Support Team signing-off...

Can’t believe it’s the last day of the ride! Gorgeous weather (if a little breezy) and a stunning road to enjoy. After the obligatory photos, me n’ Nic continued along the coast road of Loch Foyle to Greencastle. The ferry crosses to Magilligan’s Strand from here, and it’s a working fishing port with lots of history, as we discovered in the Maritime Museum; 60 of the North Atlantic U-Boat fleet were moored here when ordered to surrender. We enjoyed a cuppa in the sunshine outside on the lawn and then thought we ought to make tracks as the boys were en-route to Malin. We got the call at Moville, and headed for the end...
It wasn’t clear which bit was “the head” at first, but seeing those boys round the final bend was really quite special. WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT!! Bottles of Guinness to celebrate in the sunshine topped the day off, for what has been a real adventure.
Well done Pricey and Garfy; we feel privileged to have been a part of such a worthy, funny and quite awesome trip across the Emerald Isle.
BMW dent watch: ooops! Scraped the off-side rear skirt whilst attempting a U-ey on the Malin Head single track road. Bored with insects now...
Onwards to Dublin...
With all the hard work finished for the boys, we loaded the bikes, stopped in Malin for a bite to eat and set off on the journey to Dublin. Alan told us our eta was 18:30, so just enough time to get ready and get into Temple Bar for the England game. After a couple of stops we arrived at 7pm, so watched the first half at the B&B, with a taxi to town during the break. The Guinness made up for the disappointing match, although the price of a pint (after 11pm) was a mere 5.90 euros...no wonder it was notably quieter in Temple Bar than I remember it last. It was an evening of hearty back slapping and mutually respectful bonhomie, interspersed by Guinness and Powers. Rob was (and no great suprise) – “on one”!! So three weary souls returned to the B&B at a respectable 1.30am, leaving “The Machine” to enjoy his well deserved evening of revelry.
The next morning we managed a breakfast, and eventually made contact with the boy around 10ish; the full story is elsewhere in the blog/Facebook domain. So we made the ferry ok, and home around 11pm.
BMW dent watch: propshaft grounded on over exaggerated make-shift speed bump – thanks!! Also had a mechanical failure of the rear window kind. No worries Garfy; we know it wasn’t your fault really!! Duck Tape to the rescue again!
1,722 road miles covered...phew!!

Conclusion

As ever, the fantastic people of Ireland were so kind. There's never enough they can do for you.
A big mention to Darrin and Gandhi for keeping in regular touch and bouying our spirits. Cheers guys.
Thanks again to our lovely wives for looking after the little fellas in our absence. Not an easy job.
Last but not least, huge thanks to the best support drivers in Christendom, Dave and Nicola Holland.

We've raised 121% of our target so far to date, which is amazing, and will be of great benefit to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. A massive thanks to all who have been so kind as to donate.

Today would have been Mum's 66th birthday and I'm very proud to have done this in her memory.

This blog has been brought to you by Jelly Babies, Deep Heat, Lucozade Sport, Bulmers and Guinness.

The last push - Muff to Malin Head - 29 miles

One of the best decisions we made (partly, of course due to my pedal problems) was to leave the last few miles until Saturday morning. We woke up to a beautiful (but windy) day, drove down to Muff, took obligatory childish photos near the sign, and headed of on the last 29 miles.
This is without doubt one of the most beautiful routes to cycle in the British Isles, with rugged rocks and bright blue sea all around. The last 100 yards is probably the steepest bit of road on the whole trip, but as we rounded the final corner, "Diesel" Dave and "Tour Mum" Nic were there with bottles of Guinness and papparazi style photo taking.
So we've done it! Dave and Nic have been brilliant, acting above and beyond the call of duty on several occasions. Garfy's kept his spirits up despite only sleeping for about 9 hours in the entire week, and I've managed to do something I'd never considered possible this time last year.

Thanks to everyone. It's been emotional.

Day 6. Muff to Malin. 29 miles of hangovers and headwinds.

We had a cracking night in Carndonagh where we were staying. Went to the local sports bar to watch the France game. Having had a number of bad nights sleep and with an easy day of cycling to come, I was determined to force a few beers down me. I think it was sometime after the 5th pint that I saw Rob hugging a huge tatooed man called John, so I decided it was probably the right time to leave.



We awoke to a very sunny day with slightly thick heads. After a fantastic brekkie served up by Sharon at the B&B, we jumped in to the car and headed back down to Muff (I'll never get tired of saying that). After having a series of pictures taken by the sign (well you have to don't you), we set off in to the sunshine and strong headwind. The scenery along here was absolutely gorgeous as we traced the coast until we turned left back towards Carndonagh. Then up the longest hill we've encountered on the tour, and along to Malin, the small town around 10 miles from the head. The view was all mountains and coastline until we had to head inland slightly to begin the climb to Malin. Some fairly steep stuff to climb right up to Malin Head, where Nick and Dave met us with a bottle of Guinness each. It was a fantastic morning's ride in beautiful coutryside and beautiful weather. I'm actually really pleased we finished on the Saturday rather than Friday, as that ride in the wet would have been nowhere near as nice.



I've really enjoyed this trip, despite the constant headwinds and rain. It's been great to see Pricey push himself through it. We've both kept our tempers and our spirits up, and I'm very proud that a guy who has done no exercise since his school days managed to complete a total of 372 miles in the time that we did.



Also, a huge thanks to Nic and Dave, our support team, without whom the whole process would have been much, much harder. They have rescued us on a couple of occasions and their company and good humour has really helped us along.

Support Team Update #4

Having set the boys down in Irvinestown we returned to the west coast and the town of Ballyshannon. It has a few claims to fame in terms of people, the most notable of whom was Rory Gallagher (1948-95) guitarist and vocalist of The Taste. Nice statue of him in the square. We traversed the Highlands of Donegal and stopped for lunch in Letterkenny. It’s a bit like the Inverness of Ireland in terms of it being the last big town before the rugged unspoilt landscapes take over. Onward to the Inishowen peninsula, around Loch Swilly, through Buncrana and up the pass to Carndonagh – a hilltop town in the middle of the plateau. We had just booked into the lovely BnB out on the Malin road, when we had the call about the stuck pedal. Once it was all sorted we made it to the Sportsman pub where we watched the Uruguay v France game and ate our Chinese takeaway. A relaxed evening and a good night’s sleep for everyone...
BMW dent watch – nothing to report. Insect collection growing.

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!