Seeking the shortest distance between two points

Bushmills to Cushendall

I thought when I got up this morning that I was going to have to tell you it was a bad cycling day today. But guess what - it turned into yet another great day.

I woke up at 6 - bathroom calling - and looked out the window and just groaned. It was gray, foggy, and misting. Not a good omen. I went back to sleep until 7:30 since I'd asked for breakfast at 8. At 7:30 it was still pretty dreary, and on top of that I woke up exhausted. Uh oh. Shades of last year... sometimes I just don't know when I need a rest until it's too late. I kind of hoped to get through this trip without a real rest day, but I guess it would have been smarter to schedule one. Today is my eleventh day in a row of cycling. A few of the days have been short, and some have been easy, but rest is smart. Oh well, too late now! (Actually, it's not too late if I was willing to skip cycling the Antrim coast - but that's not something I want to miss!)

I went down to breakfast and struggled to eat - for me another sign that I'm tired. But I managed to eat a normal amount of breakfast. Helen had to leave the house by 9 - she knew she'd be giving distillery tours this afternoon, but they asked her to come in this morning too. I told her that I was having a hard time getting going this morning, and she told me to stay as long as I liked. In fact, she was more than willing for me to stay another night - but I really wanted and needed to move on today. She asked me to lock the door and push the keys back through the mail slot when I left. OK, that works!

Helen brought my bike out from the shed, and left it outside the front door with a plastic bag over the seat since that heavy mist had closed in again. I locked it to the railing, and went back upstairs to look at my planned day and the map and figure out what to do. The planned day via back roads was 43 or 44 miles. But there was clearly a more direct route to Cushendall. I decided to stay on A2 instead of taking the scenic route that was recommended. That looked to be about 30 miles, but I wasn't really sure of the distance. I only knew it looked considerably shorter than my original planned route. I laid down for another hour and a half in the hopes that it would help. It did, and I finally rolled out of the house at 11 - a pretty late starting time for me.

My delayed start allowed me to start in dry weather. If I had been raring to go earlier I would have started in the rain, but as it was the rain was over for the day when I left. The wind was misbehaving though - the predominant wind direction is out of the west, but today it was blowing from the east, right in my face for the eastward part of my journey. I rode over some of the same territory that I covered yesterday on my way to Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-rede.







Then I turned south on A2. My ride to that point had been rolling and a good part was at a slight uphill grade. A2 at that point was the inland route, and after I turned I immediately started climbing. It was a pretty gentle grade, but easily a several mile climb. Then down, down, down - back out to the coast and into Ballycastle. As I was rolling along, I passed a deli that had posted a "best of Ireland" plaque out front. Hmmm... looks interesting. I was pretty cold at that point - it felt like the temperature had dropped a good ten degrees. I don't know if it had, but every time it got gray out it got very chilly. So I went into the deli for a bowl of potato leek soup and a very good baguette, and of course some good Irish butter for the bread. As I ate I watched my bike, which was parked right outside the window, but not locked - nothing to lock it to. I should have had a camera mounted on the bike to catch the expressions of people who walked by to see my little-wheeled bike and suitcase trailer. That would have been an interesting set of photos. And it was a good lunch and a good break.





I put on some more layers before I started riding again because it still felt pretty chilly out. As I was leaving town I saw a tourist information office, so I stopped to ask how far it was to Cushendall. I'd ridden 14 miles, and the woman manning the tourist info desk said that it was 16 miles by the A2. She also said that the A2 was a lot flatter than the Torr Head scenic route, which on my map showed 15% grades - not something I'd like to ride even on an unloaded bike! I have no idea whether my original planned route was hillier or flatter than the one I took, but I was still interested in shaving off some miles. I took the turn onto A2 heading south, and immediately saw the ruins of an old friary. I stopped to explore. And I removed all of my extra layers since the sun decided to poke its face out and share some warmth.




Entering the grounds of the Bonamargy Friary, a third order Franciscan friary founded in 1500.

