Starting gray & rainy, ending with blue skies

Around Ardara

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.

Headed for the hills

Donegal to Ardara

A short ride today, but again a very enjoyable one. And it was a great people day too. Between the conversations and the fabulous scenery it was a very good biking day.

My destination for today was Ardara, which in spite of the existence of three a's in the name is pronounced Ardra. I'll be here for two nights. I'm hoping for a nice day of unloaded riding tomorrow, but the weather forecast doesn't sound too promising as the forecasters are calling for rain. If it's a real downpour there's more than a good chance that I won't ride. I'm hoping for just another gray day, but only time will tell! I'd prefer a little bit of blue in the sky, but I'm not even hoping for that.

I had a very late start this morning, but I knew it wouldn't matter since the cycling distance wasn't very far.

Breakfast was a half hour later than usual at 8:30. I skipped the cooked breakfast this morning, having juice, cereal, yogurt, toast, and tea. That worked well. While I do like eggs, I can't face them every morning! I met 4 women from Sweden at breakfast and had a nice talk with them. I asked if I would have a problem touring there with my poor language skills - no Swedish! They told me I'd be fine with English. They said there are some older folks who don't speak English, but most people speak it as a second language. I really wish I was better at learning languages; maybe someday I'll figure it out. For now, I'll have to try to get by with English and a smattering of words for the countries I'd like to visit. And the Scandinavian countries are definitely on my list of places to see.

I made three stops on my way out of Donegal Town this morning. The first was at the tourist information center to look at maps. I really wanted to see if there was a map that from a detail standpoint was between the map that I have and topographic maps. I wasn't too surprised to find that there wasn't. The map I have is a good one, and while I'd love a little more detail on the small roads I don't really need it, and I don't want to carry the number of topo maps that I'd need. When I came out of the information center a man came up to me and said "I don't want to be nosy, but do you have your route sorted for the day?". It turned out that he is a cyclist too - it was great that he asked, even though I didn't really need help. It's always fun to talk to a local cyclist.

The next stop was the Internet cafe to put a quick journal entry in for today and to check for guestbook entries. Brian Huntley very nicely translated the writing around the edge of the coins for me. When I have a chance to upload my full journal entries I'll add his translation to the appropriate spots. It was fun to see some messages there - that's part of the fun of keeping my journal up-to-date from the road. But, not having access is exactly what I expected when I started this trip. I'm coming to realize how spoiled I am by having good access at home! Before I left the cyber cafe I had a chat with a woman from San Francisco who was in Ireland for a wedding. She said she's been interested in touring by bike. You know me - I encouraged her, plus gave her my card with my email address and a link to my journal.

My last stop was a bookstore, the first I've seen since I left the Dublin airport and probably the last I'll see until I get to Derry. There are newsagents in all of the small towns, but they seem to be more convenience stores than anything else. They usually have some newspapers and magazines, but no books. I'm not out of reading materials yet, but given that I half expect to be holed up with a rainy day tomorrow, and since I read pretty fast, I wanted to be sure I had enough to read. Yup, books are heavy, but nope, I don't really care! It's weight that eventually disappears, since I usually leave books where ever I finish them. That way the next traveler can have a choice of something to read, and I can happily leave a little bit of weight behind.

All that, and I haven't started riding yet!



