Ireland the North 2. Day 4 Westport A much better day today with a drizzly start but capes were soon off as we climbed out of Clifden. We are following the coast again and the views are very pleasant with craggy hills, stony shores and a nice smell of seaweed which always makes me feel that I am really by the sea. Gulls are in abundance,as you would expect, and the odd heron and swan in the still waters. Valerie, Brian and Bernard are getting to grips with the Garmins now which means we are able to form smaller groups on the road without putting stress on anyone and fear the inherent fear of getting lost. We may now have some converts to the 21st century and the digital age. We had a mid morning snack ... read more

Ireland the North 2 Day 2 Dublin and Galway Good breakfast at the Gresham before setting out into the Irish drizzle and wander around the Temple area of town. Trinity College, Dublin Castle and a stroke of Molly Malone’s sticking out bits before a coffee and sticky bun for lunch. Next job go to garage and get the bikes onto the van for transport to Galway. Guess what, as soon as we ended our saunter around town the sun came out and my sun cream was in my panniers. What am I to do? My ears will be big blister in no time. Disaster. A phone call at 1pm, after waiting an hour, from our van man to say our van has been delayed and will not be able to collect until 4pm. What a shambles. ... read more

Ireland the North 1. Dublin Thankfully the weather is getting better again and we headed south again with light cloud and 12 degrees increasing to 14. I set off with bare legs, ladies look away, but eventually had to cover them up with leg warmers to maintain some energy in my overworked muscles. The early section through Black Rock was quite interesting with a very flat beach, not unlike Morecambe Bay where a few years ago several foreign cockle picker deaths occurred due to the fast rising tide. Apparently this beach was also a big cockle picking area. Unfortunately we were soon onto a busy road with long straight sections of up to 3km long which can get a bit boring. A left turn in Castlebellingham soon had us on more interesting roads with little traffic ... read more

Ireland the North 1. Banbridge We had a first today. I had a puncture just going south out of Belfast on the cycleway which hugs the river. I felt the rim touching the ground and knew the worst had happened, especially the rear wheel, which meant removing all my bags and dropping the chain etc. Luckily it was not raining and the job took less than 15 minutes before we were on our way again. The puncture was caused by a tiny piece of glass which had worked its way into the tyre. Luckily I found it and managed to work it back out. Our route was a cycleway for the next 23km, which was very pleasant riding since there were no hills and no traffic, unless you call loads of runners, walkers and the odd ... read more

Ireland the North 1. Larne. Sunny morning but we headed off into a strong southerly wind of 25mph which I initially was ok as it was broadside for the first 20km along the northern coast past Ballycastle. I don’t like wind, unless it is behind. Oh dear! We turned south and found out the true ferocity of the cyclists worst enemy. Not only that but the hills were something out of a ski catalogue which had me walking four times during the day. This is a first ever for me. Mind you I have the kitchen sink with me which I should have posted home a week ago. The scenery was nice, especially as we could see the sea, but would have been better seen from the saddle of a motorcycle. Eventually we descended to the ... read more