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Riding again, I started climbing and climbing. The grade was relatively gentle, but the climb continued for about 8 miles. Remember, I started the day tired, and I believe on a normal energy day it would have been a lot easier. The day got grayer and grayer, and the temperature got cooler. In spite of the fact that the A2 is classified as a class A road - the equivalent of a national road in the south - there was almost no traffic on it. As I got higher, the terrain continued to change. I went through forests to heather-covered rugged looking hills, with sheep grazing on the sides of steep hills, and some sheep in the road. Fences? There were fences, but some of the sheep were outside of the fences. When I finally reached the top I was greeted by a somewhat surrealistic view - the sea in front of me, with cliffs and green fields covered with misty floating clouds. The heathery hills were behind me - with beautiful colors that were impossible to capture in photos (although I did try). And it was cold enough that I could see my breath. I was already wearing my wind vest; I stopped to add my rain jacket and my knee warmers before I started flying downhill. If I'd been smarter I would have pulled out the nylon mitten shells and my wind/rain shoe covers. Both were in the trailer, and both would have helped. Not thinking.... I saw the sea for just a bit before the road headed inland, up a valley (or are they called glens?). I crossed a high bridge, then the road started heading back toward the coast. Almost there, only three miles to go, and I had to pedal again. Today I took the supposedly non-scenic route, and it was gorgeous!











I'm staying at The Meadows B&B tonight, which is about a 10-minute walk south of the village of Cushendall - and directly across from the Irish Sea. I can see Scotland from my windows...

Ann, my hostess, greeted me, told me my bike could sleep in the garage tonight (I love these places where there's a home for the bike), and asked me if I'd like a first-floor room so I didn't have to haul my stuff upstairs. I took her up on that! We chatted for a while, and she provided tea and a snack. I took my hot shower, and hey - there's a silver lining in that cloud that says tomorrow is my last day of cycling here - for the first night, I don't have to wash out my cycling clothes. I brought 2 sets, and only need my remaining clean set for tomorrow.

I headed into the village in search of food. Ann told me that the only restaurant in town is Harry's, so I headed there. It's a pub and a restaurant, and you know there's really a reason that I haven't been taking advantage of "pub grub" for lunch - pubs are always smoky. Harry's was smoky, and the menu was marginal, so I left. Before I left I asked if there was a non-smoking area, and the bartender looked at me like I had two heads, saying "there aren't too many smokers in here". That's true - there were 4 patrons (5 including me) and only two people actively smoking, and the place reeked! There was a Chinese takeout place across the street, so I ordered chow mein, then stopped at the Spar (one of the little grocery store chains) to pick up some fruit. The takeout place gave me plastic silverware, although I'm sure I could have borrowed a real fork from the B&B kitchen. The chow mein I had in Belleek was better, but this worked - and for me it was much better than sitting in a smoky pub. And if the takeout place hadn't been there I would have picked up enough for dinner at the Spar. Yikes, I guess I'm being picky! Well, whatever makes me happy...

Tomorrow is a bike and train day. I'll be following the A2 from Cushendall to Larne - but now it's the coastal route instead of an inland route. It's supposed to be flat, and it's supposed to be beautiful. And I'm heading south along the east coast in a country where you drive on the left - and that means that I'll be riding on the side of the water. Cool. Now all I need is a day that allows me to see some vistas. I'm really hoping for good weather. I could ride all of the way into Belfast, which is my final destination for the day, but Tony recommended taking the train from Larne. From there into Belfast the traffic picks up and becomes city traffic, not my favorite. And both Ann and Helen agree that the prettiest stretch of the road is between here and Larne. So it looks like I'll be on the train again. At least now I know how to open the doors!

Magnificent, spectacular, awesome!

Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge

What can I say about today but wow! What an amazing day.

I've wanted to see the Giant's Causeway ever since I first read about it, and I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to walk across the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge even though I knew with my dislike of heights and exposure I'd probably never make it. I went to both places today, and I was even lucky and had a totally dry riding day.



It rained overnight, and the ground was still very wet when I woke up. There were clouds in the sky, but there was blue up there too, at least in the morning. It was very gray by the time I returned to the B&B, but it was dry. It was quite cool, and there was quite a strong wind coming out of the west. My out and back ride meant I had a push from the wind in the morning, and a fight with the wind in the afternoon. I must admit it's much easier to ride into a headwind when I'm not hauling my trailer behind me. Definitely no complaints on the weather front - dry is good, and cool can be good too - although I really needed that hot shower this afternoon.

