July 11
Back in Galway today after our last day of cycling . . . in the rain. 26 miles today. So sad yet so happy at the same time! We are running such fun errands, like laundry, today and are getting ready to cook dinner in the hostel before Karin arrives. Afterwards I am sure there will be some celebrating having successfully completed the bike tour - almost 800 miles total. Tomorrow I am off for Dublin and then Monday to Prague. We'll see how well I manage to keep the blog updated while I'm galavanting around Europe with new friends.
July 10
Another day of rain. At least we had an enjoyable morning relaxing and changing reservations for the weekend inside the hostel, where we had pitched our tent. Ron's friend is now meeting us in Galway Sat. night and I am heading back to Dublin on Sunday by myself. We left Killary in the rain and heavy fog headed towards Cong, famous because the movie Quiet Man was filmed there. (Never heard of it.) We had a long stop along the way for Ron to fix another flat - but at least this time he found what has been causing all the flats - hurray! I think being wet and cold finally got to me - I wasn't feeling great so I went to bed early and didn't even venture into town. Our last night in the tent together . . . 28 miles today.
July 9
We basically moved into the bike shop this morning. Especially after I woke up to a flat back tire. I got my second new tire and 2 new tubes while Ron got screwed - they didn't have his size. We left Cliffdon after lunch and headed for Killary to spend the night. Along the way we stopped at the Kylemore Abby and again at a raspberry patch for some yummy free berries - my favorite. We got in free to the castle - the poor, dirty biker look really has it perks. :) 23 miles today.
Sheep butts.
The walled Victorian Garden at the Abby. They grow tons of food here too!
Kylemore Abby - currently used as an all girl's school. However, the school ends for good next year.
July 8
So Ron woke up this morning and said no more! He said he couldn't handle 3 more days of 40 miles each trying to make our way up to Sligo intime to catch a bus back to Dublin. So we looked at a map and planned a new route around Connemara that meant 3 easy days of cycling and then back to Galway for the 5 Euro bus back to Dublin. However, we awoke to a new flat tire and Ron had to use his last new tube to fix it. So we make it 4 miles down the road when he suffered a 2nd flat, same tire. Since he had to find the hole and patch it - I enjoyed my book for 30 mins. 3 more miles down the road and I suffered a flat. This time Ron kicked back and ate lunch while I had to patch my hole. Fair is fair. But, no, oh no! the flats weren't done yet. Ron suffered another flat about an hour later (yep - same tire and yep we were completely out of tubes). He was able to bum another tire from a cyclist, which although wasn't the right size, was better than nothing. We eventually made it into the town of Cliffdon, where we set up camp for the night and decided to walk into town for dinner and music. Thankfully, Cliffdon does have a bike shop - it was just closed for the night by the time we eventually rode into town. 25 miles today.
Ron and I at a view point above the town of Cliffdon.
Ron fixing flat 2 of the day.
The endless peat bogs. We spent quite a bit of time around here with all the flats!
July 7
Ron and I enjoyed Galway so much, we spent the whole day walking around the city. And then at about 4 pm we realized we better get a move on! Our plan was to cycle the 23 miles to the ferry building and take the 6:30 ferry to the Aran Islands to spend the night. However, by the time we got the bikes ready and pedaled as hard as we could for 2 hours - we still missed the last ferry by 10 mins. So we just sort of kept cycling aimlessly. Panic set in around 9 pm when we were in the middle of peat bogs and nothing around. Lucky for us, we found a nice local who pointed us in the way of a pub who let us a pitch a tent. Right on a lake and next to a pub - a pretty good ending to the day! 32 miles today.
The view from the pub and our campsite for the night.
Walking around Galway.
dang! too many flats! what the heck is going on around here? sorry to hear about it. but what can you do? pctures look cool though! :)
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