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With the exception of the weather, today turns out to be one of the best cycling days of the trip. We are able to chop off about 25 rather uninteresting miles of a 50+ mile route by taking the train from Mallow to Millstreet.
As usual the train speeds rather smoothly through the green countryside. The heavy gray sky is spitting rain throughout the train ride, and it starts coming down heavily as we bike into Millstreet from the depot. We find shelter in a wonderful little walk-up coffee shop. However,
it is obvious it is going to be a typical day of Irish weather - off and on sunny, rainy, and windy. The wind is generally at our back, but we have one bout with hail again along the mountain we are climbing, The Derrynasaggart, along with a stand-up, stop-dead wind for a brief stretch of the route. But in all, this
is a wonderful day of amazingly quiet and generally good back roads for a total of 32 miles for the day. After a couple of false starts out of Millstreet, we leave under the threat of rain and find our turn off onto a narrow lane. We are in Brendan Walsh's hands because we have no way of knowing where this back road will take us without his book. None of the little lanes are ever marked, and they often have turn offs and of course they meander. When Walsh uses landmarks his book is phenomenal, but when he uses mileage to locate turns I find that my odometer doesn't match his, so we look for a fork in the road that is still nowhere to be found more than a mile from
its mileage mark. We return to a nursery about a mile back, and the man confirms we are on the right road; we simply need to go further. So we retrace our steps and move up the mountain with the wind generally at our back but with intermittent rain. This stretch is remarkably devoid of people and houses. The mountain side is stony and barren except for sheep. However, our route soon cuts through a heavily forested area, and we are protected from the wind and often sheltered from the intermittent rain
showers. The biking is uphill for some miles, but the road employs switchbacks, so the biking isn't overly difficult, and we never need to get off and walk - something I hate to do and have only done twice. Once we slip through the narrow pass, the road drops sharply and we have to be careful to brake as we also deal with crosswinds that buffet our bikes. We descend for at least four miles, often sharing the road with frantic and unpredictable sheep. We have a snack at The Mills Pub, one of the nicest, cosiest pubs in Ireland. Their fireplace is glowing with burning coal and it feels wonderful inside on this cold, windy and damp day. The last stretch of this
route takes us through wild countryside and a wonderful green valley full of sheep. The newly-surfaced narrow road is a delight. Again we have no cars on this stretch and as we roll into a canyon at the far end of this valley, I fear we are boxed in; there is no apparent road,
but when we hit a "T" junction and go left we find ourselves climbing along the side of a mountain and slowly making our way again to a narrow pass that was previously hidden by the rugged rocky outcroppings. Once through the pass, we have a long descent to our destination, Ballingeary, where we are shocked to find only two pubs in town - probably a
new low for Ireland. However we stop at one of the pubs and find it warm and inviting and the bartender generous - he gives us a Budweiser towel each that he has just received from a salesman. He tells us where to find the B+B we had noted at the Tourist Office in Millstreet, and we find ourselves at the Campbell's
B+B located at the edge of a lake that meanders for six miles. The Campbells are a wonderfully accommodating couple of about our age who immediately put on a pot of tea and serve us cookies to go along. Ella even puts our damp clothes in a dryer for us. They also have a great
Collie, Ginny, who loves to have her belly scratched. After we bathe, John, our host, takes us to the hotel located at Gougane Barra, and we have a five course dinner of leg of lamb, although the prix fixe is a bit steep. However, the pubs just serve light sandwiches, and we are hungrier than that after a
challenging day of biking. The hotel is located on the shore of Lough Gougane Barra with stark mountains as a backdrop. On a small island next to the hotel are the remnants of a church from the 6th Century and a monks' shelter alongside a little 20th Century church that is often
used for weddings, oftentimes four of five a Saturday in the summer. There are a number of German guests dining in the hotel, and they are boisterous and drinking merrily. A phone call brings John back for our return, but he gives us a wild ride through a national park and then up some winding mountain lanes. Unfortunately I didn't know we were getting a scenic tour otherwise I wouldn't have sat in the back seat. By the time we get to the pub for a drink, I am woozy and my legs are a bit rubbery. I buy Mike and John a drink, stuffing John's £20 note back in his pocket, and I have a
shot of Paddy, neat. It is very good, and I miraculously feel better in short order. We talk until nearly midnight in the Campbells' parlor, consoled by a warming fire in their fireplace. John has retired at 53 as a personnel officer for Aer Lingus, and they have been operating their B+B for a little over a year. We wrap up the evening with the offer of a nightcap from Ella. This time I have scotch, and I sleep like a baby. (839 miles) |
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