Ireland Day 4 Dungarvan to Cork

A cold start and a headwind meant that Tracy started the day with one of her numerous extra layers. We made a slow start and the day felt like it could be a bit of a slog after the late finish yesterday. Turns out we were just going uphill!

Problem with our route today was that to get the occasional view like this...

...you have to ride many roads like this, nice and quiet, but you could be anywhere.

After all these years of marriage, Tracy still has problems with my cycling optimism (I know that this sounds unlikely to anyone who knows how cynical I am). So when I say we're going downhill shortly, she thinks that means within the next 30 seconds, when I actually mean at some point in the next 15 minutes. This caused a little friction today, where she insisted that I stop telling her about the route.

We eventually left the rolling fields behind us as we headed to Yougal, where we would pick up the Midleton-Yougal creamery (sorry Greenway) - 25km of flatness.

Can just about see Yougal across the river

Feeling hungry by this point, we decided to stop for refreshments at Luigi's - he walked us through the cakes and sweet treats and had me at Tiramisu - my favourite dessert (is it a cake?) in the whole world. Tracy couldn't decide what to have, so went with 3 (tiny) cakes instead.

Our fuel stop for the ride today.

Ordering all of the cakes removes the problems of decision making.

We took some time in Yougal to track what was going on at home. It was the funeral of Maureen, my father's partner, today. We were actually considering cancelling our tour, but my Dad insisted that Maureen would not want that. We will miss her greatly - she brought so much love and laughter to all of our family.

We eventually rode on to the Greenway. Flat yes, but a strong headwind. Within two minutes of riding, we spooked a buzzard into flight from his perch on the fence - very cool to be so close.

Another fabulous riding surface

Gotta love a mural (or Muriel)

Old signal box

Regular information boards break up the flat miles

Reaching the end of the Greenway at Midleton, we ended up passing through a massive housing development under construction. This unfortunately led us to a road closure and a need to detour. This is quite hard to do when you're not really sure where you were going in the first place.

We eventually settled on a plan that got us to Cork. We had the first hill where we had to use the lowest gear - getting off and walking. In our defence, it was very steep and too much traffic to mess around. 

We arrived at the Gabriel guest house hotel (Well which is it, make your mind up) and began to meet the rest of the Peak Tours group. We had discussed this earlier today and was reminded of the comedian Jimoein on meeting people:

I meet people and ask their names and as they're saying it, I decide not to listen to that bit. I can't ask them again, because they're still saying it. Hopefully we avoided this mistake this evening, although having walked through a doorway since I may have forgotten everybody's names! Next time everyone will look different anyway, with cycle kit and helmets. Getting my excuses in early!

School trip, to the pub!

Lovely to meet everyone this evening. Feeling the need to sleep off a 3 course meal now!

Distance covered: 52 miles

Total Distance: 215 miles

Cake of the day: can't remember the names but they were all good 

Tracy whinge factor: 3/10 grumpy about my definition of what "soon" means.

Ireland Day 3 Wexford to Dungarvan

Today, at 70 miles, was always going to be one of the longest days carrying all of our kit. It became more complicated by the need for Tracy's bike to be fixed. It meant a leisurely breakfast at the Farmers Kitchen Hotel, as the bike shop didn't open until 9:30, before cycling back into Wexford to get her front mech sorted.

Tracy outside the bike shop

Whilst her bike was being fixed, we mooched around Wexford for a bit before inevitably getting coffee and cake at a very posh coffee shop and gallery. We looked at their menu - riddled with chef speak. The worst example being "Parsnip textures" as part of some meat dish. Pretty sure that they mean parsnip peelings that have been bunged in the oven for a bit, until crispy.

My raspberry cheesecake - definitely cake, not a dessert. I don't care what you say.

Tracy's millionaires shortbread - after all, we had breakfast over 30 minutes ago

The guys at the aptly named "The Bike Shop" got us back on the road and we started our actual route at 11am - 2 and a half hours later than planned,  but at least Tracy has gears.

Today I have to admit that I had no idea where we were riding - lots of countryside, well off the beaten track. So remote in fact that some of the roads were in a pretty rough state, with the roads having more patches than actual road.

First part of the day was lots of this. Could have been anywhere.

Road patching? More like Patching the patches, the road looked more like the work of an over zealous mole with a penchant for tarmac

We did eventually reach the East passage ferry - I had initially forgotten that we were doing a crossing from Ballyhack.

Looking back to Ballyhack

On the East passage ferry. Reckon the ticket collector was in the loo or something - he didn't appear until half way across and some cars had to wait to pay before getting off.