Tony gave me two options for today. The first started and stayed on back roads, but he said there were some rough stretches in there. The second started on N56 heading towards Killybegs, then turned onto the same back roads after Inver. I was on the beginning of the back roads route yesterday on my way to Lough Eske, and the road surface was definitely not the best. In fact I bailed rather than ride the back side of the lake. There was a T intersection with N15, and I opted to take that back to Donegal Town instead of continuing. But back to today. It's possible that the rough road surface from yesterday didn't continue onto Blue Stack Drive, but Tony did say there were some rough bits to the route today. I decided to take the N56 option, and once I was on my way I just stayed on N56 all of the way into Ardara. There was actually a paved shoulder for about the first half of my ride. The shoulder disappeared, and then the road got narrower as I headed north from the turnoff to Killybegs. There was definitely more traffic on the road than I would have had on the back roads, but nothing that bothered me. And for a change of pace, staying on N56 meant no navigation today. I could just ride, no need to think about that next turn. Well, almost. At one point there was a sign for N56 pointing straight ahead, and another sign for (N56) pointing to the right. The road pointing to the right would join up with N56 in some miles up the road because N56 later circles around. But I don't know the meaning of the route number being placed in parentheses. I continued straight at that point after a quick check of my map. And the hills? There were some, but nothing very steep. My directions for today - the ones I didn't follow - indicated that there would be a steady climb after I turned to the north after Inver before the road turned down again toward the coast. I don't know if I chose a less hilly route, or if what I encountered was the same as it would have been if I'd stayed on the back roads. There's no way to tell without going back down and riding the other route, so I guess that will have to wait for another trip.





The scenery was amazing today. I followed the northern shore of Donegal Bay as I headed to the west. The water wasn't always visible, but every so often it would pop up to the side. Once I headed north, the scenery became a lot more wild, with craggy hills, large pastures, some evergreens. It was a far cry from the sculpted and very green fields with rock walls between them that I saw on my first few days here. It was my first windy day too. The wind was coming from the south and west, which apparently is the prevailing wind direction here. My ride started heading straight west, and then turned to the north. So I had a bit of a headwind for a little over half the ride, then a tailwind after I turned north at the Killybegs / Ardara turnoff. The tailwind was a welcome change. There was a while this afternoon when I was just standing by the side of the road listening to the wind and to the sheep. Those sheep were loud, with many different variations of ba-a-a-a. In contrast, I came upon a field of sheep after dinner tonight that were so focused on eating that I could hear them chomping and biting the grass. Obviously the wind had died down by then...

On one of my small town, check out the store and buy snacks stops, I also picked up a small notebook. Last summer I started keeping notes during the day to remind me of things I wanted to write about, and somehow I left home without any paper. Interesting that it took me the better part of a week to fix that shortage. I don't think I forgot anything, but it's so easy to forget individual special moments when you look back on the overall day. I need to add a small pad of paper to my equipment checklist for the next trip. Last time I forgot to bring extra shampoo for hand washing clothes, but luckily I remembered to add it to my list so I didn't forget it this time. Sometimes the simplest things make me happy.



Do you think it's odd that as a cyclist using food as fuel (energy) I am very happy to see gas stations along the road? Let's see, gas stations have bathrooms, and many of them also have convenience stores. I did find one good spot today for a side-of-the-road bathroom break, but it was a bit precarious - in a ditch with blackberry bushes all around. I was probably lucky I didn't fall into the thorns! So yes, I was happy to see a gas station the next time I needed a bathroom break. (You didn't want to hear about that? Sorry, it's just part of touring!)

Today was a day of a lot of stopping - mainly to take pictures and to talk with people. At one point I stopped at a craft shop that had Irish linens, sweaters, and other gift items. As I walked in the door, one of the women browsing in the shop looked at me and told me that she thinks she and her friend had been following me around Ireland. "Look, there's that lady on the bike again." It turns out that they were from Newfoundland. Then I went back outside to start riding again. As I was stashing my wallet in the trailer (no, I didn't buy anything...), a couple from New Jersey came up to ask about my bike. My Air Glide has certainly attracted a lot of attention on this trip, but the funny thing is that I think it's the suitcase trailer that people have noticed first rather than the little wheels on my bike! The folks from New Jersey are in Ireland for a week, combining a few days of sightseeing with a wedding. Hmmm, that's two sets of people from the states that I met today who are in Ireland to attend a wedding. Does two make a pattern?

