Nenagh, Co. Tipperary to Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford - 74 miles

74 miles of rain, 13mph headwind, two punctures, four counties.

Toughest day yet, definitely. We started out from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, by retrieving our bikes from the pub (where the staff had very kindly offered to lock them up for us last night). It rained pretty well constantly all day, and coupled with the wind in our faces, this almost made us a little bit depressed.
However, after a nice lunch in Ferbane, Co. Offaly, and after having mended Garfy’s 2nd puncture, (luckily, the local toy shop was open to sell us an inner tube for his Raleigh Budgie) we took a detour round Athlone which took us through some very very rural hilly roads, quite literally through the middle of nowhere. In this particular part of Co. Westmeath it seems that people keep dogs and keep them outside without locking them in. This results in them chasing tired English cyclists as far as they can down the road, barking like mad. If this happens again tomorrow I’m going to un-clip my right foot and hoof them straight in the jaw, the dog bastards. It didn’t rain for the dog chasing part of the day though, so that was nice.
More and more cycling, more and more wind and rain and we hobbled into Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford. Guinness and Lasagne in Granard, then to the nearby guesthouse, set in 22 acres and like a luxury version of the priest house in “Father Ted”.
Word of the day – “Bollocks” (used as an insulting noun, e.g, “get out of my way you short Welsh bollocks”).
Song of the day – “The Road” – Frank Turner
Naturewatch:
3 x crows (dead)
1 x badger (dead)
1 x hedgehog (dead)
1 x blackbird (dead)
17 dogs of various breeds (wish they were dead)

Northern Ireland tomorrow! Thank you and goonight from Craggy Island.