Republic of Ireland Day 5. Tralee

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Day 5 Tralee. 93km
Another dry day with outbreaks of sun and still a stiff headwind. A bit of a quick ride to Ballybunion where we needed a piece of carrot cake and tea to recover. A quick look at the old ruined castle and then we followed the coast, uphill and down all the way around Kerry Head to Ballyheigh, but my brain said it was all uphill. Nice 6km decent into the town with a view of the long beach before lunch at the Tides Asian food cafe. I must admit that the chicken goujon wrap was in the higher echelons of good taste. Well done Mrs Hong Kong. Today we saw farmers harvesting oats and foraging grass and saw many old properties abandoned to the elements and nice new houses built nearby. Onwards heading south we went to Banna Beach, which is sand as far as the eye can see and voted best beach in Ireland. It is also the beach where Sir Roger Casement landed in a dinghy which overturned and was later captured. He was a retired British Diplomat who sympathised with the freedom fighters and returned from Germany in a U boat after arranging an arms deal. He was arrested for treason and hanged in 1916 by the British. Today was 93km of hard riding against a wind which was most unwelcome and unkind, but not as bad as yesterday. The Benners Hotel is a bit of luxury to make up for the cruelty inflicted upon us. We have arranged for breakfast at 7am so that we can get off early to minimise our time in the rain which is forecast for tomorrow afternoon. One consolation is that we can leave our panniers behind since we are staying two nights.

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Photos

Combine
Harvesting wind flattened oats.