After the road turned north, I started a bit of a climb. When the hill flattened out I saw a man trimming the weeds in front of his farm. I stopped to take in the scenery, said hello, and he came across the road to chat. He asked where I was going, then told me that he thought I'd made a good choice of areas to visit here - especially since I am very attracted to different kinds of scenery. He said that the southwest area of the country is more built up, and also that it attracts more (most?) of the tourists. I've heard that several times before too. He told me he visited Boston for a week last November, and that he saw the Big Dig. He even asked me about the Zakim Bridge (although he didn't know its name). He said he thought it would be beautiful lit up at night. I told him that I agree, it is a beautiful bridge, and it looks great at night. I was so happy I had a chance to walk on the bridge last year before it opened to traffic this past winter (or was it spring?). Interesting talking to people about home when I'm so far away from there. Before I pushed off, he said "this is bloody N56 - how do you deal with the traffic?". Mind you, at this point N56 was a narrow 2-lane road. Yes, there was traffic, but nothing that I'd consider to be heavy. The worst thing was a number of large trucks that kept thundering by. I usually just kept riding as close to the left side of the road as I felt safe, but there were one or two times when I actually pulled off because there was oncoming traffic too. I turned out that the trucks were carrying dirt and were bound for a "road works" site just a short distance up the road. Once I passed there, the truck traffic was gone. There does seem to be a pattern though. Many of the Irish people I've met think the roads carry too much traffic. It's just so much less than I'm used to...









I'm staying at Rossmore House B&B here in Ardara. It's an older house and quite a contrast from yesterday's B&B, but my hosts are very nice and my room is fine. I was again greeted with a pot of hot tea and cookies, which I enjoyed before heading to a nice hot shower. And my bicycle was given a spot of honor inside. They have plenty of space inside for bicycles. So although I may think this place is a little bit funky, my bike thinks it's wonderful. At the very nice B&B yesterday my bike spent the night outside, but here it is well sheltered. I asked if they get a lot of cyclists staying here, and they do. Just last night there was a cyclist from California staying here. He left this morning to head back to Belfast and County Down. It turns out that I am not very far from Belfast (just all of the way on the other side of the island) if I were to travel in a straight line. Of course I'll be meandering, so I won't get to Belfast for another week!

After my nice hot shower, I headed into town to explore. It's not a big place, but there are several choices for food, and I even found a restaurant that has a single computer with Internet access. It's a bit more expensive than the cyber cafe in Donegal Town - 4 Euros for a half hour of access - but it was worth it for a quick journal entry. It almost didn't happen though. When I walked in, someone was sitting at the computer trying to get it dialed up. Yes, believe it or not, the access was by a slow dialup line. I sat in a comfortable chair and started working on today's real journal entry on my Jornada while he tried to fix the computer. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a temporary server problem though - he gave up on it, and another guy came out to try to "fix" the computer about 15 minutes later. He finally got it to connect, and told me I could use it. After I finished, I decided to stay there for dinner. I ended up getting two starters instead of a main dish. I had a big bowl of seafood chowder, followed by sautéed monkfish and prawns with melted mozzarella cheese and a small salad. Sounds like a full dinner to me, and felt like one too. That's possibly because both dishes were very rich. I usually use low-fat dairy products, but I'm sure everything I've had here has been made with full-fat milk, cream, and real butter.

I also stopped in a shop that sells wool clothing - knit sweaters, and clothes made from woven wool. They had 3 looms - large and fairly old ones - in the back of the shop, and a man was sitting at one of them weaving. I stopped to watch and to talk. I have a loom at home, and while there were similarities, there was one big difference - in the way the shuttle was thrown. The weaver actually had a mechanism that allowed him to switch between 3 shuttles with a rope that he controlled with one hand while the other was occupied with the beater. That same rope mechanism also allowed him to control throwing the shuttle. He was weaving with a pretty fine wool. He handed me a bobbin so I could feel the yarn, and allowed me to walk around to take a look at the looms. I took a picture of him in action - after asking for permission. That was definitely an interesting stop. I need to go back to the Heritage House tomorrow too - the restaurant where I used the computer and had dinner. The other half of the building holds an exhibit that I believe deals with weaving, spinning and wool, and the history of this area.



