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!

Longford to Irvinestown - 71 miles

Today started with a bang! Dave and Nic drove us back down to Edgeworthstown to begin today's journey, where we began our morning ritual of filling up bottles with energy drinks, stocking up the shortbread box, etc. Then Garfy pumped his tyre up, only for it to explode 5 minutes later. It transpires that there are no bike shops in Edgeworthstown, so a typically friendly local pointed us in the direction of nearby Longford, where another typically friendly fellow put a new tyre on for Garfy and helped with directions up towards Omagh. Photo above of Garfy's new wheels.
A sunny day! Both myself and Garfy agreed that today's scenery was the best yet, but to be fair to the rest of Ireland, we haven't seen any of that in sunshine at all. Out of Co. Longford into Leitrim, Cavan, then across what was once the Northern Irish border into Fermanagh and Eniskillen, which is a stunningly beautiful place. Our spirits were certainly lifted by the weather all day, despite poor little insomniac goblin boy only getting about an hour's sleep last night and us going 6 miles out of our way. We were only chased by two dogs today, one of which, a sheepdog, wins the award for persistance by keeping up for 1/4 mile. Couldn't unclip my shoe whilst peddling like mental quickly enough to injure him though, sadly. Met up with our wonderful support team in Irvinestown where they'd not only already arranged for our bikes to be locked up round the back, but racked up a couple of black ones on the bar too. Nice bite to eat there then back to a big luxury B&B right in the sticks outside Omagh. A good day overall, despite the late start. Last day tomorrow - a mere 78 miles or so up to Malin Head.

Song of the day - "Fire and Rain" - James Taylor
Naturewatch:

2 x crows (dead)
1 x stoat (dead)
1 x blackbird (dead)

Over and out, so I am.

Support Team Update no.2

Day 2 consisted of a lot of time in the car as we set off from Millstreet just before midday. We went in search of the narrow guage railway at Tralee only to find it had become extinct due to the collapse of Celtic Tiger funding – sadly a common story. As time was against us we motored on to Nenagh where we located the B&B and then the evening’s entertainment at Andy’s Bar; Katine had an opinion on everything!
Day 3: Once the boys had their tyres pumped and bottles filled we headed to the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast. It mizzled and drizzled all day, but we managed to get a dry-ish window to take in the views. OMG they are stunning/dangerous/beautiful/moody and we saw Puffins for the first time – Woohoo!! It is a sanctuary for sea birds including Kittywakes, Guillemots and greater black-backed Gulls, and they collectively sounded like a distant football crowd! Then it rained, so we started our long journey through the purple Burren mountains to meet Rob n Garfy at Granard. Alan didn’t like the new motorways and spent a long time “recalculating”.
Sean poured a lovely pint of the black stuff at his Great-Grandfather’s shop-come-pub the John Donohoe – a very welcome tonic for day 3’s battle against the wind. It was then a case of food and then bed for all of us; bring on the sunshine...!!

BMW Dent Watch = two clear days with no damage! Fingers crossed......

Forgot to mention the Mad Mountain Axe-Man of Granard wobbling into the John Donohoe - is it a Hurling stick, or an Axe wrapped in a paper bag...um...and why are the Garda sat in a car on the corner of the street..."ah! he's harmless enough so he is! comes to town for the day to fill up on ale! one of his brothers will bring him home alright...". Thanks for the reassurance Sean!

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.