I had what's become my usual breakfast to start the day, and I spent some time talking with Helen. I'm so glad we didn't get our wires totally crossed yesterday and that she arrived home before I booked myself into the hostel. Helen clearly loves this area, and is very good about sharing her knowledge with her guests. She took early retirement when it was offered, and came back to Bushmills where she grew up. She runs her B&B, and she has a part-time job as a tour guide at the Old Bushmills Distillery. For those readers who are Irish whiskey fans, you'll just have to imagine that I went on the tour - I didn't. Much more typical of me, I spent the entire day outside. Helen and I talked about both the Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge before I left this morning. She told me that she thought the steep set of stairs leading down to the bridge were worse than the bridge itself.

It was a short 3-mile ride to the Giant's Causeway. There was a charge for the car park, but bicycles were free, and they even had usable (upside-down U-shaped) bicycle racks. I spent a couple of hours walking there, and probably could have spent even more if I didn't want to also get to the rope bridge today. There's a lower path along the water, and an upper path along the cliff tops. I started down the lower path Just as I got to the area known as the wishing chair, or the giant's columns, I heard a dog bark - and I knew without even seeing the dog that it had to be a dachshund. I walked just a little further, and saw the dog sitting next to her owner, barking to protect her. And of course she didn't need any protection. I just had to laugh. They can be such funny dogs!

Giant's Causeway is spectacular, magnificent, fabulous. The area that is most shown in pictures is an amazing looking basalt structure. The vertical columns of basalt, mostly 5 & 6 sided, have both the tops and the sides exposed. Legend has it that the causeway was created by a giant by the name of Finn MacCool. And it does look like it could be manmade. But the truth is that it is volcanic in nature. You could climb all over these columns, and it was almost like walking on stepping stones. The tops were flat, and if you stayed on the dry sections the footing was fine. There were warning signs all over to stay off of the black (and wet) stones. Apparently the waves often roll over these structures and can be quite dangerous.














I continued along the lower path, and I eventually followed it to its current end point. The path actually goes on a bit further, but it was closed because of rock fall. I spoke with a woman I met at the end of the path, and she told me that an acquaintance of hers said that he wasn't impressed by Giant's Causeway. She said "how can you not be impressed?", and I had to agree with her. This place is awesome. Actually the comment reminds me of one that I was told about in the Grand Canyon. I did a Backroads cycling and camping trip that went to Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Parks, and one of our tour leaders told me that he was standing at an overlook in the Grand Canyon when he overheard someone say they thought it was too big. The "not impressive" comment about Giant's Causeway seems the same to me. They are both spectacular.








I headed back along the cliff-top path. It was possible to walk for miles along the top of the cliff, and there is a bus available that runs fairly often so you could walk a long distance one way and get a ride back. (That is, a bus is available if you visit in season. It was still running when I was there, but it was about to stop for the season in just a few more days.) I walked a little further along the cliff top, and then I turned back and headed for my bike. More riding to do today, and another place to explore... I hope some of the pictures I took do the place justice!



Back to the visitor's center, time for a bathroom and snack stop. A cup of hot chocolate warmed me up nicely. Then I rode on to the east with a nice wind pushing me. I actually considered not continuing to Carrick-a-rede because of the wind, but I decided I wasn't going to let it get the better of me. And actually, although it was quite strong it wasn't terrible riding back.



The Carrick-a-rede rope bridge is just what it sounds like - a rope bridge between the mainland and a small offshore island with a salmon fishery and hundreds of nesting birds on it. The bridge is about 20 meters long, and about 25 meters above the water. It is made of rope, but it does have wood planking down to walk on. And it swings in the wind. A lot.

