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.

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.