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Published: March 16th 2006
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Deer!
Watch out for the deer! They may 'bound' infront of oncoming vehicles (bikes). Waking up about 4-5 hours after putting my head down I was up. This time I wasn't going to miss the complimentry breakfast off Toast and Marmalade! By 9.30am I had packed my bags, checked out and had made myself down to Cork Bus Station as I would be taking a bus to a place called Killarney. Famous for its rugged landscape and mountainous landscapes.
3 hours of sitting on the bus and we arrived in Killarney. Town itself is small but bustling. It has much more appeal off itself than Cork. Killarney has all the old appeal to it yet it generates a lot of atmosphere with its people. After checking into my hostel it appeared the room was full off people. Nearly all the beds where taken thus I got myself a top bunk nearest the window. An OK score. Before long I was running through the hostel and out the door on the way to the bike store. I hired a bike for the day (well half a day as it was nearing midday) and headed out towards the national park. This was by far the most fun I have had so far. I spent about 2
hours riding around big woods guided by a map the bikeshop gave me. Visting monuments and castles was lots of fun. When I got to the water it was even cooler. There where stepping stones leading out, stupidly I dropped the bike and went out on them, by halfway the waves where crashing in and I was getting soaked. On the other side off the sea there was an island with huge mountains lining it. I had to get there and I had to climb it. After getting some directions as to where to go to cross the bridge I realised I had one hell off a journey to get there. Not only was it 15km away but I only had 3 and a half hours to get there, climb a mountain and get back before the bike shop closed AND Blackburn where on at 5pm so I had to find a bar that was playing it as well. Mission Impossible?
I headed out at a Lance Armstrong pace. Remembering my glory days off Bulawayo Off-Road Mountain Biking I picked up the pace and after 3km I was gasping for air. Not only was the severe wind in my
face, but it was all up hill as well. I rode out of town into the countryside. So many sheep and green hills lined the place with the mountains in the background. It was like a scene from the movies.
after 7km I came to a petrol station where I re-fueled... my stomach. A Magnum/Triple Caramel with a Bounty Chocolate was the order. Still haven't eaten anything healthy. I set off again and it was becoming impossible, I was getting tired and achy and realised that I needed something with energy not caramel!! As the sign posts went past I was getting closer and closer and when it finally said 'The Gap of Dunloe' 400 yards. 400 yards off up hill climbing later I had gone through the entrance and found that I still had to do a ton more cycling to actually get to the mountains... was it all worth it? YES. When I finnally got there it was awesome. Imagine mountains on your immediate right and left and in the middle is a big river gushing. Thats what it was like. After being told by a local to watch myself when climbing as within 5 minutes the
cloud cover would surround you as you wouldn't be able to see as far as your hand I decided to attempt, not the highest but certainly not the smallest. It had a peak off about 1000m above ground! It took an hour on bike to get hear in the end, I thought if I got up and down within an hour I'd have an hour of dreaded cycling to get back.
I've never climbed something huge before and it looks so easy and fun, but it was actually scary and a wee bit dangerous. Firstly I was by myself with no one around in this mountanous landscape. I could have probably bathed in the river without a worry that anyone would see my goolies. Second off all everything was so wet. All the rocks had moss on and the grass was very slippery. But still I took my time and hiked up the easiest path possible and after a hell off a lot off heavy breathing and 'ah *&%%' from slipping I got to the top. It was quite humerous because I was so so excited about the awesome view, right oppostie me was another mountain twice as beastly...
it put me to shame 😊.
Getting down was harder than getting up as everything was reversed. At one stage I slipped real bad and my heart skipped a few beats, was awesome fun. When I got down I had about 45 minutes to get back to the bike shop. I set off with my legs really really acheing. I didn't put into account that climbing would wear my legs out more so than cycling. The huge huge huge huge huge HUUUGE relief that I didn't take into account was that the whole way home was down hill AND I had the wind BEHIND me. It was a huge welcome off relief but moving the stupid bike was still painfull. I need to get fit again!! On the return trip another Magnum Triple Caramel followed, this time with a bottle of water as I headed back into the town, returning the bike with all but 5minutes to spare.
When I got back to the hostel I took a shower, walked through the hall to get back to my room when the keycard broke. Standing in just my towel, locked out off my room the last thing I wanted
to do was walk down to the main reception which you have to walk through the kitchen and entertainment area (where everyone lounges around during the day). I camped near the shower untill someone from my room opened the door, I ran in laughing, grabbed my Rovers shirt and headed out in search off somewhere that was playing the Blackburn v Villa game.
15 or so minutes into the game I was ordering a big steak meal with a pint off Bulmers at hand. My legs exhausted I was in heaven. The meal was delish and so was the game. 2-0 ROVErs!
I headed back to the hostel afterwards and met a group of girls in the computer lab. We all headed out for a night out in Killaryney. The streets where full off Irish music and bustling people. We spent most off the night drinking at a big bar with some awesome live music. A few of the girls headed back to the hostel so me and my new best buddy headed to a smaller bar before closing time. After grabbing some take away it was night over, I don't remember getting into bed or cleaning my
teeth... my breath now smells.
AWESOME DAY
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