It is another National Trust site where they charge for parking cars, but bikes are free, and bike racks are available. I parked my bike and took off on the 20-minute walk to the bridge. The views along the way were beautiful, and there was a funny moment too. I passed a couple who were posing with a cow. There was a black cow standing close to the fence who apparently wanted some attention. The man was petting the cow, whose head was over the fence, and the woman was taking a picture. As she said, a Kodak moment! We laughed together, and I continued on to the bridge. They caught up with me after one of my false starts across the bridge. I stepped onto it, and ventured maybe a quarter of the way across, then came back. What some of you may not know about me is that I am a bit freaked by heights. Not just any heights, but heights with the feeling of exposure. That's the reason that I've never made it up Angel's Landing at Zion National Park - even though I've hiked to the steep part twice! OK, I backed off of the bridge - and by the way, Helen was right, the steep stairs down to the bridge were very freaky too. I took a couple of pictures, thought to myself that I must be out of my mind, and tried false start number two. I was about to give up when the couple of the cow picture showed up. She headed out, and stopped halfway across to have her picture taken. He followed her across, and both of them encouraged me to come across, saying "How far did you ride your little bike to get here? You have to come across". Another couple came up behind me. The second man started across, gave me his hand, and helped me across. About halfway over I took my hand back so I could hold onto the rope "railings" on both sides, was told to "look at me" by the woman on the other side, and - I made it! Now all I had to manage was to make it across again. After all, I didn't want to be stuck on that little but tall rock of an island! And I managed to make it back across to the starting side. I might have been stuck in the middle of the bridge if I had looked down - 75 to 80 feet to some wild water. But I looked across, and I held on to the ropes as the wind pushed me around. Wow. When I talked to Helen later she said if it's really windy that the bridge is closed to the public. That was a pretty strong wind today - I wonder what really windy is like. And I found out the the bridge originally was just rope - no wood planks. No way would I have even attempted to cross it if it was only made of rope!








The "cow picture" couple passed me on the road later as I was riding back to Bushmills. As they drove by they gave me a wave and a big thumbs up.

Back at the B&B, I had tea and scones and pastries again, but this time it was a bit earlier in the afternoon - early enough to leave me with a good appetite for dinner. And the scones here are Irish-style scones, reasonably sized (small) and flakey. Yum.





I went back to the Distillers Arms for dinner. When I find a place that I like I tend to look no further... This time I ordered an entree instead of two starters. I arrived at the restaurant at 6:30, and it turned out that they had an early evening menu that was available until 6:45 in addition to the normal evening a la carte menu. The prices on the early evening menu were significantly less than the regular menu. I wasn't driven by price in my choice, but I did select something from the early menu - a trout fillet, with potato salad and dressed leaves. The trout was excellent, the potato salad was small white potatoes, roasted tomatoes, and black olives in a vinaigrette, and the dressed leaves - well I would have called that greens, or a salad. I guess dressed leaves is technically correct though. A very nice dinner. I asked for a cup of tea to finish, and as a side, my tea came with a shot glass of chocolate-covered malt balls. What fun!

My rain luck for the day didn't hold through the evening. I walked back from the restaurant in a light rain. I don't know what made me grab my rain jacket as I walked out the door - maybe those evil-looking gray clouds this afternoon - but I was glad I had it for the walk back.

Tomorrow I'm headed for Cushendall, on the east coast. The guide book I was looking at earlier today said that Cushendall is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Irish Sea. I wondered when that was going to happen.

A picture perfect day - wait, where did that rain come from?

Derry to Bushmills via train and bike

It was another wonderful day of riding today, and I'm really glad that Tony suggested taking the train out of Derry. No riding in city traffic, which I really dislike, and it gave me a jump out to the coast. A good way to start a good day...

Remember my complaining of a queasy stomach two days ago and blaming it on the food? Well, it wasn't the food. I think I had some sort of 48-hour intestinal bug - which thankfully seems to be totally gone today. Last night I realized I was feeling both nauseous and achy - and the aches weren't biking muscle kind of aches. At that point I also realized that I'd been feeling kind of draggy all day. (And thanks for reminding me Mom - I did use both the Pepto and the Imodium!) I went to sleep at 9, which is early even for me, and slept until 7 this morning. Having a room near the entry to the B&B didn't keep me awake, and when I got up this morning I felt like a new woman.



The morning greeted me with bright blue skies, but very cool temperatures. I needed both my wind vest and arm warmers for the short ride to the train station. I rode along the river on a bike path and then continued on the lower deck of a double-decked bridge across the river which dumped me onto another bike path. That path ended at the train station. It was a short bike ride to a relatively short train ride. I bought 2 tickets for the train - one for me, and one for my bike. The ticket for the bike says "BIKE DOG". They must use the same ticket designation for people who are traveling with a dog - I thought it was very strange.



