Ireland Day 2 Wicklow to Wexford

Tracy's concerns about a lack of caffeine in the morning were unwarranted - Rita explained that she puts food and tea/coffee out on the kitchen table to help yourself to in the morning. Don't mind if we do!

Fuelled by toast and jam, we left around 9am, taking the coast road to Brittas bay, although sand dunes mostly obscured views of the sea. It was here whilst on holiday 1990 that Chris Barrie created the comedy character Gordon Brittas, the inept leisure centre manager (probably).

A bit of sunshine and pleasant temperatures - ideal riding conditions 

Brittas bay - what little we could see peeking around the sand dunes 

Riding on through Arklow, we were making good progress. We mused on some of the differences between Ireland and the UK.

Traffic lights - turn green very fast. Not sure why, but they keep catching us out.

Crisps - Salt and Vinegar are blue in Ireland, Cheese and Onion are green. It makes sense - onions are plants, so should be in a green packet. Bloody Walkers!

As a 70s child, this is the correct colour for salt and vinegar. I wonder if our kids would find this disturbing having grown up under the Walkers dictatorship

Glenart school - they don't mess around with restorative practice in Ireland. The white tower is their inclusion unit.

8 miles from Gorey, we had our first big problem. Tracy's front mech slipped down the frame and got jammed. I had to Google setting up a front mech and managed at least to get her onto the lowest front cog. Never mind - 8 miles to Gorey and we could get it fixed at either of the two bike shops. Slow progress, with great comedy value seeing Tracy spin her legs as fast as she could to maintain speed on the flat. 

Arrival at Gorey 45 mins later and we discovered that both bike shops were closed - turns out today is a bank holiday in Ireland. The raucous pubs last night start to make sense!

A shrug of the shoulders and "It's alright, we'll get it sorted tomorrow" was the unexpected response from Tracy. I think that she is trying to massage the whinge factor score today. We grabbed lunch at the East Coast café and had a chat with one of the locals - a retired hodcarrier named Tom.

Tom - 75 years old, owns a trike, but prefers cycling these days. He told us of his numerous travels over the years. He's had a good life he says.

30 miles left to go and Tracy stuck in the lowest gear was going to be interesting and potentially a bit painful for her. No complaints from her though - she is made of stern stuff.

She had no choice but to free-wheel down every hill, which meant that Free-falling by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got stuck in my head. Problem is that I only know that one bit. 
"Freeefaaalling!" Every hill, very loud until Tracy threatened violence.

Riding the back roads towards Wexford allowed us to have some very important conversations.

Rich Tea biscuits. The blandest of all biscuits. Hobnobs - great, Digestives - ok, but both improved by covering them with chocolate. Rich Tea - they no longer bother with chocolate covered ones - they wouldn't sell. Rich Tea lovers couldn't cope with the excitement. Is it rude to offer a guest biscuits if you only have Rich Tea? Is it rude to turn them down after you've already said yes to the offer of a biscuit? Important world changing stuff.

We also passed some cows and once again considered the regional dialects of our bovine friends. We spent a while trying to moo with an Irish accent.

The skies started to darken as we got closer to Wexford. Tracy admitted that she wasn't sure that Wexford was famous for cheese or if it was something else that I had made up. It is true. In fact, they produce 50 000 tonnes of cheddar each year. How dare you accuse me of such deceit. 

The rain started with 20 minutes left to go. Not the warm light rain from yesterday evening hitting the dusty road, leaving the distinctive summer rain smell. This was a waterproof-donning deluge. Soaked from above, soaked from the standing water below and splashed from passing cars was not how I wanted to end the day. The rain became as salty as the Mediterranean, salt being washed from our skin into our eyes and mouth - in fact too much salt. Old salt, the ghost-sweat of rides past. Nasty 🤢 

We arrived at the Farmers Kitchen Hotel to a warm welcome. After storing our bikes in the function room, we headed to our room for a hot shower. Dinner in the restaurant followed by the inevitable starfish in our room after eating too much again.

Our plan for tomorrow:

Hit the breakfast buffet early

Ride into Wexford 

Get the bike fixed - bike shop opens at 9:30

Buy lunch stuff

Ride 70 miles to Mo's loft near Dungarvan - it's going to be a long day!

Distance travelled: 59 miles

Total mileage: 95 miles 

Tracy whinge factor 1/10 (Justifiably about my singing)

A cake-less day - Tracy is v disappointed