I met Maureen (my hostess) when I returned to the house after dinner. She was out when I arrived, and her husband got me settled. She told me there is a pub down at the corner that has Irish music every night. I'd actually seen the sign when I walked by, but it was too early when I was in town. Unfortunately, the music doesn't start until 10, and by 10 I'm usually fading. Guess this would be a good place to be a late-night person. That's not me, but I'll see how I feel a little later. I have a feeling I won't want to go out again.

An unusual milestone for a cycling trip

Belleek to Donegal

It was a relatively short ride today, easy too - and very enjoyable. It stayed gray all day, a bit cooler than yesterday, and nicely still dry. I was again able to ride in shorts and a jersey, although there were a couple of times when I thought about grabbing my wind vest. It stayed in the trailer though - I didn't really need it. Sounds like I'm going to get wet on Friday, but I'll worry about that when it happens.






I headed out of Belleek on a small road that went by the fire station and the (very fortified) police station, and then changed to a tiny rural road. I haven't said it before, and you'll figure it out when you see my pictures, but there are animals everywhere. There are mainly cows and sheep, in fields that could be someone's front yard. I expected to see these animals, but it surprises me that I'm seeing front yard animals instead of big farms. Sometimes I'll come around a corner and see a field of what looks like a bunch of white rocks. Nope, not rocks - they're sheep! There have been some horses too, and today I saw my first goats. They were pretty funny. One of them came waltzing right up to the fence. I guess he (or she) was checking me out while I was trying to take pictures. And dogs? I'd have to say they've been pretty well-behaved. I had some chasers today, but most of them didn't leave their own property. There were two that did - a cocker spaniel was wildly barking, but he didn't seem too ferocious. And later on I saw a dog in his yard, which was enclosed by a fence and a gate. What I didn't realize at first was that this little dog easily fit under the gate. Oops! He started a chase, but he gave it up pretty quickly.





I had to verify my directions in Ballyshannon. My directions - turn left at the T, then bear right up a hill. No road names again, made me a bit nervous. So I stopped a mom who was walking with a stroller. When I asked her for directions, her response was "I wouldn't know anything about the roads". Hmm. A walking society? I'm so used to everyone driving that I forget that people don't always know how to get to the next town. OK, let's try again. I asked a guy who was walking up the street. He confirmed I was heading in the right direction to pick up R231, then asked where I was going. When I said Donegal, and mentioned some of the places I'd be riding through today, he asked why. Even though it was a pretty short ride, I still wasn't headed by way of the most direct route. It turned out that I was going to be riding right by his place of employment - an inn on the coast, on a beautiful side road, a bit off the beaten path. He was waiting for a ride, and a bit later on I heard a beep and saw a wave from him as he went by on his way to work.

At one point I stopped by the side of the road to have a snack. A man walking a dog stopped to ask what I had in my "wee trolley". OK, that's a first. I've always called it a trailer, my sister called it my truck as I was wandering across the US last summer, and now I guess it's a wee trolley!

I was starting to wonder about the reputation Ireland has of being a wonderful place for touring. I agree that it is wonderful, but I found it curious that I haven't seen any other cyclists. Until today, that is. I met Barbara and (oops, I didn't get his name) from Florida on the road this morning. They're here a few days longer than I will be, and they're traveling in the opposite direction. We stood by the side of the road and talked for at least a half an hour. They were both fascinated by my folding bike and trailer, mainly because they will need to find boxes to pack in at the end of their trip. Having a Bike Friday that packs into it's own trailer is definitely a help when it comes to packing to go home - in addition to allowing me to bypass excess baggage fees when I'm flying in the states (international flights still seem to be somewhat immune to that nonsense). Luckily we crossed paths near a gravel pullout, which is very unusual in these parts; it gave us a safe place to stand and chat. We could have easily stayed there talking for quite a lot longer, but we eventually needed to move on in our opposite directions to continue our rides. I suppose the lack of touring cyclists could be due to the fact that it is September. With Ireland having a reputation for rain, I wouldn't be surprised if there is much higher percentage of visiting cyclists during the summer.