I rolled the bike and trailer into a car that had an attendant in it, then sat in the next compartment. I looked at the schedule before I got onto the train, so I thought I knew the stop that was right before mine. It turns out I had the right name of the stop before mine, but the train ride was a bit disconcerting. There were no station announcements, and some of the stops were very, very short. I started to worry about getting off the train and having time to retrieve my bike before it took off again. That's not a nice worry to have! (Yeah Steve, I know, just in time worry...) One of the other people sitting near me must have noticed my worry, because he asked where I was going and told me he'd let me know before we got to that stop. And shortly after that the attendant who was sitting with my bike came through the train, and I told him where I would be disembarking. When we reached the stop he rolled my bike and trailer off of the train for me - a quick and easy exit. At least it was an easy exit for the bike. For me, it was a different story, because I had to figure out how to open the train door. It took me a minute to see the directions posted above the door. They went something like this:

>>> This door cannot be unlatched from the inside.
>>> Do not open door while train is moving.
>>> Press window bar in and push down to open window
>>> Reach to the outside of the door for the handle, and turn the handle
>>> Open the door.

No lie - I am not making this up! It's a good thing I speak and read English well. I can imagine that a non-English speaker might have had a little problem with that door! I saw another passenger getting up to help just as I figured out how to get the door opened. Safety? Do you think a door that opens only from the outside is a safe design? Oh well, at least I'll know how to get out of the train the next time!

I left the train station, and rode some nice back roads into Coleraine. At that point I could head east to my final destination, or I could add on an out-and-back ride to the west. I chose to head west first, although I didn't go as far as I'd planned. I was following the Sustrans cycle route 93, and as I was riding I stopped several times to try to get a photo of a very hazy rainbow. It never occurred to me - rainbows show up when it rains! I continued down the road, fighting with a pretty intense headwind. Actually I didn't realize how strong it was until I turned around to head back and got a nice push from the wind. I got as far as Castlerock and turned around. My original plan was to continue on for a couple more miles, but when it started raining I decided to stop fighting the wind. I headed back in light rain, still wearing my wind vest but with bare arms and legs. On and on, and all of a sudden I realized it was raining pretty hard! At that point another cyclist came up next to me and we started chatting. He was planning to take a ferry to Donegal for the afternoon, but he turned back because of the rain too - mainly because he left home without a jacket. About that point I decided I'd better put mine on. This time I put it on top of the vest - it was chilly enough that I figured the extra layer wouldn't hurt. Soon after I put the rain jacket on it stopped raining, but I kept the jacket on until I was warm and the jacket was dry. Then it jumped back in the trailer.












I haven't seen as many cyclists here as I expected to - and one thing I've noticed is how few cyclists are wearing helmets. The other Americans I met were wearing helmets, and a couple of the other folks were too, but I'd have to say the helmet-wearers are definitely in the minority. I find that very odd. I've been wearing a helmet for years, and I wouldn't think of riding without one. I know someone who fell years ago and ended up with a concussion - and he was told if he wasn't wearing a helmet he most likely would have had a skull fracture.

I stopped at a small grocery shop to pick up a sandwich for lunch, and as is my usual habit, I wandered around a bit. I can't find energy bars here, but I found pancakes in the bakery section! Yes, baked and packaged pancakes... That doesn't sound like a food that would react well to reheating, but I guess they're not much different from other bread products. Not something that I think I'll try on this trip though.

After I got back to Coleraine, I continued following the Sustrans (national biking route) 93 to the east. It is a signed bike route, sometimes on road-side paths, sometimes with on-road bike path markings, sometimes just on the road. I was planning on following it as far as Portrush where I was going to switch back to the Coast Road. I actually switched to the Coast Road a few miles early - got tired of following the twists and turns of the bike route! I'm following the Atlantic Ocean across the top of Northern Ireland. What beautiful scenery! It was one of those take a picture, ride a little further, take another picture days. Spectacular.








At one point I passed a field that had the funniest looking birds in it. They were chasing around on foot, and they had long red beaks. I don't have a clue what they were, even though I was able to check a bird book when I got to my home for the night. Maybe they were oystercatchers, but maybe not.

[Update on September 14th: Yes, they were oystercatchers! I found a description and a photo on the Birds of Britain website. Very cool.

I stopped at Dunluce Castle late in the afternoon. It's the ruins of what must have been a pretty spectacular castle right on the coast - built on top of coastal rocks. There's a sea cave under the structure, but the path down to it was closed because of rock fall near the entrance. That would have been interesting, but wandering around the ruins was interesting too. Apparently one of the ladies of the house didn't like the sound of the sea. That's a bad place to live if you don't like listening to the ocean! And to top it off, a wall in the kitchen was undermined and fell into the sea while the kitchen was in use. The plaque in the kitchen area said that 3 servants were lost in that accident, and that the lady of the house refused to set foot in the place again. I don't remember the date it was built, but there's a brochure in my room that says that the castle was restored in 1588.