Heading on to Waterford and all of the traffic was a complete shock after the quiet country lanes from the early part of the day. One of the activities that we often play whilst riding is "Misheard lyrics". I'll give an example from the other day - I was talking to Tracy about the omelette that she had for lunch, remarking that it was quite thin. Tracy vehemently denied this, proclaiming that it wasn't, and why would they do that. It took a while to work out that she had heard me say that the omelette had come out of the bin! Today's was me hearing Tracy tell me about the Waterford creamery and me wondering if she wanted ice-cream or cheese. She went on to say that they did bike hire. Odd combination, dairy products and bike rentals, but who am I to question their business model. Turns out that she was taking about the Waterford Greenway. In the past I would absolutely have known this, planning everything by hand, I would have known almost every landmark and feature. I certainly wouldn't have missed that we were on a 50km long converted railway. The downside to using an app to do the planning for you I guess.

It was a welcome surprise, as with gradients of no more than 3%, we should be able to make good progress.

The Waterford Greenway - a big project and a fantastic riding surface

Lovely sculpture - could do with a few more to break up the miles 

A beautiful afternoon 

Feeling positive about our progress we stopped for an ice-cream  at the train station and Tracy commented about how much more enjoyable it was with the sun out and no rain. The sky began to bubble and bruise.

Got to wave at the kids on the train!

We managed about 10 minutes of cycling before the heavens opened. Shouldn't tempt the fates babe. Raincoats donned and no need for navigating, we decided to put headphones on and listen to some music. I briefly considered Tom Petty in an attempt to learn the rest of the lyrics - but no.

Freeefaaalling!! - it's all you need. Perfect as is, why spoil it!

Fairy doors on the Greenway 

Tracy found the tunnel a bit scary 

You felt the temperature change as you emerge from the clammy darkness 

The problem we had today was the late start. It left us "chasing the day". We normally like to start early and stop when we want to. Today though, we didn't stop and eat enough causing Tracy to "bonk" with about 5 miles left. We crawled on to our accommodation at Mo's Loft - a quirky converted railway goods shed, arriving much later than we would have liked.

View of Dungarvan 

Mo's Loft - it's beautiful.

Distance covered: 78 miles

Total Distance: 163 miles

Cake of the day: Millionaires shortbread 

Tracy whinge factor 3/10 low blood sugar in the last 5 miles. I could feel the resentment of each pedal stroke 

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 

Ireland Day 1 - Dublin to Wicklow

 A short warm up day of just 30 miles - we originally planned to take an overnight ferry and cycle straight out of Dublin on arrival. I had offered Tracy two choices, either climbing through the Wicklow mountains or the coastal route, with a stop at a vegan restaurant for lunch. She decided that healthy eating was the lesser of two evils.

A short day meant a later start for us - riding the Donnybrook Greenway out of Dublin, past the Leinster rugby ground. 

We weaved our way along the excellent cycle tracks, making slow progress out of the suburban area of Greater Dublin. We were impressed by the quality of the cycle provision in and around the city. We paused at a Spar shop to grab some pastries for breakfast - Tracy complaining of hunger after only 3 miles.

Pastries - the socially acceptable way to eat cake for Breakfast. Is it cake? I think so, but they could also be baked goods, like sausage rolls.

We took a long while before we escaped the built up area - makes sense since we were following the coast from the capital city. We finally, but briefly reached the countryside before dropping down into Greystones 

First bit of countryside

The Happy Pear - veggie heaven, Tracy hell

I have wanted to visit the Happy Pear for years, having been a big fan of their cookbooks. Tracy is not a fan of lentils or beans, being able to stomach them only if hidden in a meal, in the same way that you disguise vegetables from a toddler. Despite this she ordered the lentil and bean lasagne, claiming that it looked tasty. We both loved the food - so many interesting flavours in the accompanying salads and kimchi. We noticed the local thrushes picking up scraps left from other tables - must be the healthiest birds in Ireland, dining out on wholefoods all day.

Better than climbing hills all day, apparently 

Well of course we had cake. Rude not to!

After lunch we had some time to kill, so took a stroll along Greystones beach.

Strangely sinister Beach Bear sculpture in Greystones

Sleeping off a spot of lunch

View from Greystones

The roadsigns after lunch read like a hitman's to do list; Kilquade, Kilruddery, Kilpedder. Passing through Kilcoole I felt relieved to be so average. Apparently kil means church though. Cycling on to Wicklow, we have to remember that the signs are in km - seeing a bigger number than you expect could be disheartening on a longer day.

We arrived at Knockrobin cottage - our accommodation for the night. Lovely room and a warm welcome from Rita, our host.