My route today included a ride out to Lough Eske after I arrived in Donegal Town. Surprise, surprise - there were logging trucks out on that very skinny (and poorly surfaced) road. Not a total surprise, since I had just passed a sign saying "TIMBER LORRIES OPERATING". The road was definitely too narrow for both the truck and me - so I stopped and pulled off to the side to let the truck pass. It was just too big to argue with!

My ride ended today in Donegal Town, a much larger city than those I've visited so far. It's almost like a bit of culture shock. No complaints though, that means plenty of choices for dinner, and even access to the Internet.

There's a real grocery store here, but it doesn't stock energy bars either. But I've been doing OK so far with bananas, peanuts, the occasional cereal bar, and chocolate covered cookies from the candy selection. Nice that the temperature is cool enough to allow me to carry chocolate! (Rover approves too - he likes chocolate better than the macadamia nuts I gave him on our last trip - even though there are times that I personally prefer the macadamia nuts!) And on the cereal bar front, I've discovered that Kellogg's Nutrigrain Elevenses are pretty good - much better than the usual Nutrigrain bars.They have a cakey texture almost (but not quite) reminding me of carrot cake, with raisins scattered throughout and oats on the top. I'll have to keep my eye out for those. Interesting that there is nutritional information on the package, but the information is for 100 grams worth of Elevenses, and the package only contains a 45 gram bar. A similar idiocy to the packages at home that show nutritional information for eating only half the package. Actually, I suppose that is worse for people trying to watch their caloric intake who don't read far enough to see that they should only eat half of the package! Anyhow, 1 bar turns out to be 162 calories, which is slightly less than the Luna Bars I usually eat. That gives me an idea of how much I should be eating... I wonder if there is a regulation that says the nutrition information on packages has to be for 100 grams. It seems like everything I've picked up shows values for 100 grams, and sometimes also shows the values for the package or a single serving. Hmmm... The choice of fruit in the grocery store is pretty bad too. There is very little summer fruit, and the apples look like last year's crop. I wonder where the apples come from. I don't know if there are any good apple-growing regions in Europe. Seems like there should be...

Island View House B&B, my home for the night, is the most beautiful of my accommodations so far. Interestingly enough, it's also the first place where I haven't been the only guest for the night. The house is a bit further out of the center of town than I expected, but it's well worth the walk. I headed out of the center of town on Ballyshannon Road - which of course wasn't marked with a name, so I had to ask someone - and as I rode further I started wondering if I'd missed the B&B. I didn't, and it's only about a 10 minute walk back to town. It just seemed further when I was looking for it! My room has beautiful hardwood floors, with an entryway leading to the room and the en suite door hidden on the side of the entryway. The shower stalls in all of these en suites have been tiny - makes me glad I'm not a big person! And like all but one of the other B&Bs, this one has an electric shower. That is, there is a switch that needs to be turned on before the water is turned on - the source of instant and plentiful hot water. I like hot showers, so I'm very happy with these showers!





I arrived here fairly early, a little before 3. I got settled, took a shower, and headed into town with my baby computer. I was delighted that there is an Internet cafe here, and I spent almost two hours there entering only a portion of my journal entries. As expected, I couldn't use my Jornada to dial up, so the only thing I could do was build some journal entries from scratch. I was delighted to find that the computers had readily accessible USB ports, so I was able to use my Zio to view and upload some pictures. The connection speed seemed pretty slow though - it took ages to upload pictures. So I only uploaded a few pictures- not as many as I would have liked. I retyped one full journal entry (from my handheld to my crazyguyonabike journal), and that took a really long time. That wasn't a surprise at all, and I knew I couldn't sit there long enough to retype all of my entries up through today. And besides, it takes very little time when I can cut and paste my already typed entries, so it really makes more sense to wait. I entered summaries for all of the days so far, uploaded a few photos, checked email, and read a few pages from other cyclist's journals. When I went downstairs to pay for my computer time, I checked out the menu of the real cafe. lt looked good to me, so I had dinner there. A simple dinner of soup and a sandwich. Just what I wanted - something simple! It was a family-run cafe with very good food.