As I arrived in Bushmills this afternoon, I saw a sign for Ballymoney - the town where I started riding this morning - saying that it was 10 miles away. I rode 43 miles today. Do you think I took the long road?

I arrived at the B&B at close to 5, which is later than usual for me on this trip. I've been finishing between 3 and 4 - except for yesterday which was a pretty short day. I had a bit of a scare - no one home... First I passed a B&B with no name, and turned into the Ballyness Caravan Park. Since my reservation was at the Ballyness B&B I thought maybe it was on the grounds of the camp site. The office was closed, so I wandered over to a trailer to ask someone. The woman who came out pointed out the B&B, which was the one I had ridden by. I headed back to the B&B and rang the bell. No answer, no cars around, no note. Hmm... I'll admit I was a little freaked by that. But - no problem. I headed back into the village and tried to call. The pay phone didn't like my coins, and it didn't like my credit card. I walked into the shop next to the phone booth, and the woman there made the call for me after saying "how odd, someone should be at Ballyness". She got an answering machine. At this point it was a little after 5, and I asked if there were other places to stay in town. It turned out that there was a hostel just down the street, so I headed there. They had room, but I decided to try to call the B&B one more time. And - Helen was home, so I headed back out. When I arrived she apologized for not being here when I arrived the first time. She works until 5, and comes straight home from work. I must have just missed her - guess I should have sat on the front steps and soaked in the sun for a while... Helen said that she told Tony she wouldn't be home until after 5, but somehow I missed that. As I think back, I think he might have told me and I just spaced it - if you remember, I was pretty much sleepwalking when he was going over the route with me. Oops! It all worked out though, and I'm here for the next two nights. Helen provided a home in the shed for my bike - inside again. And she offered, and I accepted, tea or coffee when I got here. A pot of tea, scones, and pastries. It was a nice greeting for a hungry cyclist - but as it turns out an appetite suppressant when it came to dinner!

My room has a drying rack hanging from the radiator. It was stone cold when I left for dinner, but I hung my laundry there anyway - and it was giving off heat when I came back. So far I've only needed to use the trailer drying rack one day. I've either had access to a hair dryer, or the heat was turned on in my room at some point in the night. That's a good thing - I was afraid that it would be so damp here that nothing would dry! And as it turns out, most of my hosts hang their clothes out to dry. The B&B in Derry last night was the first one I saw with a clothes dryer.

I walked back into the village (about 3/4 of a mile from the B&B) and went into The Distillers Arms for dinner. It turned out to be a very nice restaurant, one that I'm sure would meet with both my sister's and my father's approval. There's a lounge area in the front with some low tables and comfortable chairs. They have you sit in the lounge with the menu and a drink of your choice, and they move you to a table just before your food is ready. A very relaxing atmosphere. Of course after downing tea and a scone and a piece of chocolate pastry at just before 6, I wasn't prepared for a big dinner - so I ordered 2 starters again. The soup of the day was wonderful. It was a very spicy soup made of red peppers, red onions, and aubergine, and probably some other stuff I didn't catch when it was described. Very nice, and accompanied by some excellent bread. My second starter was prawns with a Thai dipping sauce, a side salad, and cucumbers that had been sitting in some kind of sweet sauce. Yum! There were a couple of interesting looking entrees, so I may have to go back there again tomorrow. Actually, I'm sure there were more than a couple of interesting entrees if you are a meat eater, but I'm still looking for veggies and fish...

At dinner I was seated at a table between two couples. I believe the couple on my right was from Germany, and I know that the couple on my left was from England because we ended up talking together for quite a while after we finished eating. They live about 18 miles from London, near Windsor. They came to Ireland for a 3-day oyster festival which they described as a 3-day party, and extended their stay for a few more days to travel around the country. They drove 220 miles today, and it took them over 5 hours, mainly because the roads here are all small - except for the motorways around the major cities (Belfast & Dublin) and all go through instead of around towns. They also commented on the lack of places to pull off of the road to rest or soak in the scenery. That never really hit home to me until they said it, because I've been able to stop by pulling as far to the left as possible - but still on the road because there's no where else to go. I don't like standing in the road, but there hasn't been any other choice. That certainly wouldn't be possible in a car. I was assuming that these conditions were similar to those in England, but they said not.

