll-free number, but I think it's better than paying a for a long long-distance call. Unfortunately there weren't direct dial numbers for too many cities in Ireland - and Castlederg wasn't a city that had one..
I woke up to a very cool and gray day, with a forecast of rain in the afternoon. I wondered if I'd beat it, but somehow I didn't think so. I altered my planned route a little bit because yesterday I read about some statues in Strabane. They are called the Millennium Sculpture, Let the Dance Begin, and were created by Maurice Harron. There are 5 semi-abstract figures made of stainless steel and bronze, standing around in a circle. The figures are about 18 feet tall, and each is playing a different instrument (flute, violin, drum), or striking a pose in dance. I just had to see them! My route was short today, so adding a few miles really didn't matter. As it turned out the route was flat to rolling too, really no climbs to speak of. The scenery today was very different - back to rolling green hills and farms. Yesterday seemed like much wilder countryside. Both were beautiful, but I preferred yesterday's scenery.
I headed out of Castlederg on the main road heading toward Victoria Bridge and Strabane. I made it about a mile and a half when traffic absolutely stopped. A traffic jam? It didn't seem possible, but it was. This time it was caused by cows! Yesterday was sheep, today cows. Luckily they weren't being moved as far, but it seemed like it took longer to get through. And equally luckily, there wasn't too much cow shit on the road. There was some, but I managed to avoid most of it - unlike yesterday when there wasn't any way to avoid the sheep shit. Speaking of cow shit, I noticed for the first time yesterday and again today that there was definitely a farm animal smell in the air. Funny that in spite of all the animals I've passed on this trip, this it the first time I've noticed what I would consider an unpleasant smell. I wonder why.
I stopped on the outskirts of Strabane to ask where the sculptures lived. They were awesome - definitely worth the detour. It's really hard to see the scale in my pictures. I took one picture with the bike leaning up against one of the metal people, but that's not as good as having a person next to one. There was no one else around, and no good place to set up the camera on my little tripod for a self-portrait. I'll just have to remember.
I could have continued on the main road to Derry, but I decided to go back to my back roads route, which included a 5 mile section on a bike path (rail trail). I crossed back into the south and was immediately greeted with a traffic circle with signs that didn't include my destination. There was a man standing by the side of the road, so I stopped to make sure I was on the right road. When I asked for the road to Derry, he told me that the straightest route was behind me. I told him I really wanted use the back roads, and after asking me if I really wanted to go to Derry, he verified that the road I wanted was up ahead.
A note about the city name - Derry vs. Londonderry: I've used the name Derry in my journal, but that should not be construed to be a statement as to which side I think is correct! It's a convenience, nothing more - a short visit to Northern Ireland certainly does not give me enough insight into the political issues here to take a side. The city name is a source of controversy, with Unionists using the full name Londonderry and Nationalists shortening the name to Derry.
Update on October 19th, 2003: And after hearing about the name controversy, I had to do a double-take as I was driving north along Interstate 93 in New Hampshire last week. There was an exit sign listing both Derry and Londonderry. Hmmm... I looked at a map when I returned home and found that there is a town called Derry and a town called Londonderry. No name controversy there!
There's actually a signed cycle route from Strabane to Derry heading close to the route I took, but the visitor center in Strabane wasn't open today, and I didn't want to attempt that route without a map. Tony told me that he sent some other cyclists on bike routes from Strabane and they complained that the route was impossible to follow. I think that might have been a route through the Sperrins, but I wasn't sure, and with a threatening sky I didn't want to risk inadvertently heading in the wrong direction - so I just headed back to rejoin my original planned route.
Just as I entered Carrigans, the rain began to get heavier. Until then, I could put up with the droplets, but the heavier rain called for my rain jacket. I started out wearing my wind vest, and kept it on and zipped up until I replaced it with the rain jacket. I still wasn't wearing any arm or leg/knee warmers because I would have been to hot with them on - even through the temperature was low enough that I probably should have worn the knee warmers. (I wonder if I woke up with aching quads in the middle of the night because my legs were complaining about all of the work they did in chilly temperatures yesterday.) I rode in that in-between rain for the next five miles, and I consider myself lucky to only have that much rain. Later as I was walking around Derry it became quite a downpour.