My hostess here serves breakfast between 8:30 and 9:45. I've been eating at 8, but I certainly don't mind an extra half hour of sleep tomorrow morning. That full Irish breakfast started getting to me, so I asked for oatmeal this morning instead. I was served porridge, which had no texture and was pretty bland. It was worth a try, but I probably won't do that again! I really wanted oatmeal - and isn't that supposed to be an Irish thing? In fact, the oatmeal that I buy at home is McCann's - and it is imported from Ireland! I asked for just cold cereal and toast for tomorrow morning, and I think that caused a bit of consternation. "You don't want the bacon, sausage, eggs, and..?." No, cereal and toast and some fruit will be fine. "But wouldn't you like some scrambled eggs? I can bring you yogurt too. And there will be a choice of cereal." OK, I'm back to the beginning again. I never accepted the "full Irish" since I turned down the meat. I was eating cereal every morning, then taking a couple of bites of eggs. Looks like that's what I'm going to do here too! I may be a little odd, but I'm going to be very happy to get home to my choice of hot cereals, cold cereals like GrapeNuts and shredded wheat, and grind-your-own peanut butter! I guess that's my complaint for the day, and although I am going through peanut butter withdrawal, that's not really much of a complaint!

How to find the longest distance between two points

Rosses Point to Belleek

It was a fabulous riding day today. The weather was cool and gray to start, but it warmed up quickly and the sun actually stuck around for most of the day. The exception was the end of the day when some dark gray clouds made an appearance. No rain though; I've been lucky so far! And I didn't have to resort to the trailer clothes dryer today since I realized I had a hair dryer in my room last night - hair dryer, wet clothes, it always seems to help the drying along. That won't happen tonight though, so I'll have those damp clothes drying on the trailer tomorrow.







I'm staying at Moohan's Fiddlestone in Belleek tonight. The sign on the building says "bar, off-sales, and guest house". The B&B is upstairs, but I did need to walk into the smoky bar to ask about my room. When I walked in there was an older man sitting at the bar (smoking, of course) who asked me where I started today. When I said Rosses Point he said "oh, Sligo is about 26 miles from here". I'm sure that's true if I had taken a direct route (and Rosses Point is about 3 miles from Sligo), but like a typical touring cyclist I certainly didn't follow a direct route. I'd say my 47 mile day was a bit further than the straightest route between my starting and ending points today. Oh, and before I forget, my bike has a spot indoors tonight - but it's not in my room. It's locked in the betting office (the bookies?) next door! The B&B is right in the middle of town - a small town, only a few blocks of stores. My room is in the back of the building, so although there is some road noise, it's not too bad. And given the size of the town and its location off the main road, it should be relatively quiet overnight.



I meant to stay on route all day today, really I did! But guess what - I didn't. I know, I know, what else is new? That appears to be my normal behavior - at least it's repeating my cross-country trip last year when I just couldn't stick to the Adventure Cycling routes! I'll tell you about my switch later...

My ride today started out retracing part of yesterday's ride since Rosses Point is pretty much an out and back road from Sligo. I turned onto a back road before getting all of the way to Sligo, crossed N15 and wandered through some more back roads, then circled back to N15 again. Before I continued across the road to continue my wandering, I took a short side trip to see Drumcliffe, which is the site of St. Columbia's Church, and the grave of WB Yeats. A little bit of a contrast there - a monastery was founded on the site in 574 - and Yeats was buried there in 1948 (although he died in France in 1939). I don't know why this was chosen as his burial site - maybe because his great-grandfather was Rector at the church in the nineteenth century. The visible remains of the monastery are the Drumcliffe High Cross, and the remains of the round tower. And then there's the church on the site that was built in 1809. A nice stop, And as a plus there was a bathroom there! Important, since bathrooms seem to be few and far between on this trip, and side of the road (and out of sight) spots aren't readily available - remember, no shoulders, with fences and thorns everywhere!