When I pulled out a 20 pound note to pay for dinner, they said "look at that note". It was from the Bank of Ireland, and they'd never seen one before. They told me that you used to have to be careful about accepting bills because it used to be that notes from the Bank of Scotland weren't accepted in England in shops and had to be exchanged in banks. It's not like that now, but talk about a pain! I asked them about the writing on the edges of the 1 and 2 pound coins, and their initial reaction was that the sayings were in English. Nope, they're not. The sayings on the 2 pound coin is English, but the others aren't. I handed over some of my change, and they were able to recognize Scottish vs. Welsh coins. The back side of the coins are different, but you'd have to recognize the symbols to tell which country they were from - it's not like the "state" quarters that include the name of the state right on the coin. We talked about the pound sterling vs. Euro issue too. They said that before they left their B&B tonight they asked their hosts if the money here was Euros or "proper money"! They agreed with me that it would be much simpler if the UK switched to Euros. But I can't even imagine what that conversion would be like. But, most of the other EU countries managed to make the switch...

We were talking about bikes, and when they heard that I was riding a folding bike they told me that their neighbors just bought folding bikes from a shop in Bath. I wonder if they bought Bike Fridays. And my tablemates bought their neighbors gifts for their bikes that made them laugh - bells! It's funny, people riding tandems seem to have bells, but I haven't seen too many on single bikes.

Tomorrow - a day of riding without gear. I'm headed to Giant's Causeway, which is only a couple of miles from here. Then I'll probably head down the road a ways, just to enjoy unloaded riding for a while.

To the walled city

Castlederg to Derry via Strabane

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.

A ride in solitude, and then? a sheep jam!

Ardara to Castlederg

You know that rain I mentioned yesterday? Well every time I woke up last night I could hear the rain coming down. Then it would stop, and it would start again. I thought it was going to be a very wet day... When I finally crawled out of bed and looked out of the window, I could see a big gray cloud over the house, and blue sky all around. By the time I went down for breakfast, the blue sky was over the house, no rain. But then as I was eating it started again. Given the on again off again rain at the start of the day, I didn't have too many hopes for a dry ride. It wasn't bad though. I went through some rain early in the day that caused me to grab for my rain jacket. It wasn't heavy rain, but I would have been pretty wet if I didn't wear my jacket, and it's just too cool to start the day wet.

Last night I thought about moving my breakfast time back to 8, but I didn't do it. It turns out leaving it was really the right decision for two reasons - Maureen said she overslept, didn't wake up until 8:20, and, probably more importantly, a slightly later start worked better with the crazy rain day. I had a good breakfast, and a good send-off by my hosts. I left the house wearing shorts and a jersey, no extra layers. Not too long after I started - after I walked up the steep little hill leaving Ardara - it started raining. Rain jacket on. And for some reason I turned and looked behind me at that point to see a beautiful rainbow. That's a good way to start riding in the rain. The rain stopped fairly quickly, but I kept the jacket on long enough for it to dry out. I stashed it back in the trailer where it stayed for the rest of the day. I did ride through more rain, but each time it stopped before I felt like it was time for the rain jacket. And a lot of the rain was sun showers. Looking back on the day, it was probably cool enough that I should have been wearing my knee warmers, and there were times when the wind vest would have helped. But somehow I never stopped for those extra layers.





The ride (again) was beautiful. I rode parallel to the Blue Stack Mountains, and I suppose that the relatively long uphill was heading across and up the mountains. That's what I'd guess anyway. The uphill started in Glenties. It was never a steep grade, nothing that required my granny gear, but noticeable. I think it was about 8 miles up, and 8 miles down. Unfortunately the downhill wasn't as much fun as it could have been because the road surface was pretty awful. It was still a rest, just a vibrating one. It was a solitary ride for the most part, on a little road with only an occasional car passing. At one point I started to see people walking; soon after I saw the church they were leaving. There weren't too many houses up there, but I guess many of the church-goers (wait, isn't it Saturday?) walk rather than driving their cars. I was still heading uphill, so I just waved and carried on.