My directions to get to the bike route said "about a half a mile after Carrigans, the R236 bends left. At this point take the right turn onto a minor road". OK, so does the town start when you see the sign for it, or does it start when you hit the town center? Today, it started at the town center, and I headed down the wrong little road for a bit. Not far - I certainly realized I was in the wrong place (how could I not, as the road really disappeared after a while into a maze of driveways) and headed back to R236. When I got back there I took a quick look at the map and realized that my right turn should really be a veer right as opposed to a hard right. And if I'd thought about it I would have realized that there should have been a bike route sign at the intersection since where I was headed is part of the national cycle route. Once I went down the right road the bike path appeared. I'm not a huge fan of purpose-built bike paths because many of them are overused and as a result are very unsafe for cycling. This one was one of the good ones - mainly empty. I passed several groups of walkers, all under umbrellas, one single cyclist, and then a group of 8 or 9 cyclists who were what I would consider bad users of the path. They were spread out across the entire width of the path heading towards me, and they didn't look like they were going to move. I was heading down the left side of the path, behaving like a vehicle - but apparently these people (mostly children, but there was an adult with them) have no idea of proper bike path behavior. They finally moved - just before I was about to come to a stop - and the rest of the ride on the path was very pleasant. It followed the river into the center of Derry, where I stopped someone to ask how to find Queen Street, the location of my B&B for the night.
Or at least I thought it was the location of my B&B. My reservations were at Merchant House, at 16 Queen Street. I found it after initially heading down Queen Street in the wrong direction. Joan answered the door, and told me that I'd actually be staying at the other house. It turns out that Joan & Peter own two B&Bs just a few blocks apart, and if there are only enough guests to fill one house then they consolidate everyone in one place. So I'm at the Saddler's House B&B. Joan walked down here with me, gave me an inside location for my Air Glide to sleep tonight, and provided a towel to dry the trailer off before we dragged it into the house. She also switched me from a third floor room to a first floor room. That's good and bad - good because I don't have to lug the trailer up two flights of stairs, bad because it's one of two rooms that is right next to the front door, and the walls are pretty thin. It hasn't been too noisy so far, so hopefully it will be OK. My trailer works really well when I'll pulling it with the bike, and it works fine as a suitcase (bike case) when it doesn't have the trailer frame attached - but it's really awkward to carry as a suitcase with those wheels on it. I've had the best luck rolling it up stairs, but the staircase needs to be relatively wide to pull that off, and quite a few of the places I've stayed in here had narrow staircases. I guess I get stronger every time I haul it up stairs - but I'm happy to be on the first floor tonight. And I'm so glad my bike has a home inside tonight because the rain got pretty hard later on. Hmmm - what happened to that gentle, drenching mist?
Joan provided a tourist map of Derry, and recommended that I walk the city walls and visit the museum. She pointed out the location of some of the sights and cafes, and she showed me how to find both a grocery store and the railroad station. OK, I'm all set - all I need now is a hot shower.
I was standing locking my door, and I said something to Joan about the locks. All of the places I've stayed at so far have used skeleton keys for the room locks. Joan told me that the locks in the room doors are the originals, and date back to 1871. The keys have been replaced, but the locks have remained.
I headed out to walk the walls of the city. Derry is the only walled city left in Ireland, and it is supposed to be one of the best examples in Europe of walled cities. There is a path along the top of the wall, and it's about a mile around. It was a good way to spend some time this afternoon, even though it was raining. St. Coloumb's Cathedral stands within the walls, and it the oldest church in the city (actually, I think Joan said that it's the oldest church in Ireland - built in 1633). It is a pretty building, but impossible to capture in a photo since I couldn't get far enough away from it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit the museum because it turns out that it's closed on Sunday. It's open for a few hours on Sundays in July and August, but closed the rest of the year. It's probably for the best, because I really needed to take a food break!
As usual, I snacked earlier as I was riding. But as I walked around Derry I realized that I was very ready to eat, so I stopped for a late lunch at 4. I had an excellent grilled veggie wrap, but unfortunately (as usual) it was totally without protein. I knew that I'd want more food later, but I didn't think I'd feel like going out for dinner, so I headed to the grocery store on my way back to the B&B to pick up more food - some fruit and cheese, and of course my nightly ration of chocolate. That should do, and the cheese should help with the protein issues! Am I eating? Of course! Am I eating well? Probably not..
I'm feeling a bit tired tonight - I think from being unable to fall asleep again for a long time after I woke up at 1:30 last night to use the bathroom. Let's see, I can try to stop drinking earlier and maybe sleep all night, or I can keep on drinking and make sure I'm not dehydrated. Since I find it much harder to drink enough during the day when the weather is cool, I don't think I'm going to cut myself off earlier. And yes, I do mean water!
Tomorrow's ride starts with a train trip from Derry to Ballymoney. Tony recommended the train to avoid the heavy traffic leaving Derry. The couple I met from Florida a few days ago actually rode in and out of Derry and said that there was traffic but that it wasn't too bad. But they also told me there is a wicked hill leaving Derry in the direction that I'm going. I decided to follow Tony's advice and take the train. After all, that's a new experience for me. I've never rolled my bike aboard a train before! In spite of warnings from the people who live here - even the major roads don't carry enough traffic to bother me, but I'm really not fond of city traffic. Avoiding it tomorrow is probably a good thing.