I continued back up N15 to the spot where my route crossed, and headed back out toward the coast again. It was a beautiful road - but almost totally unmarked. And that goes for most of the roads I was on today. When I think about all my biking routes at home, most of them are also on roads that aren't marked - no road signs, no numbers. And I thought that was a Massachusetts problem! Not so - the back roads here are sparsely marked if at all. Today I saw the signs that Tony warned me about. There's a single pole, and fastened to the pole are individual signs that are meant to point in a certain direction. Unfortunately, they are fastened with a loop of metal that runs around the pole, so it is more than possible for the signs to be pointing in the wrong direction. Even I recognized some that were wrong today. What fun! Tony provided very explicit turn-by-turn directions along with a highlighted map segment for each day. But even so, I realized at one point this morning that I kept passing unmarked right turns, and my next direction said "at 5.5 miles from J7, keep right towards Grange". Hmm.... I had no idea where J7 was, and because of the placement of a town name on the map - don't you love it when the lines representing the road are obscured by printing? I always wish I could just move the printing! - I wasn't sure if the road just turned to the right or if I was missing my turn. I flagged down someone who was driving a piece of farm equipment to ask, but the driver turned out to be a very young person - possibly a teenager - who had no clue about directions. He told me that there was a man about a half a mile down the road who was building a wall and who could probably help. I stopped, and was able to verify that my right turn was still up ahead, I hadn't missed it at all. And surprise, surprise, it was also marked with the mileage to Grange, which was the next turn my route. I had a short conversation with the man who helped with directions, then continued on my way.









I stopped at a gas station convenience store in Grange - time to stop for a bathroom break and a lunchtime snack. And luckily, I was able to get some more of that blue Powerade, much better than that orange stuff I was forced to buy yesterday! Then back to those back, back, back roads. The roads were very tiny - very tight for more than one car. I rode for a while, then made a turn onto a really tiny road. I rode about a half mile out of the six I was supposted to spend on that road when I realized how desolate it seemed. It was very narrow (even more so than the roads I'd been on all day, although there was one earlier that I thought was a driveway). And there was a little bit of grass growing in what would be the center line of the road if there was one. I didn't see any cars on it, and I question how many drive down that road given the road conditions - mainly the grass in the middle.

I rode down a very desolate stretch of road in British Columbia on my first solo tour, and I promised myself I wouldn't do that again. If I was riding with another person I would have continued down the road I was on this afternoon, but when I'm alone I'd rather not have that feeling of being on a really desolate road. It could be that this road would have changed in another half a mile (or not), but I didn't give it a chance. I retraced the half mile and headed toward N15 and the coast on the road I'd just turned off of. I figured I'd ride the extra option to Mullaghmore Head, then ride on N15 into Bundoran, then I'd head south on R280 until I intersected with my route again. A good plan that held together until Bundoran. But I was really enjoying not having to navigate, and somehow the bike just kept heading straight for Ballyshannon and then Belleek. I missed riding by the edge of Lough Melvin, which was probably beautiful, but instead I spent some time along Donegal Bay, which I wouldn't have done if I hadn't taken my little detour. I always forget how much easier it is to ride on signed roads. Riding back roads can be very pleasant, but navigating those roads can be a bit tedious. Ride a mile, turn, ride another mile, turn, etc. - you really need to pay attention! But with my combination of back roads and straight non-back roads, it was a very good riding day...

While I was in Bundoran I got off the bike for a few minutes to take some pictures. An old man walked right up to me, looked at my trailer, and said "is that heavy?". When I told him it was (isn't the stuff we carry always heavier than we'd like?), he said "bet that slows you down going up hills", then laughed! Of course I told him he was right, and then we talked for a bit. He gave me the current weather forecast, said it's supposed to get warmer. We'll see.