It's funny. Although today's ride was quiet and solitary, it didn't feel desolate like that road on the day I was headed to Belleek. I suppose it was the fact that there were obvious farms along the road, and signs of life.

I finally reached a flat part of the hill, and had to do a double-take, because up ahead on the road was a sheep jam! The sheep were heading up the road toward me, and they were taking up more than the width of the road! It turns out that there were 3 people with them, as well as one dog, and they were directing the sheep forward. The guy on my side of the sheep told me to just ride forward and to stay to one side of the road. The sheep did move! That kept me laughing for a while - except for all the sheep crap I managed to pick up on my tires. Yuck. Unlike my normal behavior, I spent the next hour or so aiming at the puddles of water on the road to try to get my tires cleaned off. It worked!









Tony told me that the distances on the road signs are often incorrect, and I saw an interesting example of that. As I left Glenties, I saw a sign for Ballybofey that indicated it was 23 kilometers away. Hmmm, according to my direction it was 22 miles away at that point, which is closer to 37 kilometers. I rode 8 miles, another road came in, and look, there was a sign for Ballybofey saying that it was 23 kilometers away - again! That was much closer to correct at that point, although I did see one more sign saying 23 kilometers before the distance began to decrease.

Balleybofey was my stop-and-calm-my-stomach stop. I woke up with a queasy stomach today, which I think was from a combination of fried food from last night and food that was too rich the night before. That rich stuff really tasted good, but I knew it wasn't a good idea as soon as I finished it! I took some Pepto Bismol this morning, but it appeared I needed more. So I stopped for a cup of tea and a banana, and I took some more Pepto - and somehow my stomach returned to it's normal self. I hate it when that happens! Going back to cereal and toast instead of the full Irish breakfast helped, but I guess I have to make better choices for dinner!

I headed out of Ballybofey, and as I passed two cars on the side of the road, one of the people said "you're beating us". I didn't know we were racing, but of course I stopped to chat. There were two (gray-haired) couples and a cute little dog. One of the men came over and asked if my bike was a folding bike, then said he'd never seen one before. We talked about my bike and about my trip, and then he asked if he could take a picture. So he now has a picture of a Bike Friday Air Glide for his picture album. They were from County Armaugh in Northern Ireland. They asked if I was visiting there on my trip, and I told them that I've been wandering back and forth across the border since I arrived.

I took my last turn of the day to head from Castlefinn 6 miles south to Castlederg. And, surprise, surprise, the road immediately turned up. The first 4 miles were at a slight uphill grade and into a headwind. Ouch! Not what I really wanted at the end of the day, but of course I kept riding. The last 2 miles were downhill, which means I'm going to have to climb out of here in the morning. Oh well...



I arrived at the Derg Arms - the bar, restaurant, guest house that is my home for the night. I have to admit that I was pretty concerned about it when I walked into the bar to ask about my room. The bar was very smoky and very loud, and all I could think was that my room would be over that noise. I was pleasantly surprised when the woman came up to show me my room. First we took the bike to the back of the building where I could lock it up in a safe place. When I asked if I could get back out there to clean and re-lube the bike (we'd wandered through the guest house dining room, office, and kitchen to get to the back yard) she said "sure, just come out the same way - and there's a hose there you can use too." Then she led me to my room on the third floor, which is a lot more modern than I expected after seeing the bar. I actually have a phone, and I can dial up to iberpass.com to upload my journal entries. Very cool! Comfortable bed, hot shower, I'm all set.

The dining room here appears to be the only restaurant in town. Luckily it's separate from the bar, and no smoking is allowed. I had vegetable lasagna for dinner, which seemed to be more like a ratatouille than a lasagna. Of course the only protein in the dish came from the cheese. It also came with a green salad topped with coleslaw ( a bit odd, but it tasted good), a pasta salad, and a potato salad. Interesting combination, and of course I ate everything. I followed that with a pot of tea and desert for a change. They had what was called a chocolate orange gateau. Sounded interesting to me, and it was. It was a very thin layer of chocolate cake topped by a thicker layer of orange something. Suze, I'm sure you can help me out here. It wasn't a pudding or a custard, but it reminded me of something like that (although set a bit harder). Whatever it was, it was good!

Tomorrow's ride is supposed to be a short one, but I think I may extend it a bit by taking a side trip to Strabane. I was looking through some brochures in the lobby, and it looks like there is some interesting metal sculpture there.