We wandered into Wicklow to recce the place for Tracy's essential morning coffee (there being no kettle in our room) and hoping to find an open mini-mart, it being a Sunday. To our surprise, Lidl and Tesco's were both open until 9pm. We had assumed that Ireland, being an overtly Christian country, would have Sunday trading laws. Apparently they're not bothered. Most of the local population, who were not working in the supermarkets, were already in the pub anyway. Walking past the rowdy pub garden, it was interesting to hear our shared language, just spoken twice as fast.

We passed an amusement centre and decided to see what was on offer. Tracy didn't see the point of Axe throwing - darts but more violent? Seemingly we were too old for the soft play, so settled on ten pin bowling for half an hour. We do this every so often to remind ourselves that we don't really like bowling. We are both rubbish and get bored half way through the first game. This time we had to endure two. Still, won't have to do it again for another 5 years or so!

Yep - bowling. Still dull.

Looking forward to our first proper day tomorrow - 60 miles to Wexford.

Distance ridden: 31 miles 

Tracy whinge factor: 1/10 - too concerned about a potential lack of coffee in the morning 

Cake of the day: Custard crown (If pastries are cakes)

Day 0 - Travel to Dublin

We started by driving to Chester to avoid getting up at 3am and travelling through the night. Unfortunately we hit traffic on almost every motorway! Left at 10am, arrived at the hotel before 6pm. They had no parking available in the tiny carpark - literally space for 8 cars arranged in almost random fashion. Tracy performed a perfect 57 point turn to get us back out.

We then got lost in Chester due to road closures and one way streets, finally parking by the station. We walked the 5 mins back to the hotel with our bikes arriving at 6:30.

For dinner, we ended up almost next door to the hotel, a lovely little South Indian restaurant called the Coconut Tree. As always at curry houses, we ordered far too much - telling ourselves that we needed to carbo-load for our trip or replace the energy lost from our massive 1500 steps today. Best starfish impressions back at the hotel afterwards!

That unbelievably is all mine. A vegetarian Thali - an opportunity to try half the menu at once. 

We took the opportunity in the morning to rethink some kit choices - Tracy leaving behind a bunch of energy gels and some clothes, but steadfastly refusing to ditch any of the 3 fleeces that she has brought. I think that she is expecting Arctic conditions in Ireland. I expect to see her bright red and sweating on the West coast, wearing all 3 at once to prove a point. We also grabbed the first cake of the trip from a Polish bakery - the biggest chocolate croissant that I've ever seen. We split it - sorry no pictures as we aren't on the ball yet!

An easier drive on Saturday morning took us along the North Wales Expressway to Holyhead and the port. We parked up in the Premier Inn carpark and rode to the ferry under the careful direction of Google maps playing through my headphones. It was clearly struggling with some of the Welsh street names "mouse cut here" was "maes cyttir". I steeled myself for some interesting times, but then London road took us pretty much to the passenger terminal.

Waiting for the shuttle bus we met another couple of cyclists off on their own adventure. Rosalie and Eleanor are riding down to Rosslaire, hopping on a ferry to Bilbao, before riding on to Santander to catch the eclipse on the 12th. Sounds like a proper adventure - especially with the "and then we'll see what happens" plan afterwards. Not sure Tracy would cope with that level of spontaneity!

Rosalie and Eleanor - good luck. We hope the skies are clear for you on the 12th!

A 3 and a half  hour sailing across to Dublin and we arrived at the port. A minibus met us at the bottom of the ramp to escort the 4 cyclists to the ferry terminal, with instructions of "Follow me". We literally travelled 80 metres, before being told "Go through that door' - it all seemed overly dramatic.

We followed the Dublin Port Greenway which was an unexpectedly pleasant route out of the busy port and into Irishtown and our accommodation. A strange name for a suburb - would you ever have Chinatown in China? I suspect that it has a historical and most likely oppressive reason for the name.

View from the Ferry deck, where people go to experience fresh air, through a filter

Dublin Port bay

Dublin Port Greenway 

A quick rest from the massive journey 🤣 from the ferry and then we headed out to find dinner.

Our accommodation for the night including live music.

A stroll down the river past the Aviva  Rugby stadium and on to Ballsbridge and the Baan Thai.

 Inevitably we both ordered Pad Thai.

Oh no - I've turned into one of those people who takes pictures of his food.

Back at the merry cobbler now - a guitarist/singer in full flow. The stage is basically him sat above the entrance doorway. It means that he's right next to our room. Good job it's been a short day, because we're not going to be sleeping anytime soon.

Distance covered: 5 miles

Cake of the day: Polish chocolate croissant 🥐 

Tracy whinge factor 0/10 - if she's moaning after 5 miles, we are stuffed!