Another thing about the road signs here: the newer signs on the roads are in kilometers, but it appears that the old signs - the ones that are sometimes pointing in the wrong directions - are in miles. I keep forgetting which is which. Luckily when I forget it's usually in my favor - thinking that the sign is in miles means I get to the next point much faster when the sign was really in kilometers.

When I started my trip I thought I'd be spending the first half of my trip in the Republic of Ireland and the second half (except for that last night in Dublin) in Northern Ireland. That assumption was definitely wrong! I started in Belcoo, in Northern Ireland. I rode to Rosses Point, in the Republic of Ireland, then on to Belleek, in Northern Ireland. Tomorrow I head back into the ROI, to Donegal. The way I've been meandering between these two countries I'm very glad there aren't any border controls any more. In fact, there aren't even signs notifying you of the switch. The most obvious difference (to an outsider, that is) is the switch in currency. Tonight I'm in Northern Ireland, so I'll pay for my dinner with pounds sterling. Last night I was in the Republic, so I paid for my dinner in Euros. I'm really glad that all 50 states at home share a currency. I guess that's how the folks in the parts of the EU that use Euros must feel - it's much easier always having a familiar form of money!

After I had found my room and had a nice hot shower, I wandered over to Belleek Pottery. Hey, I'm in Belleek, I thought I'd take a look. Hopefully no one at home wanted me to buy anything for them - no purchases today! It turns out that after the discovery of a local source for the components of porcelain, the company that became Belleek Pottery originally made porcelain "sanitary items" - like sinks and bedpans (or toilets).! I had to laugh! Then apparently they made porcelain insulators for telegraph poles. Somehow along the line they morphed into the fine porcelain they produce today. Their product doesn't match my taste - I'm more likely to buy thrown or hand-built pieces directly from an artist - but it was interesting to look through the Belleek showroom and museum. There were actually some old tea sets that caught my eye, and they currently make some woven porcelain baskets that I thought were fascinating. How's that for a non-biking stop for the day?

I've noticed that there are beautiful flowers all over here - both in people's yards, and in planters in many of the towns. I saw part of the secret as I was eating dinner tonight. Two people were wheeling a large container (of water, I assume) around with a hose and pump attached to it, and they were watering all of the flowers along the street. I guess even in a place where it rains a lot they don't leave the watering of the flowers to chance.

For dinner tonight I had three choices - a hotel restaurant, a pub, and a Chinese restaurant. You guessed it - I chose the Chinese place where I had a very good King Prawn Chow Mein. Hey Dad, you're right, chow mein is really good. It's not usually a choice I make at home, but here it just looked right - noodles, veggies, and prawns in a light sauce.Yum! And again, I stopped to pick up some chocolate for my after dinner treat. (Yes, I'm sharing the chocolate with Rover. He says to thank you for asking about him!)

As I expected, I've had no access to telephones, so I haven't been able to upload any of my journal entries. Rich gave me a link to a site that lists Internet cafes all over the world, and so far I haven't been in a town that had one. But - I think there may be an Intenet cafe in Donegal Town. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. If I find an Internet cafe I'll probably just put some short notes in my journal - I'll upload the full entries later. I just can't face typing them in twice!

And here's are two more sayings (?) I found around the edges of one pound coins. One says "PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD", and the second says "NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT". I still have no clue. Language? Meaning?

Update on September 14th: Brian Huntley provided translations for these sayings: "Pleidiol Wyf I'm Gwkad" is Welsh, and means "True am I to my Country." It should be on the "Welsh Dragon" pound coin. "Nemo me impune Lacessit" is Latin, and means "No One Provokes me with Impunity" - the motto of the order of the Thistle. A Scottish Thistle is on the coin. Thanks for the translation Brian!

Internet cafes? Maybe tomorrow...

Remember, I'm dangerous with a map

Belcoo to Rosses Point

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!