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Published: August 19th 2007
Having arrived in Ireland just over a week and a half ago and survived my first hangover in Waterford, I subsequently progressed westwards towards Cobh (pronounced Cove) where the Titanic was to set sail from on her last journey. In a former life when things got tough, the superiors used to call it character building. Well I can honestly say that I have been doing some character building stuff during this past week and a half as I have never experienced so much shitty weather as I have done in Ireland. It has rained absolutely every single day, oh apart from one day on the way up to the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast, where we had a little sunshine but I was cycling into Gale force winds. You can't have everything I suppose!
Well, Ireland certainly lives up to its reputation. It's friendly, it's green (no surprise there) and the roads are full of potholes. More frustrating than ever though are the road signs. You see one which says 20, you cycle an extra half an hour and the next one says 25. Basically they have signs in both km and miles but they don't always specify
which one is which. From Cobh, I went to Kinsale a yachty place and then went further west towards the Beara peninsula. The nicest part of the peninsula was Crookhaven, where they were holding a festival with a live band playing on stage on the side of an arctic lorry. Following a whistle stop tour to Mizen Head (the most southwesterly point of Ireland) I went round the Ring of Kerry, a tourist haven with every man and his dog driving around the route. The Irish roads are certainly not for cyclists, although I must say that the majority of drivers have been quite good. From the Ring of Kerry, I proceeded further north to a place called Dingle, although I did not spot the dolphin Fungi who has reputedly been there for the past 24 years. With Dingle out of the way, my cycle route took me north catching the ferry at Tarbert and missing out Limerick. The Cliffs of Moher were next on the agenda, which were absolutely stunning and hence I have now arrived in Galway which looks quite a kicking place to be, with lots of tourists from all around the world. All along I have
been checking the quality of Guinness of course which does taste better than it does back at home. That's it for now. Total mileage to date 1536 miles. Speak to you all soon.
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Charlie Atkinson
non-member comment
Finally checked out your blogg - awesome! There is a great pub in Crookhaven, hope you had time to try it out! I am off to canoe round Angelsey this week. I doubt you will have made it to North Wales by then but you never know!! Let me know when you get back to Fishguard I am near there next weekend!! Happy peddling!!