Day 5. Irvinestown to Muff. 45 miles

The day dawned cloudy and very, very windy. You've guessed it - a headwind. After yet another rubbish night's sleep (definitely been struck down by the insomnia goblin, although how this is possible after cycling 70 odd miles per day astounds me) and our first and last Ulster fry, we hit the road and were immediately confronted with 10 miles of hills. Rob's legs are killing him, so the going was slow, despite my helpful advice to him that pain is only failure leaving the body (a Vingoism). We then had a nice, if slightly damp route across country in order to hit the main A road north leading to Londonderry. Then it all started to turn a bit crap. The wind was vicious and right in our faces and the road was narrow and extremely busy, with no hard shoulder to speak of. Passed through Strabane as quickly as possible and then started climbing in to Londonderry. Just before hitting the city, Rob's pedal completely jammed up, making the bike un-rideable. We called our guardian angels who located a bike shop in town and we called a six-seater cab to get the bikes there. Londonderry is where Bloody Sunday took place and is full of the gable-end sectarian murals that we've all seen on the news. Our cab driver (Sinn Fein Sean as his protestant best mate calls him) gave us a mini guided tour of the city walls and Bogside, scene of many of the "Troubles". We arrived at the bike shop, which doubled as a sweet shop (yes, really), but they didn't stock pedals with the right clips for Rob's shoes. In the meantime, Dave and Nic had found another bike shop close to our B&B, so we loaded the bikes on to the car and headed for Carndonagh. The bike shop was in the middle of nowhere and also sold toys (I'm not sure there's any shop in Ireland that just sells one type of thing). Pedals changed, we decided to call it a day as it was nearly 6, so we'll hitch a ride back to Muff (yes, really) tomorrow. 30 miles left....

We were not attacked by any dogs today, which is the first day that's not happened.

Song of the day - "Four Seasons in One Day" - Crowded House

Nature Watch:

1 x large Hare (live)
1 x cat (dead)
1 x squirrel (dead)
1 x magpie (dead)
1 x fat sweaty cyclist (barely alive)

Clothes watch:

1 x shorts (childrens - not mine I hasten to add)
2 x gloves (together, but not matching)

Counties cycled through:
Fermanagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, Donegal.

Support Team update #3

Well! The farmhouse B&B had “a feeling” about it (according to Nic). It was right in the middle of 200 acres that had been in the family since 1929. Lovely people, (and I will say this forevermore about the Irish) sooo hospitable. Tea and cake on arrival and a banquet style breakfast in the morning. The sun began to break through the clouds and by the time we got to Sligo it was clear blue. Kev the bike man of Longford recommended a tour around Strandhill and then on to Rosses Point; and it was beautiful. We had a picnic by the beach and a long walk along the sandy peninsula.
We arrived in Enniskillen to wait for an update from the boys, who said they would go on to Irvinestown, so we found Molly’s bar in the town square and had a Guiness in the beer garden that was upstairs...only in Ireland.
BMW dent watch – nothing to report, so we’ve started an insect collection!